frankw

Well he's not using it as an excuse which is admirable but it has to have some level of impact. Regardless I really hope he steps it up and manages to develop into the complete WR we drafted him to be. I can't stomach another bust WR especially after what's already transpired with the Brooks pick.

Here's his numbers before the injury. All this huffing and puffing over this???? lol. I've got a real nice bridge to sell anyone who doesn't think he was on his way to getting benched even if he didn't get injured. That is horrendous.

Nothing changes the fact O'Connell is and has been a backup at best and he was playing poorly before the injury. Our first overall pick should be head and shoulders above him and Andy Dalton but as it stands his improvement puts him right there sandwiched between the two of them. And clearly you can't handle that as only one of us here is furiously typing up angry rebuttals. And this is your second since 1 am. Maybe take a deep breath and stop creating perceived enemies all over the place here because they don't see eye to eye with you on every detail.

Agreed. And I agree with your above remarks about the approach to QB in the future regardless of Bryce. There's no reason we shouldn't consider adding a young QB with one of our day 2 picks because this QB room needs new life and if Canales can get this out of Young then we should absolutely give him another QB to develop as a fallback. That approach is what is best for the team going forward IMO.

While I am sympathetic O'Connell was injured and wish him well he was having a dreadful game and his future is competing for a backup job around the league at best. You can rabble about narratives all you like. I'm expecting our #1 pick to ascend much higher than the likes of that.

I liked his potential but the 49ers have much more talent on the whole than we do. Even still our defense has come up big in some situations the last few weeks despite how depleted the roster has been at times this season.

On this we agree completely. We can talk numbers and comparisons all day. But he is undoubtedly playing with confidence and attempting throws we've been begging for. That alone is an improvement. I share your enthusiasm for Canales. What he's doing with this roster has me excited for next season.

I don't think the low passing yardage is a direct reflection of defensive improvement as much as it is that teams are running the ball a lot more. There are still teams airing it out there were 7 QB's with over 300 passing yards last Sunday. And let's be honest. There was much talk of how good both the Chiefs and Eagles defenses were before we played them and both looked largely meh. Clearly this conversation boils down to a difference in viewpoint. Some people see this through only a lens that Bryce Young has "improved" and nothing else. Others see it through a viewpoint that while he has improved there are other circumstances to consider. If Bryce is truly taking grown man steps forward then he will put up even more impressive numbers in the coming weeks. Right now he is realistically in the 25 out of 32 range and we are considering that an upgrade.

Interesting choice of words.

And just an FYI. Kyle Allen had 255.5 yards per game in 2019. That would make him 6th in the NFL this season. With that in mind would you agree it's worth noting that the comparative improvements Bryce Young has made the last 5 games as a passer are in the midst of what is clearly a rare down year for passing as a whole?

Stroud finished 6th in the NFL in passer rating as a rookie. I want the same thing anyone else wants if Bryce is the QB of the future that's fantastic. But his body of work will be judged as if he is a first overall pick not some small school QB we took a mid to late round flyer on. Let's just agree to disagree.

For anyone curious his new passer rating puts him right between Aiden O'Connell and Andy Dalton. I'm happy he's improving but maybe we should keep things in perspective here. O'Connell just had a game so ugly he got benched for Desmond Ridder. Andy Dalton was so bad we had to go back to Bryce. I mean to consider this is as good news for our first overall pick is a very low bar even for this franchise.

I don't expect this trend of passing yardage being down to hold. Going back to 2020 before this season every other season before had no less than 8-10 QB's with over 4k passing yards. The league has highs and lows and ups and downs but things always level back out. Even just this past weekend there were 7 QB's with over 300 passing yards. Make no mistake if we want to be competitive with staying power for any significant amount of time consecutively in the future we will still need a QB who has the capacity to sling it up and down the field.

Progress is good. There's nothing wrong with expecting more to finish the season. That will go a long way to establishing a better consensus on him within the fanbase. You can't realistically blame anyone for being cautiously optimistic for the time being. Especially someone that has been a Panthers fan for many many years. We've fallen head over heels for small sample sizes before. As far as comparisons go Hurts is a very inconsistent QB compared to a few years ago. In general QB play this season has been largely underwhelming compared to the last 4-5 years. I don't expect things to remain that way though. Especially the low passing yardage we're seeing on the whole. There were actually several QB's with well over 300+ yards yesterday.

There are some fans here who in their own way mean well but are so emotionally driven they use the poo reaction as a tool for personal retribution rather than what it's actually meant for. Which is to be generally reserved for truly vile posts. Eventually they will lead to it being removed and then they'll really be pissed.

Jalen Hurts has been the epitome of up and down the last few seasons after finishing runner up for MVP in 2022. In actuality Hurts descent from that is a good example to keep things in perspective for our own QB and the progress he has made for the time being.

Yes the college scouting dept has remained unchanged despite the changes in the front office. Which is downright criminal considering our drafts the last few years.

I think on this issue we clearly agree more than we disagree. I will say that as far as Bryce Young the last several games goes I'm definitely less concerned about his passing ability as I was before and he's clearly more confident about throwing the ball up and down the field which is obviously a welcome sight. But if I'm being honest and removing homer shades it still seems like his arm ceiling is a Bridgewater level. That isn't to say we can't win with that. It's just to say there's no reason we shouldn't have an insurance policy of sorts for the position in our back pocket so to speak. We must learn from the last two offseasons and I very much hope that will be the case. That's nothing personal against Bryce and the progress he's made it's just about what's doing best for the franchise going forward. That's what it should always be about.

Some years are down some years are up. The passing yardage leader for the season so far is Burrow with 3,337. Looking at the top 10 in that category 3 QB's haven't even cracked 3,000 yet. Last season there were 10 QB's with over 4,000 passing yards. In 2022 there were 9. In 2021 there were 10 again. In 2020 there were 12. I'm going to go with the assumption this year is more of an anomaly until proven otherwise.

Bryce is not tied to Canales though. Dave should have the opportunity to bring in another QB. We would be fools not to have a solid backup plan this go around. Meanwhile we are still building up the rest of the roster for whomever ends up holding down the position long term.

I think that's entering into a different conversation altogether when using words like "balling" and comparing his output to others. The NFC is comically weak. What counts for franchise QB play now compared to years past is if we're being honest not that impressive. People who haven't been watching football long might see it differently. But a year 2 Cam Newton in this iteration of the league and NFC would likely have this team in playoff contention IMO.

Don't hold your breath.

It is not an insult to say he is a serviceable starter for the time being. If someone is wanting me to say he looks like a franchise QB right now that's entering hopium territory to me. It is encouraging that he has made the progress he has under Canales. That means that while I have gained confidence in Bryce I am even more confident in wanting to see Dave Canales bring in another QB who isn't Andy Dalton or Jack Plummer and see what a fresh QB room will look like.

Right. I'm just saying it is baffling that we are still drafting receivers like that and not placing a higher value on route running or hands.