Mage

Joey Slye is definitely the most frustrating kicker we've had since Olindo Mare (another brilliant Hurndog move), right?

I'm not an insider, but I think it is obvious he wants an extension or to be traded to a team who will give it to him. It would suck to lose him but at the same time when you are a rebuilding team, getting compensation for a guy who will leave in a year can be very beneficial.

Rookie DTs rarely make a huge impact unless they are generational talents (Donald, Suh), especially guys who are run stuffers.

As much as this actually hurts them even more, I also don't want to deal with defending Julio, Ridley, and Pitts. That's just dirty. No way they don't have a top five passing game if Julio stays.

I think our defense is going to be great. The biggest advantage is the speed and youth of the unit. Remember how bad the 2019 defense was in Rivera's last year? We were too slow. Teams would beat us to the edge with ease. Teams aren't going to beat this team to the edge easily. So much athleticism and strength in the front seven. Last years unit was better than it had any reason being. No reason to think this defense can't/won't finish in the top 15 barring injuries.

NBA isn't the NBA Hall of Fame, but the Basketball Hall of Fame. They consider everything you have accomplished outside of the NBA too. Sabonis has a long, long list of accomplishments.

I mean, of course he has more All-Purpose yards. He returned punts and kicks for 14 years. He doesn't even have 9,000 YFS.

In what world is Darren Sproles a HOFer

Wait what

Ravens with Julio Jones would be unfair.

Eh, he ain't a better deep threat than Moss but he's definitely top-5 minimum all-time (strictly talking about his deep threat ability). EDIT - Assuming he doesn't suffer a terrible injury or anything

I'd be really surprised if Roy and/or Pride were let go. All things considered, Pride played well last year relative to his draft position. Plus, Bouye will miss the first 2 games. I think he'll at the very least be active until Bouye's return. We finished the year with 4 DTs and 9 overall defensive lineman. Brown and Jones are a lock. Nixon probably is too. But who would be the other DT who beats out Roy? And assuming Burns/YGM/Haynes/Fox/Miller stick, that would leave us with 9 DL. So I think Roy stays barring another person being signed.

In what context? All-time bad as in, every NFL team included? Probably not. We still came away with Brian Burns. I'm sure there are drafts out there that came with 0 contributors. All-time bad in just Panthers history? I mean, it's terrible, but I think these drafts were worse: 2016 (Gettleman): We had 5 picks and spent 3 of them on CBs. Our 1st round pick was spent on a DT, which we did not need in the 1st. Bradberry turned out to be solid, but this might be our worst draft. At least 2019 has potentially given us good depth guys like Daley and Miller. Gettleman didn't make any effort to accumulate more picks. 2015 (Gettleman): Another draft with only 5 picks. Another draft where the 1st round pick was spent on a position we did not need (linebacker). Spent a 2nd round pick on Devin Funchess, which again was considered terrible at the time and in hindsight. Yes Shaq turned into a solid contributor and Williams had a solid season or two, but I'd take Brian Burns over both of them combined. Gettleman sucked so much it amazes me how people will still try and defend him lol 2014 (Gettleman): 6 picks. Drafted Kelvin Benjamin in the 1st round, even though he clearly wasn't that good of a prospect. We did end up with Trai Turner and Tre Boston, who was decent enough at safety, but once again I'll take Brian Burns over both of them. Honestly the 2013 draft was bad too, but I won't list it because we ended up with Star and Short. But only 5 picks again? And 3 of the guys don't do anything here (Klein was a MLB and we had already drafted Kuechly... you can't make picks like that when you only have 5 of them) Then of course the 2009-2011 drafts. All easily worse IMO - I'm not gonna give Hurney credit for making the obvious pick at #1 in 2011. But this draft (2019) definitely sucked too. Hurney and Gettleman both sucked. I'm very optimistic about Fitterer after this past draft, if only for the simple fact he's not wasting 1st round picks on positions we either don't need or aren't important, and because he's trying to accumulate picks, not stick with a total of 5 throughout the draft.

A bad Hurney draft?

Richard Marshall's career here made no sense to me. I could never tell if he was good or not. Him and Gamble were so, so good in 2009, but then Marshall decided to be terrible in 2010 lol

Tyler Brayton is another guy I liked a lot that I haven't seen mentioned yet.

Matt Moore. I loved him. He wasn't given a fair shake in 2010. Yeah he wasn't great and probably not cut out to be a full-time starter, but he had a lot going against him that year. You could say the same for Clausen, but the biggest difference is Clausen was physically overmatched. Moore, to me, just seemed like he was trying too hard to overcompensate for a lot of other issues.

Nah, you can't trust a whiner like Teddy. This isn't the first time he's tried to deflect blame elsewhere too (the DJ Moore redzone situation comes to mind). I get people like him and think he's a good dude or whatever because he overcame injury, but man none of our QBs ever failed to take responsibility as much as he did. He just lacks that competitive edge. I mean hell, I seriously doubt Mike Shula was running practices better than Joe Brady, but you never heard Cam Newton say anything bad about Shula. Teddy is a whiner, and you can't trust a word that comes out of his mouth because guys like that want you to think that they did all they could to win football games. If Teddy had that much of a problem with practice, then why as a QB and a "leader" wouldn't he step up and say something? Like imagine knowing something is a problem all season long, but waiting until after the season when the team has gotten rid of you to say something? I'm telling ya'll man, don't put much stock in his words.

I mean Coughlin won 2 Super Bowls.

I mean, he went 9-7 in his first season there. 6-10 in the second. Obviously not great, but they weren't TERRIBLE, they just didn't have a QB. I think Saban could have had success if he stuck it out, but I do agree he's a much better college coach.

I don't want to bring Short back, but I would like us to add one more pass rusher. You can never have too many. Fox and YGM are good but as of now, mostly in a rotational role (I expect YGM to have a strong year though). It'd be nice to have another proven pass rusher like Burns and Reddick. I know we want to stay young, but Justin Houston would be a fantastic signing.

Sewell or Pitts.

That is a very winnable 4-game opening stretch, if true.

That is a crazy athletic defense.

Why do you think it sounds that way? I got the impression that Rhule and Fitterer weren't all that interested in Fields. Regardless, I actually think we should have drafted Justin Fields. LIS, I loved him as a prospect, so nothing I am saying is reflective of my personal opinion of him. I would have loved to double-dip. At the same time, too many people are coming to conclusions based on something we simply don't know. It is like they haven't watched the NFL for more than 2 years. This happens ALL the time. A "great" prospect "falls out of nowhere," every fanbase gets mad at their FO for passing on them, and then said player... fails. And as much as I like Fields, it isn't like the concerns aren't valid. His field processing is very slow (by far the biggest concern). He did play for a stacked team (the same criticism people throw at Mac Jones). That's all I'm saying. I just don't believe in calling picks bad before the games are played, unless the pick was made at a position the team clearly didn't need (Shaq Thompson, Vernon Butler). And cornerback has been a huge need for the Panthers forever.