Jackie Lee

Before yesterday's game would have been believable. Either he's not injured and Rhule's trying to find a way to bench Sam without admitting the trade was a horrible idea, or Sam shouldn't have played in the first place because he actually was injured. Either way Rhule can't save face on this any longer

So Rhule gambled on Darnold. For Rhule to save his own job he probably has to bench Darnold, let the other guys suck, blame it on and fire Brady, and gamble on Darnold again next year. They gave up too much to cut Sam and no one would trade for that guaranteed money either when you can get a Trubisky/Winston/etc for under $5 million on a prove it deal.

Rhule had the perfect scapegoat to play PJ and Morgan without having to bench Darnold this week. Just say his shoulder wasn't ready and no one would be bummed if the other guys didn't work out. Now he has to directly bench Darnold for poor play, showing his ineptitude as a coach and evaluator

They screwed themselves, they had Teddy under contract. Denver got Teddy for a 6th round pick and $3 million dollars. Saints got Winston for like $5 million? Trubisky for a vet minimum? All these guys are better and rebuild friendly. I think this staff has a gambling problem

PFN rankings kinda nail it. 22) Carolina Panthers We’re done trying to talk ourselves into Sam Darnold, right? I can’t help but think how fun Justin Fields would be in a Panthers uniform. This team is in a tough spot now. They have a young defensive nucleus and some great offensive weapons. But they’re paying their running back a ton of money, and they’re on the hook for almost $19 million for Darnold next season. Carolina doesn’t absolutely need to select a QB in the 2022 NFL Draft, but they must rebuild their offensive line at a minimum. Then, Carolina’s front office must pray it can either get good enough play to give Darnold another season or bad enough play to get a top pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. The Panthers’ brain trust — head coach Matt Rhule, offensive coordinator Joe Brady, and general manager Scott Fitterer — are in a tough spot. Owner David Tepper doesn’t strike me as an incredibly patient owner. He wants to spend money and make splashes. That’s tough to do without a franchise QB.

Welp

Ok Terry warming up

That should be a horrible challenge, pushed his body in

With Teddy we could have drafted Fields to sit on the bench this year, or signed Trubisky to compete in camp. With Darnold we gave up 3 2022 draft picks and $18m of 2022 cap space. Don't understand why people aren't equating those horrible staff decisions into the Teddy/Sam debate

Oh look Richards is actually willing to box out

Just tuning in is Plumlee still a liability?

Oops wrong thread

Just tuning in, is Plumlee still a liability?

And all our draft picks next year, possibly Fields on the bench learning

Imagine we could have had Teddy, drafted Hurts in the 2nd last year instead of YGM, or Fields/Jones this year. And all our draft picks next year of O-line. That's a true rebuild. I think the staff has set us back another 2-3 years banking on their own hubris, that's on Hurney who's a known moron, an inexperienced owner and college head coach. Jury is still out on Fitt because we don't know if he's just Rhules yes man and trading for whatever Rhule wants.

Is anyone coming out better than Jalen Hurts who we could have picked up in the 2nd round last year instead of YGM? Should have been churning this thing through the draft 2 years ago

He couldn't even handle Teddy's constructive criticism of his rookie coaching staff. If he didn't tinker around so much we probably would have kept Teddy and drafted Fields to sit a year, and still have all of our draft picks next year to fix the O-line. Now we have to start over with one high draft pick and few 5-7 rounders

I think he kept Sam in because he's afraid to admit he screwed up trading away 3 draft picks for Sam, and he guaranteed his $18m 5th year option before he even saw him on a practice field.

Rhule is scared to replace/bench him because he traded 3 drafts picks and guaranteed him $18 million next before he even took a practice rep. Benching Darnold would be admitting to Tepper that he fuged up and has no idea how to evaluate or coach in the NFL. If he doesn't then fans are gonna start booing them during games or just not showing up at all. Either way I think Rhule is fuged

If he benches him he has to admit he's a horrible evaluator not only with picking Darnold, but believing himself and his coaching staff could fix him. What's Rhule even good for at that point?

If Tepper isn't happy he'll pay Rhule the $50m to go away. He's probably losing that much in ticket sales per year with the team Rhule put together.

So if it's "all of it" that needs fixing after 25 games I believe that is ultimately on Rhule himself

Rhule probably doesn't have enough time to develop himself into an NFL coach before he gets fired

If Rhule hadn't traded 3 draft picks next year and picked up $25m guaranteed for 2 years he wouldn't be playing right now. Can't wait to hear Rhule explain his way out of this situation

Rhule definitely isn't getting another QB project