Peon Awesome

Trying to simplify these decision-making processes to such a rudimentary level is stupid. Don't massively reach for a qb you're not sold on over a player at another position that you have graded at the top of your list. But don't bypass a QB when you desperately need one if you have a top grade on them just because you have a better grade on someone else. Look at our 2022 draft. Is anyone upset we took Ekwonu over Pickett? Are the QB or bust brigade looking back and thinking that was a stupid decision? Probably not. If our rankings end up as 1. Anderson 2. Young 3. Stroud, and we get our pick of qb or Anderson, the QB is the no-brainer. The real issue is if we have the same rankings plus 34. Levis 44. Hooker or something like that and we're picking 3 with Young and Stroud taken 1 and 2, you should probably take Anderson in that situation. These are all hypothetical of course. If we love one of those other qbs and think he's top 10 material, that's different.

Baker needs to sit for one more game to keep the 4th round pick but I'm not super worried about it. Either Baker will look like himself and get benched for Sam or PJ when healthy, which is by far the most likely outcome. Or he plays lights out, leads us to the playoffs and we get a home playoff game. Even if he's ok, we probably go back to PJ when he's healthy under the premise that PJ never lost the starting job but just got injured.

It may be more like top 20 or so but look back at the last several drafts. The majority of the best pass rushers were taken near the top of the first round. Myles Garrett, Bosa brothers, Chubb, Burns, Parsons, Chase Young and now Hutchinson looking like the cream of the crop in his draft year. Similar to QB, you can find later round picks making big impacts on many teams but if you look at the overall number, there's a high bust rate outside of the 1st (and even within the 1st). I admittedly might have overstated it but unlike many positions like guard, safety, linebacker, corner, tight end and so on, it's more the exception rather than the rule that you're day 2-3 rookie pass rusher has hopes of being an impact starter.

The problem is that good pass rushers are one of the toughest players to find. It's rare to get one outside of the top 10 in the draft, and they almost never make it to free agency unless they've got other red flags, get old or have major injury concerns. It's like having a good qb. It's why teams with an above average qb pretty much have no choice but to pay them $45+ million per year now even though probably only 3 or 4 qbs are truly worth that. Did Arizona really want to give that much to Kyler Murray? Unfortunately you're stuck overpaying your good pass rushers. I'm honestly not opposed to trading Burns next year before the deadline if we get another great offer. But you're doing it at a risk that you probably won't replace him and may waste valuable picks trying. Gotta have a lot of faith on your gm/scouring department.

This whole thread is a moot point. If the Ravens don't sign him to an extension, they're going to apply the exclusive franchise tag. There's not going to be an option to give up 2 1st rounders for him. Don't be foolish.

Obviously the team won't pass on someone they have graded as a potential franchise qb just because they drafted Matt Corral. But there is a question of whether they'll feel pressed to draft someone they have a lower grade on if the top qbs aren't available out of sheer desperation. I mean if you were higher on Corral last year relative to the tier after Bryce and Stroud, what do you do? I'd guess they'd still draft someone just to increase the odds but if someone like Anderson is there, do you really pass on him to take a qb you don't have much confidence will pan out? Tough decisions. Hopefully we're drafting high enough it won't matter. Also for those saying Corral doesn't have a chance if we draft a qb in the 1st, there's at least precedence with Kirk Cousins and Robert Griffin. Long shot obviously and requires probably an injury to the 1st rounder but not impossible.

Let me help you see it in another light. The draft picks were for 2024 and 2025 picks. Bradley Chubb went for a 1st and 4th at the deadline on his 5th year option. You don't think we'd get close to 2 1sts next year if Burns doesn't make sense at that point? We'll still get a 2024 and 2025 1st, but this way we have a chance to see whether a promising rookie qb and a competent coaching staff can lead to a quick turnaround first. Trade Burns for a 2024 and 2025 pick now and you're pretty much accepting we're not competing till 2025. Also immediate impact pass rushers are rarely found outside of the top 10. For every Maxx Crosby there are 10 Yetur Gross Matos. There's a reason teams are offering so much for Burns. Now if we're in a full on rebuild and don't want to pay Burns like a premium pass rusher, fine, trade him next year. But I have no problem nixing a trade that doesn't help us for a couple years when we have Burns at a reasonable price through 2023.

Fields is a good example of why coaching matters. He was trending towards all time bust with Matt Nagy. I mean the way he played him was just laughably bad. Now he has a coaching staff that actually tries to scheme the offense around his skill set and he looks much better. But I don't lament not drafting him. He would've had his formative years with Rhule as his coach. He would've looked as bad as ever and we would all be looking ahead to Bryce or Stroud. Hopefully it'll work out with one of those 2 and a good coach.

Until we get final confirmation on the specifics of the offer, it's hard to fully criticize it. We've heard it was going to be two future 1sts rather than any in the upcoming draft. Then we hear Cam Akers was getting added, which is probably a net negative overall. Who know what else was included? Did the Rams ask us to give them one of our 2023 2nds, similar to the Khalik Mack trade? Or hell, maybe they wanted us to give 2nds in 2024 and 2025 so that we were just moving up 1 round in those drafts. These leaks may have had an agenda, otherwise why leak it? I'm sure there were hundreds of offers around the league and this was one of the only rejected ones publicized. Maybe the Panthers leaked it to try to get a team to give 2 1sts with fewer strings attached. Or maybe it really was just 2 1sts and Akers. It'd just be nice to get some official confirmation.

Honestly I think it's more a testament to how important coaching and front office is. The teams that pick towards the top tend to be poorer run teams at least at the time of the pick. It's rare that a rookie qb single handedly changes the fortunes of the team on his ability alone. Cam might be one of the few examples and even it took a couple years for our management to build a better team around him. Hurts is a great example. He was trending towards being a bust. Then they get a good coaching staff and make some shrewd moves, namely trading for AJ Brown and now he's an MVP candidate. Similar story with Tua. Meanwhile Trevor Lawrence was one of the best prospects to come out in 20 years and he's been below average by most every metric. If he spent his rookie year with Andy Reid instead of Urban Meyer, how much better would he be? You could definitely argue us getting the coaching hire right is more important than which QB we draft.

You also have to wonder why this is getting so much press. I feel like someone in the Panthers could be leaking this to up any last minute offers for Burns. Wouldn't shock me if we end up trading him after all, especially if anything gets added to the offer. If we get a haul, I wouldn't hate it. But we'd really have to hit big in the draft. This defense would have no pass rush as is minus Burns and a defense without a pass rush is no defense.

That sounds good at face value but smart teams don't tend to spend a ton on coverage linebackers. We could probably get a highly ranked rookie linebacker with one of our 2 2nd round picks if we really wanted to invest in it and we'd be getting them at 4 years and $9 million rather than the 4 years and $80 million Roquan is probably looking for.

The biggest problem is you'd be getting him as a 1 year rental in a clearly lost season. Chicago didn't extend him cause he wanted a massive contract. You really want to give up significant draft capital for an inside linebacker you have to pay a fortune to extend? No way.

That was CJ's best game by far. Yeah he was largely responsible for the Byrd TD but that was his one big stain on an otherwise really solid performance. The thing that makes it all the better is that this is the 1st time he's been under decent coaching in about 2.5 years. So there's legit chance for serious growth. Plus there was a big mental element supposedly to his lackluster play. No better way to get right mentally than to build confidence with some big plays.

The trade was a win-win-win scenario. Win for the Panthers getting trade capital in a rebuild and making opportunities to better develop their other offensive playmakers. Win for the 49ers getting an otherworldly talent and having the coaches to make the most of his abilities. Win for my fantasy football team that drafted McCaffrey with the first pick. Everyone comes out on top.

Mahomes game him some respect here

Amazing how good the defense looks when they can actually catch their breath. Our chances in the 2nd half rest on our offense actually extending drives and avoiding 3 and outs and turnovers.

At least Pineiro has been surprisingly money all year.

It wouldn't surprise me whatsoever if it was the 4th quarter, down by 1 score and Wilks opts to punt it from the Falcons 36 yard line on a 4th and 3.

The 6.6 mph is an interesting bar. That's a very leisurely jog, equivalent to a 12.4 second 40 yard time. I'm guessing they use that cutoff more to measure how often lineman are making a legit effort to hussle to block downfield, which granted is a good thing to see that he's doing that as much as he is. But it doesn't really highlight his speed.

I wouldn't even trade the 2025 5th rounder we got from San Fran for Mac Jones. Looks like crap and getting handily outplayed by Zappe

I'd be happy with him as defensive coordinator but don't want him as head coach. I can't stand the conservative game management. He doesn't play to win. That works if the other team beats themselves, but you're not going to consistently win that way and you're going to gradually undermine your team's confidence. I think we're just seeing how historically terrible Rhule was that Wilks' basic competence looks so good. But we can do better.

Whoops posted in the wrong thread.

So did PJ just get a lot better in 1 week or did he just disprove Wilks BS from last week that he wasn't capable of running a 2 minute offense?

Smith tried to fair catch from the 1 yard line. Lucky the ball carried to the end zone. Special teams coach, where you at?