Peon Awesome

Not sure that'll be that big of a deal at the end of the day. Teams swing too much from one season to next plus all the parity in the league means the difference between these set of teams might be marginal. Seattle overachieved this year and we still handily beat them. Arizona was a trainwreck and should get back a healthy Kyler and could see a big upgrade at coaching depending on who they hire. The Jets could be a juggernaut with even adequate qb play. I expect they'll spend big to nab someone like Garoppolo. And Tua had 3 concussions this year. No guarantees he'll be healthy. Dallas just got their ass handed to them by that very Commanders team in a game where they still had a shot at the 1 seed when the game started.

He was the spiritual leader of this feisty Lions team. He'd be a huge boost to any locker room. Now he's a free agent and I have to think his market price is in the same stratosphere as D'onta Foreman. I'm ready to buy my Jamaal Williams Panthers jersey.

There's a difference between how many teams need a qb and how many are going to want to draft 1. Last year was a good example that teams are getting wiser on not severely overdrafting qbs even if they need one. Especially this year when you've got a fair number of QBs going into free agent who have a tremendously higher floor than someone like Richardson who is going to be a hope and pray kind of prospect. Derek Carr, Garoppolo, Tom Brady, Geno Smith, Daniel Jones and then you've got your next tier of possible bridge starter/high end backup if you're not in love with the rookies at your draft slot, to include Minshew, Heineke, Darnold, Baker, Bridgewater, Mike White, Andy Dalton, take a project/aim for the 2024 class, similar to what us and Atlanta did last year. My guess? Richardson will be there. Levis depends on the hype and combine, but has a chance to fall. But I doubt 4 qbs go in the top 8. And if they do, there's going to be a monster prospect at 9.

Now that you mention it, I'm sure the Saints and their fans must be high fiving each other that they lost their home finale to the previous bottom feeding divisional team as they stare at another offseason in cap hell with no 1st round pick. Man I wish we could swap places with such an awesome and upward trending team. But us stupid Panthers organization doesn't know any better. The loser mentality is so strong amongst some of you.

Exactly, and they still lost. That's embarrassing. For the record, I was thinking about it more from the Saints fans perspective. Going against a Panthers team playing for nothing on the road, with a QB that had less than 50 yards and then losing on a game winning field goal had to feel like a gut punch. I would be embarrassed watching the Saints finish their season like that if I was their fan.

For those pissed that we lost and think it messed up our draft, we would've picked 8th if we lost. The Lions win has us tied with Las Vegas in strength of schedule, but we played New Orleans twice and by beating them, we worsened our strength of schedule since they ended up 7-10 instead of 8-9. If we lost, our strength of schedule would be better than the Raiders' and we'd pick after them. I'm not going to pretend I was jumping up and down today. But in hindsight, one lost draft slot to embarrass the Saints at their home and finish the season sweep, especially when they don't have the 1st round pick to benefit, at least feels like a justifiable trade off.

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Holy smokes, I am a legit Dan Campbell believer. The calls in this last drive have been masterful. Declining the penalty to take more time off the clock and then that insane quick pass and lateral to nearly get a 1st down on 2nd and 17. Man the Lions should make some noise next year.

I think it makes too much sense for both sides to give a cap friendly extension to Shaq that keeps him in Carolina for a couple years but at a fraction of the cost. I doubt Shaq wants to pack up and leave, especially since there's unlikely to be a massive payday in free agency. The guaranteed money in Shaq's contract is $11.3 million. Add 2 years and round up to $18 million to turn it into a 3 year contract at $6 million per. You give him an extra $7 million compared to cutting him outright and cut his cap hit to about 1/3 of the current. Shaq may take that to not have to uproot his life and gain some job security for at least a couple more years. Maybe it takes a couple million more but even that's probably preferable to an $11 million dead cap hit and having to replace his production.

I don't get it. Sam was nothing but the consummate teammate even as the team and fanbase relegated him to persona non grata. He carried the clipboard, distraction-free for half a season, then when finally called upon in what seemed like a lost season, he played well enough to help us compete for the division. Yet people love to poo on him any chance they get. The biggest Darnold "fans" suggest he should get decent backup money and potentially battle it out with Corral for early starter snaps until whatever rookie QB we pick is ready to post. And yet thats just an outrageous idea and anyone who suggests it is a delusional Darnold nut hugger. I haven't seen a single post of someone suggesting Darnold is our franchise qb. But the way people are yelling at him to get out of here, you'd think that's what the conversation is about. We don't have anyone but Corral under contract for 2023. It seems like a no-brainer to offer him a backup contract. But go ahead, shower me with your poos.

Definitely. They dropped us from the 8th pick to the 9th pick. How will our franchise ever recover??? Man those guys are geniuses.

This might be a crazy thought, but Chicago, Seattle and Arizona could all use a pass rusher. You probably go Will Anderson and Jalen Carter for 2 of those picks but after that Burns is a much surer thing than anyone else at that point. Do you see if Burns could be the central piece for a trade for pick 4 and jump the Colts who are clearly going to take a qb?

He's got an uphill climb. There are 3 receivers among the 15 finalists (Torry Holt, Reggie Wayne and Andre Johnson) so at minimum he's gotta hope they all get enshrined and then build some momentum.

Interesting.. we really do seem to be locked at 9 at worst. The 7-9 teams all ahead of us have a much higher SOS, so looks like we'd be 9th even if we beat the Saints, which is a relief. Atlanta beating Tampa is highly possible especially if the starters get pulled. I'm less optimistic about Denver beating KC with the 1 seed on the line and Seattle beating the Rams with the playoffs on the line, but both are obviously not impossible. Seems like we should resign ourselves to 8 or 9.

No doubt it's horribly tragic and no one thinks this game is more important than his health. Would have been disastrous if they tried to immediately finish the game. It's fair to wonder what they're going to do now though. I don't think that's disrespectful. If they choose to cancel the game and let the seeds fall where they may, that's perfectly understandable and I doubt anyone is going to riot even though it could be the difference between a 3 seed and a 1st round bye/home field advantage throughout for one of these teams. The Bills would gladly give up a 1 seed if it meant Hamlin is ok. No one is honestly questioning what matters more. The question is what is appropriately respectful of the situation and the players and balance that with what is feasible. If we're being honest about the situation, the guy is still on a ventilator in the ICU with no clear idea if he's even going to make it and the Bills are practicing and planning to play this weekend. Is that really more respectful of the situation than the league possibly rescheduling the game in 2 weeks at which point he might be in clearly stable condition and recovering? I don't know what they're going to do but it's fair to wonder how we decided where the line gets drawn.

I don't know if he's going to be a solid starter or not but I do know impatiently moving on from every player that didn't shine under a Rhule micromanaged team for the majority of their Panthers tenure is definitely a recipe for failure.

I was trying to think if there was any scenario where the game has no seeding implications based on the outcomes of week 18 and I don't think so. If Cincinatti loses to Baltimore, then obviously Cincy has to beat Buffalo to win the division. If Cincy beats Baltimore, they could jump to a 2 seed with a Buffalo loss or even the 1 seed if both KC and Buffalo lose in week 18 by beating Buffalo. If Buffalo and KC both win in week 18, then Buffalo would have the 1 seed/1st round bye in play by beating Cincinnati. There is literally no outcome that won't be affected by that game. Which is unfortunate because I'm sure most would prefer it be cancelled otherwise. Getting back on that field after witnessing such a tragic event has to be awful.

Darnold has done enough to warrant a contract offer. The question is how much? I think he's played himself into a Trubisky-like contract (2 years, $14 million with almost all the guarantees in the 1st year). Any more than that and I think you let him go elsewhere and potentially nab a decent comp pick.

There's been an alarming trend for teams moving on from their starting qbs and the new team being very disappointed in what they get. Darnold, Mayfield, Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan, Carson Wentz x2, DeShaun Watson (early returns at least). QBs are too valuable for teams to move on without good reason. That'd be my main concern with Carr. He's objectively at least average as a starter if not better, and should be an upgrade. His contract is overpriced but non-guaranteed, so you could take a flier and cut him if he doesn't live up to it. The problem would be the draft picks to give up. A day 3 pick we got from San Francisco would be worthwhile but I think with enough teams desperate for an upgrade at qb (Jets and Colts at a bare minimum), I suspect the asking price will be too high.

We're either going to be in control the entire game and win convincingly or lose by 1 possession. Loss of Horn against a talented Bucs WR corp, playing on the road and Brady summoning whatever he has to eek out a last playoff run makes me thing we might see the latter unfortunately. Hopefully I'm wrong. I didn't expect us to beat up the Lions like that. If we can exert our will in the running game, we should win.

I didn't believe it at first but that's actually right. In that scenario, Carolina, New Orleans and Atlanta would be tied at 7-10. The first tie breaker for the division is record between the tied teams. In the scenario you outlined, those would be: Carolina: 2-2 Atlanta: 1-3 New Orleans: 3-1 That would be a really sucky way to lose the division but amazingly in play.

Here's the full video for those interested

I get wanting more from the team, but we also need to get a reality check. A third of the way through the season we were the laughing stocks of the league and the betting favorites to get the number 1 pick. And to add insult to injury, since then, we traded away our best player plus our #2 receiver, and handed the reins of our offense back to Sam Darnold. Isn't controlling our own destiny to win the division with 3 weeks left kind of best case scenario for this year? Don't get me wrong; I think we can do better than Wilks and am embarrassed at our performance today. But I also acknowledge we basically played at the level of our talent.

Not great that the Bucs are looking like the superior team against the Bengals. At least the one point of solace was that the Bucs were supposed to lose and we would likely still have control of our destiny if we win out.

I don't get the people on the TE train. How many teams that drafted a TE in the 1st round look back fondly on that decision? Plus TEs tend to have a steeper transition from college to pros for whatever reason. Even Kyle Pitts was supposed to be a once in a generation freak that was closer to a WR1 than a tight end and he went from a promising rookie year to invisible most weeks this year. What's his best case scenario? Debatably ok value at the 4th pick? No way I go TE in the 1st and preferably not even with either 2nd.