tukafan21

Same-ish here, 12 team league with only 1 TE spot, but we have a WR/TE flex spot as well. Most teams carry 2 TE's with a few who actually carry 3, so yea, not easy to get quality TE production in my league. The Vikings weird usage of Hockenson is killing me, he's gone multiple games where he doesn't have a catch through 3 quarters. Then when they're playing from behind in the 4th, they'll just dink and dunk to him a bunch of times for chunks of yards and end up getting close to 10 points in the end. Why not just use him all game if he's so effective in the 4th? Gonna plays Taylor though, I figure they won't put Horn on him until/unless he is making a bunch of plays, at which point I'll probably have my points out of him by then anyways.

What are the chances we just put Horn on Taylor to take away their only receiving threat left? I want to start Taylor in fantasy, but I'm afraid that's what we might end up doing and it could come back to bite me (although not like Hockenson is a much better option these days either).

I've never once called him a "little bitch" or a "pussy", I criticize his play, because it's been objectively poor. In fact, people calling him names such as your example are few and far between, most people are just calling him out for his quality of play, two very different things. But even if people are calling him those names, that's part of what comes with being any professional athlete, let alone being a QB, or the #1 overall pick. When you're those things, you have expectations to live up to, and if you don't, you're going to get called ugly names. If you think that is remotely close to fans calling a player by a nickname, that has nothing to do with his play, despite the player and his mother saying they find the nickname disrespectful to them, then you're just fooling yourself.

Oh, and another thing on this since you mention how Bryce gets called all these names. First things first, Bryce still hasn't come close to living up to his draft pick status, T-Mac has probably already exceeded his despite his miscues. But all that aside, I find it so weird how much Panthers fans love the "reaper" based nicknames for Bryce because of all the people who get fired after we've beaten them. You do realize that shouldn't be something to celebrate, it's literally numerous teams saying, "Bryce is so bad that our coaches/players don't deserve their jobs if he beats us" But you still wear it like a badge of honor, it makes no sense, you're celebrating that the rest of the league realizes something half this fan base just refuses to acknowledge.

Wow this is some crazy nonsense. First, he doesn't have problems picking up the ball on quick slants or screens, go back and watch the replays, you can clearly see him start to turn his head on those drops before the ball is in his hands, it's a concentration issue, not an issue of picking up the ball. Yes, it's 100% something he has to improve upon and it's still a knock on him, but you're making up a problem that isn't there, when the real problem that is there is a very correctable one and also one that is rather common for a player 6 games into his career and trying to do too much. After that, I genuinely don't understand what your point is in bringing up where he ranks in YPC, as if that's some indicator of his abilities. Which, to begin with, he's not 31st, he's 26th (and that's before even factoring in the players above him with just a handful of catches, like Horn Jr with his 4 catches). Then below him in that YPC ranks are guys like Chase, CeeDee, London, Tyreek, Waddle, Higgins, BTJ, Wilson etc, so I'm not sure what pointing out his ranking has anything to do with what kind of player he is or might become. All of that before even looking how close he is to being much higher on the list because they're all so close together, he's 27 yards across 6 games shy from being in the Top 15. If you want to pick and choose stats, why not look at things like being 3rd in the NFL in catches of 20+ yards or 6th in the NFL in 1st down catches? And finally, no, just no. He doesn't look far less pro ready than Egbuka, he's just in a significantly worse situation if you're just looking for a big statistical output. Egbuka is playing with the current front runner for MVP, in a pass happy offense, where all their other pass catchers keep getting hurt, so of course he's going to be putting up big stats. Swap those players and T-Mac might be leading the NFL in yards right now, not to mention would have just as many TD's as Egbuka does as well.

His mother has literally said she finds the nickname disrespectful to her and the name she gave him. In the Polynesian culture, names are often given with a deeper meaning behind it than just being their name, so shortening the name to something else, yes, is disrespectful to them. "Tet" isn't a nickname like other people are bringing up how people don't get to choose their "nickname", it's the shortening of his name so it's just easier for people to say his name for them. That shortening of his name is something he and his family find disrespectful and they don't like it. But sure, just keep going with the "people don't get to pick their own nickname" line.

Tetairoa T-Mac Nalo The fan base is going nuts over the guy but half of them still refuse to give up a nickname he’s openly said he doesn’t like, c’mon people, be better than that.

No, it's his arm, plain and simple. He has the weakest arm of any starting QB in the NFL, that will always be an issue for him no matter what else he improves on. And don't point to him zipping in that 4th down pass this weekend as to him having a strong enough arm, that's not the same thing. He's unable to drive balls into spots downfield like almost every other starting QB, which is a problem. But even more than that, it's when he has to throw off base, as he doesn't have the adequate arm strength to still make those throws at a high enough level like most other QB's can. It's why we see so many of those throws come up short of the WR, sometimes well short, and not on purpose by him, but you can just see he's putting his all behind the throw but he's off base and doesn't have the arm to make up for it. And yes, I know he does still make some good throws when he's on the move, but that's still only the case when he's able to have a balanced and purposeful throw. You know the plays I"m talking about, they're painfully obvious, and they're throws all the good QB's are able to make because of the difference in arm (and just body) strength.

Oh sure, and this is obviously a loss for the defense overall. But it's not like we're losing someone Brown where it's a massive downgrade to replace him. There's even a very valid argument to make that with increased snaps, Scourton and/or Princely could end up playing better in a few weeks than Jones would have been playing himself. Sometimes players just step up their game to a new level when given more of an opportunity.

Well sure, but now instead of them getting some backup snaps to Jones, now someone else will be getting the backup snaps to them more. Not wishing injuries on our players, but if we're going to get them, it's always better to have them at the positions that we have young promising players on the roster to absorb the majority of those snaps.

Unfortunately but also probably best for the long term outlook as it's only going to give more snaps to Scourton and Princely to hopefully expedite their growth

Went with the "he's not the answer" option, but in reality, I fall somewhere between that one and the door is closed barring a major run. For me to be okay with him coming back, or god forbid even worse, give him an extension, it's not that he has to go on a "major run" the rest of this year, that's not emphatic enough of wording. He needs to literally be in the MVP discussion at the end of the season, like Top 5 MVP candidate when the season is over to even warrant giving him a 4th year. Of course I don't think this is remotely possible, which is why I went with the "he's not the answer" option. I still think there is a possibility of him being a low end NFL starter as a decent game manager, but to me, that's not the type of guy you re-sign to an extension, that's the guy who becomes the new Teddy Two Gloves or Dalton before we signed him. The guy who teams sign to be their bridge starter for a season or part of a season if they have their rookie waiting in the wings to take over when ready.

That's hilarious and not something I'd heard before

He's going to kill it for someone next year as an OC, probably for a defensive minded HC. Very well could see him getting the job in Buffalo if Brady ends up landing an HC job this offseason.

Not sure why the Bengals would fire Taylor, it's not his fault Burrow can't stay healthy and the GM doesn't know how to sign defensive players or offensive linemen.

Feels like a game where Moehrig could shine in the role of spying Fields.

lol we're not, I think by rule, if you haven't had a winning season in almost a decade, you can't have a trap game

That's wild I really wonder how many players have played 10 combined years in college and the NFL without ever being on a team with a winning record, that's gotta be so demoralizing.

Yes, he's a tier above them, but you also touched on the money side of it. With T-Mac locked in as our #1 on a rookie contract for a few more years, I'd much rather use that money that would be needed for DJ on our defense and develop Coker into our #2. Especially given his contract situation as an UDFA, as his contract is up at the end of this year but we can keep him around for a 3rd team controlled year on the real cheap. Which means we probably could get him to sign a very reasonable extension this offseason to give him a little more money while giving us a bargain contract for what he provides. DJ's contract is north of $20 million for the next 5 years, why pay that for your #2 WR with the needs we have on defense and you have guys like Coker, XL, and Horn on rookie contracts who very well could combine to be a serviceable 2-4 WRs behind a stud in T-mac? I love DJ and he'd be a great fit on this team as our #2, but the money side of it just makes absolutely zero sense, that's all it comes down to for me on this one. And no, I don't see the Bears wanting XL back in that trade, because they drafted Burden, who is essentially a better version of what XL provides, a player you want to get the ball into their hands and let them go to work.

This Chuba isn't getting traded, but Rico very well could be in a few weeks if he keeps playing well in a tandem backfield with Chuba also playing well. I think we'd end up going with a two headed monster in that case, but with Rico being on a one year deal, it does open up the possibility of a contending team offering up a decent pick for him. Depending on the recovery of Hampton, I could see someone like the Chargers giving us a 4th for him if they think he could put them over the top, he would fit nicely in a Harbaugh system I think. If it comes to that, we need to make that trade, as I can't see any way we re-sign Rico with all our other needs and getting Brooks back too. And he's not going to get a contract big enough to get us any comp picks in return, especially if/when we sign a FA or two ourselves. So if we're not going to bring him back, the prudent decision would really be to get a draft pick for him at the deadline.

T-Mac and DJ really would be a nice pairing that compliments each other well. However... I'm not interested, as much as I do still love DJ and would love to see him as a Panther again, but in a vacuum, not in reality. Trading for DJ means either XL or Coker get no development the rest of the year, and possibly even both, and really it would effectively end Horn's season too, as he'd be back to not getting a uniform on game days (and no, I can't see them trading DJ to get XL back, because again, they're a team with other holes too, no reason to trade a better WR to get a worse one back). If we were a true contender this year, then sure, bringing him in would make sense, but since we're not, we need to ensure those two develop this year by getting the targets they need to get better. Not to mention we shouldn't be spending money on a WR contract right now anyways, not when we have so many on rookie deals and have so many other holes on the team that need quality players. If we're trading for any vets and bringing on contracts, it should be for a LB or DB, I wouldn't even want a pass rusher as I don't want to take snaps away from Scourton or Princely, as we need to develop our young promising talent, not bury them behind vets again.

100% and a completely different discussion. But once you brought him back this year, firing him 6 games into the season just seems dumb to me.

Fair analogy, but if you want to take it a step further, firing your HC this early into his career is like buying that car, not taking care of it for the first month you have it, and then tossing the keys to a 16 year old who just got his license and doesn't know how to properly drive or maintain a car like that either. Neither are good, one just seems worse to me.

Your point was that you play to win the games. My point was that that's a statement you make when you can't see the forest through the trees. Yes, you do play to win the games, but you're also playing to win THE game, as in the Super Bowl. And just playing to win the games at hand at the expense of getting better so you can contend for THE game, isn't a long term successful strategy, it's how franchises like ours are unable to have back to back winning seasons. And Herm's career "success" in comparison to his quote is a picture perfect example of exactly that. Just playing to win the game isn't going to help you down the line, it's immediate happiness for long term disappointment.

Very true. I just think in a situation like this, even if the HC is a problem, firing him this early in your #1 overall pick's career is going to end up doing more harm than good. If you wanted a head start on other HC searches, that's fine, but fire him in Week 14 or something to accomplish that. Continuity, even with questionable coaching decisions, is better for a rookie than making this change and now having even worse coaches in charge of his development.