Mage

What? Jay Gruden would be a great hire. Not sure what him being unemployed matters. Plenty of coaches end up taking a year off off, especially when they get purged from a coaching staff due to a new HC hire. Not a fan of Rhule, but Gruden would definitely be a good get for us. He coached some very good offenses in Cincinnati and Washington, and you could point to both Dalton and Cousins as guys he got the best out of (and there was only so much you were getting out of Dalton). Quite frankly I don't understand how anyone could hate on the idea of Gruden being our OC, unless they are trying to be negative for the sake of being negative. He is certainly one of the best, established OCs available. Even Minshew under him finished with 16 TDs/5 INTs and a 95 QB Rate in 2020. The overall offense sucked but its the Jaguars. Gruden on the sidelines would also give us someone with more NFL coaching experience and hopefully alleviate some of the gameday pressure off of Rhule. And no, this is not me saying I want Rhule back, but if he's going to come back, then we need to give him the best chance to succeed. Gruden would be a good hire in that regard.

McCaffrey could still easily be worth the contract if the Panthers did the sensible thing and made him a primary receiver who also plays RB. Granted our QBs suck. But if we had a solid QB, CMC would tear it up in the slot and out of the backfield. The way the Saints used Kamara for all of those years is how McCaffrey should be used. There is NO reason for CMC to have 20+ carries in a game. The ideal touch count for him is about 10-12 in the run game and 5-7 in the receiving game.

Here is something that needs to be considered, that often isn't - The performance of the offensive line would likely be improved with better QB play and/or a coaching staff. This is not me saying we shouldn't draft an OL in Round 1, but it isn't the end of the world if we don't either. Look at the Bengals. Everyone said they NEEDED to go OL. And yes, their line needs to be improved and they acknowledge that, but even then, they are ranked 5th in scoring this year and Burrow is playing lights out. Herbert last year is another example of a guy who stepped into a situation with a bad OL and still allowed them to have an electrifying passing game. There are many ways to improve your protection without actually drafting a lineman. Which, don't get me wrong, we should absolutely have a plan to inject more talent there. But it doesn't necessarily need to be a 1st-round commitment. Better QB play alone would make our pass protection better, in all likelihood. Nobody respects Newton or Darnold. Nobody respects the scheme. Stuff like that makes a bad offensive line look so much worse. I'd argue to this day the 2015 OL wasn't that good. But it benefited from MVP play from Newton and a perfect combination of a power-run scheme designed around his talents and Ginn's exploits downfield, not to mention Olsen playing at a high level. Again just improving in those areas will make a worlds of difference. I don't think there is any QB worth picking at #5. At least not right now. Maybe things will change as I watch more and more film (Mac Jones for example, I became a fan of the more and more I watched him play before the draft). However, if there is a guy you think is top-5 caliber, then you absolutely take him, even if your OL is weak. With that said right now my #1 guy would be Evan Neal. So don't take this as a post of me advocating against taking an OL in the 1st. Just saying it isn't something we HAVE to do.

Pickett has been a starter for 4 years and has been with Pitt for 5. Burrow didn't start until his 4th year (16 TDs to 5 INTs... better than any Pickett season sans '21) and by that point was on his 2nd team. And Burrow's 2019 season is legendary. I like Pickett, but I don't think it is a good comparison. And Burrow flat out just looks much, much better when you watch them play.

I wouldn't consider hiring a new OC that was worse than the one we had an upgrade though. Doesn't really matter if and when he was fired. We had him. And we would have ultimately let him go just to bring in Jason Garrett the next year. That is not an upgrade.

Jason Garrett is horrendous. He is definitely not an upgrade over Joe Brady.

This is the most damning evidence against our coaches. How is Darnold performing so much worse here than with the freakin' Jets?

Our starting QB was Kyle Allen the season before Rhule got here Imagine if I told you in 2019 that in 2021, somehow, someway, our QB position would be soooo much worse than Kyle Allen. So disappointed in my Panthers.

17 TDs to 15 INTs as a rookie 19 TDs to 13 INTs in his 2nd year, 84.3 QB rating. This after missing 3 games due to mono 9 TDs to 11 INTs in his 3rd year Right now he's at 7 TDs to 12 INTs. FIRE RHULE

Wow, what a loser.

Yea he sucks.

This is the worst run blocking Panthers team ever

This forum absolutely hated Ron Rivera by the end of it. So what would keeping Richardson accomplish? Richardson never wanted to fire anyone. Fox would still be here if it wasn't for the fact Fox himself wanted to leave.

Saban is better off in college, but I think too often people make it seem like he was a complete failure in the NFL. Dolphins were 4-12 when he got there and in his first season they finished 9-7. If Saban could have gotten Brees like he wanted (Dolphins doctors failed him in the physical), I think he would have done just fine. I agree with your overall point though that it is difficult for college coaches to transition to the pros, but IMO Saban wasn't a bad NFL coach. He just A) didn't stay long enough and B) didn't get the QB he wanted.

FIRE RHULE

FIRE RHULE

Sam Darnold TIME

lols

This OL is hideous

Sam I Am

How long until the first Sam Darnold interception?

Backloading would require a multi-year contract. We should not be giving him a multi-year contract.

The problem with bringing Cam back is two-fold. One, you have to re-sign him. Why would Cam take anything less than $10m? His deal with the Patriots was worth up to $13m. Obviously, he didn't end up getting that. But that is around the ball-park it would take to bring him back. Otherwise I think Cam would just retire. So let's say he gets $10m. Then you have Darnold who is owed $18m. So to get the most value out of having Newton as a starter as opposed to Darnold, Cam Newton would need to be $28m better than Sam Darnold. Who can honestly say with a straight face that the Newton we've seen throw the ball is that much better than Darnold? It sucks but riding Darnold for one more year is, unfortunately, what makes the most sense unless we're bringing in a 1st round rookie or an elite starter. We need to stop trying to put bandaids over other bandaids.

Bears made the playoffs with Mitch Trubisky

I feel somewhat confident that Matt Rhule will be let go after the season. I think there is too much fan demand. And publicly, the Panthers have been getting slammed lately. We're far worse off at the QB position now than we were when Rhule arrived... how is that even possible? We're short on draft picks in 2022. I'd argue the energy has been sapped out of this organization and fanbase to an extent I've never seen before... and trust me, I remember the 2010 season. I never thought it could get lower than that. But this season feels like a different kind of disappointment. At least we knew we would get to reset following 2010. 2011 was one of the most loaded drafts ever (and this is without hindsight; it was seen as loaded going in, and a lot of guys were talked about as potential #1-worthy candidates like Green and Miller), so we had that to look forward to plus a new head coach. But if we keep Rhule, I don't know, man. I could almost be cool with Hurney returning all those years because he'd at least deliver us a great 1st round pick. Like, I knew we would at least get something out of him being here. But what does Rhule get us? The fact of the matter is this team is underperforming this year. How does a defense with talent like Gilmore, Burns, Chinn, Jackson, Reddick, Thompson, not to mention our other young and highly-drafted players who should be improving, allow WFT, Dolphins, and Falcons to have some of their best days against us? I don't even buy into the QB excuse anymore. Sam Darnold's numbers are worse this year than in his previous 2 years with the Jets. How does that happen? Bad coaching. The Steelers are getting more out of old-as-hell Ben than we are Darnold. I didn't mind losing, when losing was expected. I'm not even super surprised we are going to have a losing season. But the manner in which it has happened? We're scoring less than we did last year. The defense, I don't even know what to think of, because they have really underperformed in too many games this year - the aforementioned WFT and Miami games, vs Minnesota, and vs Dallas. I don't think Matt Rhule is the worst head coach in the world. I do think that is an exaggeration. But I'm a big believer in that fit and situation matters. Right now, I do not think this is a situation you want him trying to rally your team out of. Changing a college program is a helluva lot different than changing an NFL franchise. I don't think that is something Rhule is capable of. He's not an X's and O's guy and his coordinator and position-coach choices have been terrible. And burned a bridge with a guy who is clearly well-thought of in the league like Joe Brady (not to say Brady didn't have his faults, but he wasn't the crux of the issue). Rhule is someone you hire to steady the ship, but when you want to turn your team around? I think, most of the time, you need a great X's and O's guy. Not a rah rah guy. Look at McVay with the Rams. Goff turned into a mediocre QB, but McVay got the best out of him and they were instantly a playoff team. Carroll had a lot of play-calling experience as a DC and was a fantastic DBs coach, plus a ton of other experience in the NFL and college. Payton, all-time X's and O's guy. Belichick, the all-time X's and O's guy. Reich, great X's and O's guy. Ditto Arians, although he's also a great motivator too. Ditto Reid. Tomlin is more of a rah-rah guy, but Tomlin didn't need to turn a franchise around. He needed to steady the ship, and he was perfect in that role. Cowher, again rah-rah guy but he steadied the ship. Not saying hiring an X's and O's guy ensures success. Obviously it doesn't. But I really think our next head coach hire needs to be someone who excels on one side of the ball and has a LOT of play-calling experience. I was one of the few people pushing for Josh McDaniels last go-around, and hopefully some people have come around on him. And not all retreads are the same. McDaniels was super young when he was the Broncos HC, 33. He's 45 now. He's learned a lot. I'd be cool but weary of Nathaniel Hackett. Do not want Brian Daboll, think the success of the offense has more to do with the physical skill-set of Josh Allen more than anything else. Kevin O'Connell, Bieniemy, Leftwich, and Kellen Moore also interest me.