Icege

Yea man, he definitely looked like he belonged in limited action. Smooth athlete with solid vision... sucks to have the setback that he had. Fully expecting him to start on PUP and then depending on the possibility of a postseason either shut him down until next season or work him back in so that there's fresh legs if needed.

Just started my armchair scouting this week with the EDGE guys. Not very impressed with Mykel Williams, was disappointed that JT Tuimoloau seemed to decline a bit from last season, and was impressed with Jack Sawyer's motor but he reminds me of YGM with better hand-fighting. To be fair to all of them, I've got only two games each reviewed so far. Abdul Carter is a freak. I'm very eager to dive into the Mike Green film. Got a feeling that he's long gone by the time the Panthers get to make their second selection (whether or not they trade up) but going to hold on to hope!

They've gotten some solid production out of Olamide Zaccheaus and Noah Brown as well, but yea McLaurin, Ertz, and Ekeler alone are proven NFL playmakers. All three of those guys are savvy vets that are great security blankets for a rookie QB. I'm interested to see if Jayden can continue making plays with his legs after leading the team in rushing this season because that's going to be a tough wrinkle for opposing DCs to deal with.

Link to article 1. Fix the run defense Panthers' 2025 defensive accolades: the fourth team in history and the first since 1980 to allow 3,000 rushing yards in a season; allowed the most points (534) in league history Morgan/Canales say scheme wasn't an issue, that it was a combo of players and coaches. LB + DB coaches were let go, front office has to go get better pieces Keep an eye on DJ Jones, who signed a 3yr, $30M deal with Denver in 2022. Ranks fourth in stopping the run compared to Shy Tuttle (130th). 2. Get Young another playmaker Per a league source, Diontae racked up fines and wasn't practicing much when the team decided to trade him to Baltimore. XL had the league's 22nd-worst catch percentage (58.3%) which was still higher than Diontae Johnson (49.3%) and David Moore (56.1%). Coker was a good find and Thielen still produces, but they need another field stretcher whether it be Chris Godwin or Tee Higgins. 3. Overhaul the safeties Fuller and Scott were disappointments. Woods and Franklin Jr would make plays, but both attracted the attention of officials (4 penalties each). Demani Richardson was solid, but look for Morgan to double down like he did with the iOL last offseason. Colts' Julian Blackmon, pending medicals, could be a value signing. 4. Lock up Horn Earned his first Pro Bowl berth. Upped his offseason regimen after playing just 22 of 51 games in his first three seasons. Reached career highs in tackles, sacks, and pass breakups. 5. Tackle the offensive tackles' contracts Moton was PFF's 20th-ranked pass protector and Icky improved his pass blocking this season as well. Likely scenario is that Moton is extended to knock down his incoming $31.3M cap hit (11.5% of the cap). Have to make a decision on Icky's bonus option, which could cost an estimated $18.4M against the cap.

From everything I read it sounded like they were slow playing his return and being extra cautious. Do you know somebody in the training room that knew otherwise? What was weird about it?

https://www.panthers.com/news/two-coaches-participating-in-all-star-games-daren-bates-jim-caldwell Looks like they're sending Coach DB to find some DAWGS

Yea, I was NOT expecting that. Found the plays DB talked about where Dirty Dan burned the opposing DBs... Dan Chisena is fast.mp4 Dan Chisena is really fast.mp4

Lord help us if he decides to watch Netflix

Assistant special teams coach Darren Bates returned to his podcast, Raw Room, and spent ~15min early in the episode reviewing the Panthers' season. Panthers' portion starts at the timestamp. For folks that have problems with XL's accent (or accents in general), put on closed captions because DB's Memphis accent is probably going to beat the dog poo out of you.

I believe it Was wanting so bad for Mike Green to be sitting there at 45 for the Panthers to trade up for

Gotta help the bros that can't get behind the paywall

You could legit sell these like the old Bum Fights VHS tapes and probably make a killing.

Link to article Excerpts below

Hell yes all day to Jalon Walker Alfred Collins looks rather beastly too. Might be the route to go... I don't see a solid pass rusher falling to wherever the Rams end the season, so unless they're confident they can trade back up into the top 45 I would be very okay with those two picks. Thinking about how nasty Walker/Wallace will be as a tandem in a year or two... ooh wee mayne

just ask me for my nudes already jfc

Icky earning that second contract

Blame Nicole?

Couldn't agree more re: offensive depth. Every starter on the OL this season missed time and yet the unit still performed above average thanks to guys like Cade Mays and Brady Christensen filling in. Sounds like Brady is going to search for starter money somewhere else (awesome for him and his family if they get it!), but bringing back Cade Mays and finding another high quality sixth man would be an excellent start. Then there's the question re: Corbett to answer as well. WR room is going to need bodies for sure since only Legette, Coker, and Thielen are under contract for next season. TE room as well since Sanders is the only one under contract (though Matthews did just sign on for next season). And finally, what to do with QB2? It's nice to be excited about an offseason that can build upon the previous season again.

Gotta give them credit: they've at least updated some of their narratives From: "He's too small to play in the NFL and will die on the field" Fair to believe he'd get beat up as an outlier on the smaller side for pro NFL QBs, but after surviving what was then the second (now third) most times a rookie QB was sacked in a season and only missing one game due to an OL falling on his ankle (something that effectively ended Matt Corral's time with the team), I think that most reasonable folks can agree that this is no longer the red flag that it was once waved as. To: "His arm is too weak to throw passed the line of scrimmage" Again, being fair to the spirit of the argument: Bryce's deep ball is not the best in the league. It also isn't the worst, but he rarely had opportunities to show that he has an NFL caliber arm in his rookie season considering how much duress he was under due to the conditions of the offense surrounding him. This season since returning from benching and learning to trust the guys in front of him, Bryce has shown that he can and will throw deep in the NFL. From: "He'll never be a starting QB in the NFL" Given how poorly Bryce played last season, this was a difficult narrative to take in good faith because people that know ball could clearly see the poo show that the Panthers were with all of those all-star cooks in the kitchen, injuries across the OL, and underperformance by most of the players brought in to supposedly improve the team. However, the way those first two games of the season played out in Year 2... it looked like Bryce might already be broken before he had a chance to develop into a true NFL starter. Then he came back from his benching and looked like the prospect from Bama that scouts had fallen in love with despite his measurables. To: "He'll never be a top 10 - 20 QB" Given the assets traded for him, it's fair to demand that Young show that he could be a top level passer in the NFL. With everything invested into going and getting him, that pick needed to more than pan out. Similar to the starting QB take, it was fair given his first two weeks of the season to assume that he was broken (or for some, proven to be exactly who they thought he was). But just make sure you're prepared for all of the data points and charts showing that he might have arrived. From: "You have to pay any price to trade up to the highest pick possible in order to draft a franchise QB." We all understand that the #1 overall pick means that their team gets first dibs and are able to get their guy, and that any pick after that is one more chance for that player to not be available when the team takes him... but there was a lot of folks that pointed out that rookie QBs are known to struggle more than they are to take off from day 1. There's also the asset drain being undertaken in order to get one player instead of multiple. It goes on and on. This, tbh, is just something that folks will be in separate camps over and that's ok. To: "He'll never be worth what we traded for him" Look... I can't address this one in good faith because the folks saying it, from what I've seen, are the same ones that were pounding the "pay any price to move up" drum. Only problem now is that the guy they wanted wasn't the guy that the team wanted.

If the team is able to maintain some continuity with the OL + young guys avoid sophomore slumps, then the offense is going to be in a good place. Big question will be how long does it take to address the defense and what else becomes an issue during that time?

Re-watching the Georgia defense against Texas (both times), GT, Bama, Miss St, and ND specifically to watch Starks, Walker, and Williams and as much as I wanted to Williams to pop... it's been all Jalon Walker and Malaki Starks who keep jumping out. Williams also seems to not be on the field on obvious run downs, so that's something to keep in mind watching the rest. Just looking at the stat sheet, he did enough, but I was hoping to see more. I know he was battling injuries (one of them being an ankle iirc, will have to check), so I'm keeping that in mind.

The amount of money Diontae lost after finding ways to not make it work with Lamar + CJ is insane. Can't hold his time with Bryce against him given how bad Bryce played weeks 1 + 2, but to fail with Lamar and CJ in the same season...? Big yikes.

I was explicitly told that CJ would elevate DJ...