45catfan

Don't tell Tiger faithful that. Remember, we were stupid to draft Brown over Simmons. The thing is people that are die-hard fans of certain programs like Clemson, 'Bama, OSU etc... are so blinded by their homerism they can't see that players often benefit from these cherry situations they are in. It's difficult for them to scrutinize a player for factors that the stat sheet won't often disclose. Items like scheme, talent of opposition (rather the lack of) and consistent blue-chip recruitment by their school. Simmons looked good because of the insanely ridiculously good D-line in front of him that allowed him to play clean nearly every freaking snap. It was apparent, at least to me, once he got to the NFL where he would not have that same luxury, that his game would not translate well. It doesn't matter to me because we ended up drafting the hybrid LB/S I wanted anyway in Jeremy Chinn and, by the way, Derrick Brown hasn't disappointed either.

Some things never change. New year, the same glaring weakness on the blindside. This was the draft to fix that and we kept trading back to acquire extra picks. Great, so we ended up with 11 picks and a QB who may or may not be shell shocked form his stint with the Jets. I'm pretty sure Darnold would have felt better with solid LT protection over second/third string DTs, a 360 pound guard and...for crying out loud, a freaking long snapper. I'll take quality over quantity, especially in this case.

Early indications are this will be a thin draft for franchise LTs.

I was there many, many, many, many moons ago. The two guys you were referring to were Colin and Magnus...and yes they would run PAGES bitching back and forth. I'm really dating myself here, but their bitchfest actually began at the Charlotte Observer Panthers forum. Yes, that was actually a thing WAY back when. Honestly this is my 3rd incarnation here because this place can get out of control at times too and I get ghost for months at a time and even took years off before I finally came back this time. I lurked for a while and saw it had cleaned up (for the most part) and decided to register again.

Yep, I thought the same thing until I tried it. It is not completely on par with tomato based BBQ sauce, but is still pretty damn tasty. Put it on wings??? Now, that's a mouth watering combination!!!

Hung up on Karl Hankton?

Hehe, I distinctly remember folks here calling a DT drafted in the top 10 a wasted pick. "You don't draft space eaters in the top 10," they said. I mocked Brown to us and was elated when his name was called. On the other hand, I bet a lot of poo was thrown at TV screens when his name was called. I can't stress this enough about how over the moon I was with the 2020 draft. In short...yes, you do draft elite DTs in the top 10!

I hope Olsen is good with it because seeing a WR wearing an 80's jersey gives me the warm fuzzies. I hated it when they were allowed to don teens jerseys and hate it even more now they can wear single digits.

I agree MOST mayo sucks. Dukes is the exception. Miracle Whip, Hellmanns, Kraft etc.. are all horrible. Pooing Dukes won't get you banned, but it certainly will get your 'Southern card' revoked.

Oh, and cooking out ribeyes tonight on the charcoal grill!

Love the sweetness of Cherokee tomatoes. Any sandwich made at home without DUKES is blasphemy in these parts. While a BLT is awesome, the traditional southern tomato sandwich on a hot summer day with homegrown tomatoes, ample Dukes mayo, salt, pepper on untoasted white bread is simplicity at it's finest! Missing any one of those ingredients makes such a simple sandwich inferior.

Actually, outside of metro Charlotte, you don't see strong support. Granted this has been over a decade ago, but I lived in western NC for a while and for about a year in Raleigh. To say the support was weak would be an understatement. Finding merchandise at retail stores was sparse and even gamedays was almost void of fans decked out in Panthers gear. Heck, I would go to bars and have to request the games to be shown. Getting back to SC, like most states void of Major League teams, they are heavily invested in college sports. I know the Panthers are in the 'Carolinas,' but they will always take a back seat to Clemson and Gamecocks.

Nah, just the border counties with Georgia mostly. No different than the Eastern part on NC still having a strong contingent of Washington fans.

I would actually keep my PSLs then. (Hint: I live just south of Greenville).

Not a fan of dudes cheering, but like someone already mentioned, the Topcats are more of a dance squad. To that point, they have never been up to par with the likes of the Cowboys, Bucs, Chargers squads anyhow. I hardly go to games anymore so I could care less what happens on the sidelines. If I wanted to see hot girls dance, a strip club would be better suited.

QB: We are riding with Danrold this season no matter what. There's no option #2 as far as that is concerned. As far as injury? Now you could argue that Walker and Grier aren't the answer if Darnold has to miss some time. While I concur on that aspect, I really don't see the team investing in a borderline starter QB to back up Darnold. WR: Again, if factoring out injury, I think we are set at WR. Anderson, DJ, Marshall Jr, Zylstra and Smith are our top five. We have decent competition for that last sixth spot between the other Moore and Kirkwood. WR #6 isn't a huge concern for me. LB: Outside of Shaq, Reddick, Perryman and perhaps Carter, what do we really have? Luvu and Stanford? That's a stretch even counting those two. Beyond that is like throwing throwing mud at the wall. You typically want to keep 7 LBs on your 53-man roster.

I have a feeling we signed Irving as a back-up LT and because of his OL versatility. I'm nearly certain he was not signed to be our starting LT this season. The team thought they had two safe-guards and at worst, Irving would be option #3 at starting LT. Firstly, every one knew we were targeting a LT in the draft. The Lions screwed us over by nabbing Sewell and then trading down continuously squashed any realistic option of getting sure-fire starter. The backup plan was Taylor Moton being moved over after being tagged.

Eh, it's all speculation prior to camp, but looking on paper that is what I saw as glaring holes. I would say say short of camp injuries that we have most of those positions you listed settled in one fashion or another. Granted teams aren't going to have all-pros at every position, but settled enough that the staff should be comfortable heading into the season. I think we keep guys at WR, RB, OG, DT, LS, K, TE and CB we have heading into camp for the 53-man roster. In other words, no post-camp upgrade FA signings.

With $2.5 million in cap savings, if the team had any questions about Burris starting, he'd already be gone. They are not paying that kind of money to a reserve safety. They clearly chose him over Boston, one of the two had to go with the combined cap money tied up between them . Being a converted corner, he has the coverage skills and he's big enough at 210 that he's not a 'shy' tackler. My biggest issue with Burris last year was staying healthy. I thought his play was good enough when he was actually on the field.

I'm not a fan of the depth at safety either, but I think the team liked what they saw in Franklin last year and Robinson has a chance to step up in camp...throw Chandler into mix as well. Burris and Chinn are our unquestioned starters. That said, I doubt the team is going to spend resources in backup safeties unless a fringe starter becomes available after cuts and the rest of our reserves failed to impress them in camp. I would put safety at #4 if I would have done another position group. However, who does a top 4 list, lol?

We still have a month before camp, but looking over this roster I still see room for some improvement. Once cuts occur, I can definitely see us picking up 1-3 guys. 1) LT-BIG question mark here. The only solution on the roster is moving Moton to LT. Erving isn't the answer, neither is Little etc... Rhule has already seeming squashed the idea of Christensen playing there saying he's a RT or guard. If a better alternative comes available during preseason, expect us to pounce. 2) DE- Burns, YGM and Fox. The rest are JAGS. Even then, YGM and Fox are honestly #2's. We need a guy to play opposite of Burns. Reddick at 235 obviously is a pass rush specialist and not a DE. Maybe YGM steps up in camp. Fox is simply filling the void of what we thought we were getting with Weatherly last year...that 3rd rotational end. 3) LB- THIN here. This is the very reason Chinn was turned into a LB last year; mainly out of necessity. While the staff beefed it up a little this offseason, we still don't have the bodies needed if we are running a base 4-3. I read somewhere that we were in our base 4-3 last year less than 10% of the time because of LB depth. Yes, I understand nickle reigns supreme in the pass-happy NFL, but OUR personnel deficiencies were just as much of factor as match-ups with the opposition. Left tackle is a starting issue, DE is a starting/rotational type and LB is purely depth, so that why I ranked them as such. Even if the staff attempts to roll into the season without shoring up those spots, we are one injury away from serious question marks at any one of those positions.

I still chuckle when I think back to the people that had meltdowns when when drafted Chinn and passed over Simmons from Clemson. Ah, good memories.

^^^This. If he sticks on the roster I will have successfully mocked a day 3 player in consecutive drafts. I got Brevvion Roy last year. So yeah, I'm pulling for Taylor.

The red-headed stepchildren for Rivera was always OL and safety. He would beef up talent everywhere else on the roster. I remember Mitchell very well, his only problem was getting continuously fined for personal fouls. Coleman benefited initially from a strong overall defense. Once we lost some pieces, he got exposed quickly and the same can be said about Roman Harper. Godfrey was average, at best, in my view. Mike Minter was the best pure safety we've ever had.

How dare you pigeon hole Chinn like that!!!!!!!!!! You cruel, evil, person!