Peon Awesome

Yeah I appreciate the context. I was hoping someone would actually post the interview Overall it seems a little strange how much hate this engenders. Almost everyone agreed that we ran McCaffrey to the ground and most people thought it was stupid that Rhule wanted to utilize a run heavy offense in a league that is shifting heavily towards the pass. Now that he's correcting his ineptitude, people find that outrageous? I don't get it. I'd much rather Rhule walk back pretty much everything he said and did the last 2 years since it was pretty abysmal rather than stick to his guns for the sake of being consistent.

I didn't mind the call. We made them use their timeouts, which forced them to abandon the run that was killing us. Brissett had done nothing pretty much all game and we came an atrocious roughing the passer call and a rookie kicker knocking in a 58 yard fg from winning the game. Plus we gave up a sack/botched snap the one time we possibly tried to throw it in the red zone. Imagine we give up a sack on 3rd down and make it an even tougher kick for Pineiro whom I wouldn't trust past 40 yards. You could certainly argue for going for the end zone but I don't think that was a clearly flawed decision at all.

Here's the thing, what makes more sense? A) Baker and the team as a whole were still acclimating to so many new pieces and a new offensive scheme and needed time to adjust to a real NFL defense and then finally got in a groove to end the game Or B) Baker played how we expect him to play all year in the 1st half and through luck, sudden lapse in defense, the will of the gods or some combination of the above, he played way beyond his potential in the 4th quarter. Call me an optimist but I am going to let myself believe A until I see evidence to the contrary. Guess we'll find out against the Giants which half was the fluke.

Bill Simmons picks the Panthers to make the playoffs. His points include Baker being a big upgrade, McCaffrey is a top rb if healthy, Matt Rhule teams tend to have a big jump in year 3, we have a talented core on defense, McAdoo should be an upgrade over Brady and we have an exploitable schedule (Cleveland with Jacoby, Arizona without Hopkins). The guy on the other end of the debate is skeptical mainly cause Matt Rhule hasn't shown he is an NFL caliber coach, which is fair to say the least. Nice debate though. Hope you enjoy.

An overriding issue is that laypeople way overvalue day 3 draft picks. The truth is, once you get to the 5th round and later, the difference between a draft pick and an undrafted free agent is usually eye of the beholder. You need to have enough cheap talent to build a complete team and afford your stars, but whether that comes from your 5th rounder (Nixon) or 7th/UDFA (McCall/Hoskins), it's really irrelevant. It's stupid to hold onto a player just cause you invested late draft capital over a better performing player on an even cheaper contract.

I'm a little surprised Nixon was the odd man out but the bottom line is we signed a player at a position lacking depth to play a role that needs shoring up (run defense), while cutting a player at a position where there was already something of a logjam. Maybe it's a little early to give up on a draft pick but at the same time, if you're getting outplayed by players drafted later than you, I don't think you're entitled to a roster spot. Practice squad makes sense, where they can still see if his career can be salvaged without wasting a premier spot on the 53. You'd like to hit on your 5th rounders but the truth of the matter is they rarely get 2nd contracts.

Also incredible that we actually got picks for Daley and Little and they couldn't get a single taker for Leatherwood. Not even a 7th??

Yikes... Hard to imagine a worse 3 year stretch of 1st round picks. He has a couple fantastic selections in the later rounds with Crosby in the 4th and Renfrow in the 5th, plus some good depth with starters at G, LB, and CB using day 3 picks. But all in all, it's no surprise he got fired.

Some of you are embarrassing yourselves. Our starters playing 1 quarter against the Patriots would have no bearing on the success of our season. Hell if we trotted out our developing O line against Belichick's 1st team defense and Baker gets pummeled and ends up as the one with the season ending Lisfranc injury, there'd be no end to the posts about how much of an idiot Rhule was for risking our starters for a meaningless preseason game. It might end up working out better to play the Bill's backups as a nice warmup for the regular season, but regardless, we should be happy we're getting any time to see the starting line work together. I mean would you rather they not play at all or you just want to have another opportunity to complain? Don't worry, that was a rhetorical question.

This doesn't make sense unless the qb1 competition is truly over. They kept saying the starter would be announced after this game. How are you using this game to decide if neither Sam nor Baker are playing? And if you have already made up your mind, why not make an official announcement?

You know who else is making the exact same amount? Baker Mayfield. You know, the guy who made such a huge stink about his team trying to replace him that they ended up trading him for pennies even though a massive suspension was inevitably coming for Watson. How much better off would Cleveland be with Baker starting the first 11 games instead of Jacoby Brissett? Instead they save about $7 million and get a day 3 pick but most likely throw their 2022 season down the drain. This isn't a criticism of Baker so much as a defense of Darnold. Honestly, I've been impressed at how maturely he's handled the whole situation. You can hate him as a qb and at least acknowledge that.

The 2015 playoffs are obviously amazing outside of the super bowl but the regular season had a bunch of gems too. Nailbiter in Seattle, ending Romo and destroying the Cowboys on Thanksgiving, Norman clinching the Saints game with an interception in the end zone, long game winning fg against Indy, shutting out the Falcons at home 38-0 I think. @MasterAwesomeand I had season tickets that year and you couldn't have asked for a more incredible home slate.

We do 0.5 PPR. Would you still pick McCaffrey?

In his defense, center is probably Elflein's most competent position, although definitely worthy of upgrading. I was more worried seeing Michael Jordan as the LG starter in the 1st game but now that Icky is the starting LT, I'm assuming BC will take over that spot.

I won the last place match for my fantasy football league last year and my consolation prize is the #1 pick in the draft this year. So I'm torn. Do I go with... A) Jonathan Taylor - #1 running back last year and consensus first pick in mocks. Consistent, no injury baggage, a great offensive line in Indy or B) Christian McCaffrey - the most dominant fantasy football weapon when healthy, Panthers star, and now with hopefully improved qb and offensive line play that should only make him shine brighter. My heart says CMC. My brain says Taylor. I want to go with my heart. Am I being stupid? Is this why I always lose? Also do you draft DJ Moore a round early or take a later round flier on Robbie Anderson anticipating Baker takes them to the next level? I really need a win this year. I think I'm almost $300 in the hole.

Not to excuse Rhule since his development of our young guys has been sorely lacking but is there another team that still hasn't settled on their starting qb? Maybe Pittsburgh, but Pickett is 3rd on their depth chart so realistically I don't think they plan to seriously consider him week 1. I can't really blame them for giving the vast majority of practice reps to Darnold and Baker until they have settled on the starter. And even though it sucks for us and the franchise, Rhule doesn't have much incentive to care about Corral. Either he wins with Baker and saves his job or he loses, gets fired and isn't around to see if Corral is the answer.

Well there are some high profile examples in the NFL: Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, and most recently Trey Lance, although it's too early to make conclusions on him. Honestly, I think a lot more teams would delay throwing their rookie qbs into the fire but most of the ones drafting a high profile rookie qb are too awful to have the luxury of waiting without having the entire fan base turn on them. That may be the case this year with us too, but it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if Baker Mayfield is so good that we don't feel inclined to see what we have in Corral. If things go awry, I think we throw Corral out there sooner than planned regardless of how ready he might be.

It seems like we're definitely underprioritizing Corral's development. The best rational I can come up with is that Corral is truly being delegated to a redshirt year and the staff has instead put their focus on settling the starting qb between Baker and Darnold. With those 2 splitting so many practice reps, doesn't leave much scraps to be split between PJ and Corral. But if you know you're planning 1+ years to develop Corral, urgency for that isn't really there. In fairness, establishing the 2022 starter should take priority right now unless we're already giving up on the season. Now once they announce the starter for week 1, which is supposed to happen after the Patriots game, then the excuses go out the door. I'm expecting Corral to play a full half in the 3rd game.

Or perhaps the preseason is about evaluating more than the QB position? Maybe PJ has a stronger grasp of the playbook allowing a better assessment of the receivers, offensive line, running backs, etc. Now I realize getting a potential future franchise qb meaningful practice and reps probably should be near the top of the priority list. But as far as rational explanations for not doing so, I think that is far more plausible than PJ trade bait.

Also 90% of the preseason league-wide is showcasing players that are highly unlikely to make the team. It's not like PJ is special in that regard.

Honestly Corral is clearly very raw and maybe the idea was to ease him in with only a few drives in his first game as opposed to playing the majority of the game like PJ. Game reps are good and all but if you don't have a basic grasp of being an NFL qb, getting shellacked and humbled for your first ever game might be an unnecessary bruising of confidence. My guess is he'll get a good chunk of playing time in the last preseason game and that may be the last time we see him in action for quite some time.

My best fan interaction memory was when @MasterAwesomeand I went to the divisional round game against the Seahawks in 2015 and sat next to a Seahawks fan who had flown in from Seattle. Lots of very friendly ribbing if you could even call it that. I remember fist bumping him when the Seahawks scored their first td, saying "watch out for the comeback." We ended up taking a picture of the 3 of us with arms around the shoulders to commemorate. It's unfortunate it's the loud and rude people that make themselves heard the most that make things look worse than they might really be; true in sports and the rest of life (politics, etc)

For starters, I think all this is all highly unlikely. But honestly it wouldn't shock me if McVay could turn Darnold into a serviceable qb; hell he may be the only one who can. So the one plausible scenario I could see is Stafford is expected out for a while and we do a deal similar to the Mayfield one in all aspects: conditional day 3 pick, we pick up a large portion of the salary AND Darnold agrees to a pay cut/contract adjustment that shifts some of the money to non guaranteed incentives bonus. And if you're Darnold, you should do that in a heartbeat. His value is an all time low. He'll be lucky to get medium end backup money next off-season. But if he goes to the Rams and has McVay revive his career, now you're suddenly back in play for starter money. Sacrifice $5 million this year and potentially get $30 million more on your next contract. Win win for everyone: Rams get a super cheap flyer when they are in desperate need in win now mode, Panthers save about $5 million in cap space and get a late round pick, and Darnold gets one last chance as a starter with the best offensive mind in the NFL (or top 2 if you favor Andy Reid) coaching him rather than the absolute nightmare succession of Adam Gase followed by Rhule/Brady.

If Corral, who is supposed to be pretty raw and need a full year to develop to unlock his potential, looks "great for 2-3 games" in his rookie year, that means a lot more to me than Sam Darnold or Kyle Allen looking decent for short stretches after a few years of NFL coaching. I'd be pretty damn excited and want to give him the best chance to take over rather than have him looking over his shoulder at a 2023 1st round pick. The real question is what to do if he looks like a middling starter on the Baker Mayfield tier. That's where the debate gets more interesting. Because you project he'll get better but you don't really know by how much. In that scenario, I'd keep drafting a 2023 QB an option if the value is there. If not, let him play out 2023 and if he flounders, we're presumably in great position to draft a top qb in 2024.

It does put into perspective the Panthers thought process in doing the 5th year extension on Sam Darnold, as regrettable as that is now. The going rate for a decent starting qb seems to start at $40 million per year now. All Darnold had to be was a mediocre starter for it to be a decent deal with his $19 million 5th year deal. It sucks he couldn't remotely live up to that but you can at least understand the Panthers hoping he might.