Evil Hurney

People can hear what they want to hear, but if saying turnovers are bad is throwing Cam under the bus then

I suspect Rhule lasts longer than Meyer.

Dude dislikes recruiting so he's only headed to college to be an OC. He will likely spend a year or two on the staff of an established HC (like Payton) to rehab and make a another run at NFL OC/HC in a few years.

Saints and Falcons lost while the Panthers didn't. Panthers move from 4th to 2nd place in the division.

Yes. I know things are frustrating right now, but I've seen enough good things to want to see what a 3rd season (with a more experienced staff) entails.

To me that suggests that an outside candidate will be targeted for OC. If you wanted to promote Ryan this is as good a time as any.

I see that as more of a "keeping the seat warm" type of promotion while they wait for an external candidate in the offseason. Either that or they REALLY need Ryan coaching Cam and the other QBs.

Assuming they get another win or two then he can point to a top 10 (maybe top 5) defense and an improvement in win total.

Nice writeup. I think Rhule gets year 3 barring him leaving for a top college gig. Recent examples of coaches popping in their 3rd years include Zac Taylor in Cincinnati and Kliff Kingsbury with the obvious difference being they both grabbed their QB in year 1. I think Brady at minimum will move on although I'm not sure where; Brady doesn't seem like the college HC type. Brady has also seemed to hint that his long-term prospects in Charlotte are uncertain at best. I HOPE an experienced OC is brought in. I don't think Rhule has the leash to let another guy learn on the job.

TBF the 2017 class was also considered "not great" and it produced Mahomes and Watson.

I know almost nothing about the Rookie QB class.

Correct. If he gets a 2nd round tender it's ~$3.5M. If a team were to sign him (and the Panthers refused to match) they'd get a 2nd in the current draft. Original round tender is cheaper, but PJ wasn't drafted.

Here's a summary of the Offense currently under contract for the upcoming season. QB needs something to be optimistic about. RB is fine. I'd love to bring back Abdullah or get another RB that can catch. FB/TE is fine for the current offense. WR looks solid. Bring in some camp bodies or late round fliers to fill out the back end. OL is probably not going to be as different as many would hope. There isn't much to be saved by cutting any of the OL and top end talent rarely hits FA. I'd suspect if the team were to go FA shopping it'd be at G or C. Best hope is to bring in a talented Rookie or two to push some of the existing guys down the pecking order.

That's in line with a 2nd round tender (PJ is an RFA).

Erving is serviceable at T. Given the recent additions to IR, I highly doubt he will be rushed back this season.

FFS

It appears that several have moved on to coach firing season. They are probably mad that the Giants beat us to the punch yet again.

The last time he started it was pretty bad. I'm glad he's improving.

If this is truly a playoff worthy team they will find a way to get to 9-8. Also, no one is "unbeatable" this year. Each week a "top" team loses some game they already penciled in as a W (see Titans this week). However, as others have said there are likely going to be teams like the Eagles and Vikings also at 9-8.

Another minor thing to consider is if Sam stays on next season (2122) and hits FA the following season (2123) we can net a 6th or 7th round comp pick out of him assuming he signs a typical backup QB level contract.

I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread so I wanted to add it to the collective consciousness. There is a chance that if the team were to cut Sam and he were to sign with a new team the Panthers would only owe the difference. I haven't been able to find the language in the CBA that talks about how guaranteed salary works in this regard, but I did hear it mentioned briefly by Florio on PFT. Now don't get too excited. If this were true any team that would sign Sam would also know this and would likely only give him the veteran minimum since Sam gets his $18M either way.

Agreed. A decent backup QB is going to cost around $5M. Cutting Sam and then signing a guy will result in even less cap space just to get a comparable level of player. Of note, PJ is an RFA after this season; I have no idea what he will cost. I'm onboard with paying the $18M or extending Sam to a backup level contract. If Sam thinks he is still a starter let him seek a trade. Much like Teddy he'll be much more willing to renegotiate his contract to facilitate a trade.

This article and the highlighted portion are talking about the old CBA. There is a link at the very top takes you over to the updates made in 2020. This is the most relevant section of the current CBA for 5th year options: https://overthecap.com/collective-bargaining-agreement/article/7/section/7/(g)(v)/ Excerpt: "For any Drafted Rookie selected in the first round of the 2018 or any subsequent Draft, the entire Paragraph 5 Salary for the Fifth-Year Option shall become guaranteed for skill, injury, and Salary Cap-related termination, effective upon the Club’s exercise of the Option." In short, we will owe Sam $18M next season regardless. The only outs are to trade him or possibly get him to agree to a restructured contract ... or I suppose it would void if he were to violate some clause of the contract

Agreed. They tried to get Stafford. They tried to get Watson. They looked a drafting a QB until the 49ers traded up ensuring that we would at best be getting the #4 guy. Options at that point weren't great.