Icege

That's the part that I've never understood. We've got folks here bitching about the lack of talent, so let's offload talent and take a shot at not being able to replace them?

The unfortunate truth of the matter is that there are multiple reasons that we're seeing the offensive performance that we have. Starting at the top with leadership, Joe Brady, our second year offensive coordinator, has a year of tape on his playbook & concepts out there already. He did not have experience as a play caller, but rather as a play designer. He's learning on the job at the highest level, so there's bound to be some hefty bumps in the road. Next up, injuries. We lost our #1 player in CMC, Shi Smith was hurt to start the season and missed valuable reps, TMJ is now concussed, and the OL has seen so many injuries that I don't think we've had the same starting line up for more than 3 weeks in a row. Elflein has missed games, Erving missed last week, Brown is hurt, Paradis has been banged up and missed practices during the week. Those injuries required us to get performance out of guys on the depth chart exposing our... Lack of talent (especially along the OL!). Miller was serviceable but could only regress or stay constant as he wasn't going to get any better. Paradis has always flashed issues during games, but he's not as bad as Sam Tecklenburg. Pat Elflein is fuging terrible. Dennis Daley is the 6th round back-up that some folks didn't want to believe that he was. Trent Scott was not putting out great tape during preseason. The team was so desperate they brought a member of the OL that couldn't protect Joe Burrow to come give the team a chance. Dan Arnold provided 3 catches a game and several missed blocks. Our strengths have recently become weaknesses. Namely, our "young offensive genius" has been downloaded by defensive coordinators across the league while our WRs have suddenly forgotten how to catch a football. Finally, the QB. Sam has regressed horribly the last few weeks: bad feet, off target throws, poor decisions, staring down receivers, not reading defenses, etc etc. You name something a QB isn't supposed to do, and he's likely done it over the last 4-games. Fortunately, all of these things go together. That means as soon as one of the areas improves, the others immediately get better. If our WRs start catching again, guys can get & stay healthy, Sam gets back to playing within the system, and Brady improves with his play calling, then we get to see the offense we've come to expect. It will be interesting to see how next season is set up. The roster that we currently have, by design, is essentially what we have for the next season or two. Next season is more or less rocking with what we have this year, plus a first rounder, maybe a day 3 guy that gets couple of snaps a game, and a free agent or three. Sam has this season and maybe next if he hasn't lost it already. If Sam continues to implode, then it's hard to see that first round pick being any position aside from QB in the top 10. If he can string together enough for the Panthers to limp to a pick where they can't get a top signal caller, then it would be a hard sell to not draft OL. Day 3 they've got plenty of picks to find an LB, TE2, or S. That means we're going to need to hit on a free agent signing next season and one of our current ones to work out on the offense in order to address that lack of talent issue.

You must have missed the beginning of the season when folks were pointing out all of the struggles Sewell was having. Before we hop to the whole, "He's a rookie!!!" thing, please keep in mind I already addressed that in the OP. Austin Thomas was GARBAGE last season and early this season. My wife is a Giants fan, so I see more of them than any other team that isn't the Panthers. Like Sewell, I already addressed in the OP that both have potential to develop and turn it around like Bolles did. McGlinchey was supposed to be the heir apparent to Joe Staley, but hasn't lived up to the expectations. He also didn't always have that PFF grade: his pass blocking grade previously was 59.1. You do understand though that the purpose of this thread isn't to argue who exactly are busts, right? The purpose is to illustrate that the best OL available in the draft isn't always necessarily the best OT (who at times isn't even the best OT). If there's a top flight interior lineman available, take them instead of reaching on an OT like the team did with Greg Little.

Sewell, Thomas, McGlinchey, Robinson, and Kalil have all been labeled busts. Fisher was never known to be good. Bolles was awful his first 4yrs in the league. Take a look at the names to the right and compare them to the one on the left.

Not sure what happened to the rest of the paragraph there, but "we can see that drafting OT1 is not the cure all that some of the sad bois here think that it is"

Aside from the obvious need at QB, there is a glaring need at multiple positions on the Panthers OL. Rather than picking a player based on whether or not they can play LT, the Panthers would benefit more from drafting OL1 should they opt to go that route with our only pick in the first three rounds. If we look at draft results for the last decade, we can see that drafting OT1 Year OT1 OL1 2021 Penei Sewell Rashawn Slater 2020 Andrew Thomas Tristan Wirfs 2019 Jonah Williams Elgton Jenkins 2018 Mike McGlinchey Quenton Nelson 2017 Garrett Bolles Ryan Ramczyk 2016 Ronnie Stanley Ronnie Stanley 2015 Brandon Scherff Brandon Scherff 2014 Greg Robinson Zack Martin 2013 Eric Fisher Kyle Long 2012 Matt Kalil David DeCastro Two of the last 10 OT1s have ended up being the top OL from the draft. Three of them have ended up not even being the top OT when all is said and done (keep in mind, Sewell and Thomas can still develop, that's not what the argument is here). Most of these guys were also considered busts (though Bolles turned things around nicely). Drafting a player because their listed position is one of need is a recipe for disaster that we've seen time and time again (most recently with Greg Little). There are five spots on the OL that need to be filled, with arguably the most important being the center and the tackles. This is why Tyler Linderbaum should be your preferred draft prospect for 2022 after Jacksonville inevitably drafts Evan Neal who looks to be the next Ronnie Stanley in terms of being able to produce immediately at a high level in the pros. Thank you for coming to my Tyler Talk.

Outside of some outright egregious poo like sexually assaulting somebody, I'm down for him to finish the season and keep steering the boat during the offseason. If next season goes the same way this one and the last have gone then the heat had better be scorching on Rhule's seat. I'm interested to see how he responds to this situation and whether or not it galvanizes the team.

Joe Person reporting that the trade clause was not the issue. The team just isn't looking at him anymore at this moment.

Thank fuging goodness.

Hence why we knew that he would need time to develop as a play caller despite being a brilliant play designer.

Props on the hard work paying off. Not just in regards to the gig, but in regards to the quality as well. Keep pounding!

Pretty much this right here. He's clearly a gifted play designer that we all expected to have some growing pains as a play caller... but there's also the question of how effective Joe is as a teacher. It's one thing for one guy to be in the wrong spot, it's another for everybody to be having mental lapses.

My hourly rate.

Without a 2nd and 3rd round selection tho?

Was with you until I saw "Snow is a mistake" and he's literally the only bright spot on this staff currently.

Brady Christensen looks like somebody that would have benefitted from getting more snaps in the preseason at LT

Sam was benched, but we are at the point now where there needs to be true accountability shown by this staff.

Joe Brady would be an excellent college OC where a lack of adjustments is offset by talent differences.

Is it just me or is Joe Judge an adult version of Pugsley Adams

Daaaang STO3 with the stop but rolled him in Oh poo, that shin might be down!! ... WTF THESE OFFICIALS ARE TRASH

Is the hard counter to this defense the Georgia Tech triple option? Jfc

I guffawed

Joe Brady needs to be Doomsday Device'd until he learns to do what he said he'd do when he said he would scheme based on personnel

Maaaaan I'm surprised that Chandler didn't concuss DJ there

Ew, Peppers came down right on that ball. That poo huuuuurts. I remember several years ago a college player got tackled on to the ball like that and the force of the impact perforated his colon and resulted in emergency surgery