Bear Hands

The late round rookies competing against returning depth are always the fun ones in my eyes. Rivera didn't make them fun (always going with the vets), but Canales seems very attune to using who works best. I'm also interested to see if Etienne is getting any time with the 2s and how often he's on installs compared to Dowdle. Want to see what unit they're running Coker with and his assignments. How JT is progressing. But mostly, I want to see a front-7 coalesce on defense and hear good stuff about them. Wharton, Wallace and the new EDGEs in particular.

He's got a legit pro-level pass rush arsenal. Very Nic Bonnito-esque. Could see him popping out of the gate. Scourton could be a slower burn but has the chance to be a huge presence and compliments him well.

I imagine they'll wait until August. Maybe they'll see how Rozeboom & Wallace jive in the coming weeks. If it looks iffy, they're going to look at the market, and then cuts. Maybe trades but I don't think we need to be desperate about it since we're still building the defense. With that said, watch them turn around and sign somebody this week haha

With Evero's high zone looks, it's all based around disguises in the secondary as much as the front 7 with a bandit-type approach. So it makes sense to have guys that have some fluidity that can play houdini technique on QBs. Therefore, I think it's smarter to load up on SS these days who have those instincts and smarts. You can use them interchangeably whereas if a guy is an FS-- you know he's getting FS deep assignments. In my view, the FS is the least valuable position in the lineup these days. I firmly believe a SS can play FS much more easily than a FS can play SS. FSs have that outfielder poacher mentality but don't see the short field as well and usually don't have the quickness, which is why they're back there. SSs have the quickness and alertness to play both spots. They mess around with man assignments, drop back into deep zone and have delayed blitzes in these Fangio-inspired high zone defenses. We also play 3 deep at times, where we play cover-3 but disguised as cover-2. So it's good to have a backlog of this prototype. So with our personnel, you have SS guys who can play off eachother to bait QBs in our two-high zone looks, it's super valuable disguising who is playing high zone and who has a delayed play in the box. I think the playmaker in these defenses becomes the nickel and dime more of the time because its the safeties and LBs baiting and disguising while they're sneakily getting the right look in the field of play for INTs. Just my two cents.

thanks @Captain Morgan as always with the updates I'm digging what I'm hearing about Demani Richardson. He's the guy not talked about as much. It seems they've got a good grip on what they have with him after a lot of playing time to close out 2024. Seems to have trust and I'm hearing good stuff.

Their flailing attempts of long term survival with the SAS and Pat McAfee-cation of their programming has ruined the product. The NBA Draft coverage this year was a disgrace to even a casual fan. It's unwatchable garbage. Corresponds pretty well with Disney making Pitaro head of ESPN. Norby Williamson already caused a slow death beginning in the 2000s, but his ouster didn't change much. That org has so much toxicity and programming with no real analysis anymore. Taken over by talking heads and ex-attorney/execs who think they know ball.

Good perspective. And it's hard to know what really was the case with CJ vs. Bryce. I do think Reich's system had basically past its expiration date and we should've obviously recognized that in our search. Coming off Rhule, we all recognized Tepper wanted NFL experience at the helm. The issue we looked past was that what seemed like a fun assembly of coaches from a bunch of different systems was not the way to approach it. Thomas Brown was thrown in too soon as OC, way over his head. Just so many factors at play. I think it really created chaos and made it a difficult offense to implement. No cohesive vision/just competing philosophies and coaching. Then come the start of last season. you're right that Bryce was still super off. Something had to get shaken out of him. I would love to see what thing were like behind the scenes during Dalton's starting period that allowed Bryce to really change his game. He still had messy pocket tendencies but the field vision/timing/awareness definitely shifted wayyy for the better once he was back. That final 6-7 games were a good indicator, so we'll see how things look to start this one.

Totally. It's also very relative to their development. I had a preferential eye on Penix, Daniels & Ward over the years and they were talked about as legit prospects dating back to 2022 (but opted to return/transfer/declare when they did respectively). Ward's ceiling is pretty dope - I'll always go back to the Was State/Oregon shootout in 2022 that got me fixed on him. He played ridiculous but also made a late iffy decision under pressure that ultimately became a 44-41 loss to Bo Nix and the Oregon machine. But man, he played super. At that time, I know Spielman and Sando had an insider pod talking about these future prospects and how Ward wasn't viewed super highly (yet) but had all the skill to be a top pick...could've been a 3rd/4th rounder in 2023. He kept developing the next year, could've gone higher in 2024, and then went to Miami and showed VAST pocket improvement, propelling him to the top of the draft. So it goes to show there's too many factors to make those year-to-year comparisons a lot of the time. Ward has always had the skillset, and he stayed in school, and showed his development was absolutely legit, became the top pick with more tape and less projection. Other teams are banking on development once drafted (McCarthy), which I'd honestly be a bit more nervous about than Ward. Although he has Kevin O'Connell along with JJ and Addison, which is about as good of a situation you can ask for haha.

Yeah I think Frank saw Bryce in his offense come that camp and was obviously quite petrified and had to play it cool/mask it. He wasn't a guy curating a modern offense around a player, he had a fixed system and philosophy that just didn't work with Bryce. Then the season rolled around and we saw what that looked like, and Bryce's psyche (and play of course) took a major hit. Combine that with his physical limitations, and it was the recipe for disaster that we all witnessed. Still won't forget how much our staff seemed to be gushing over CJ at his pro day. I still view this year as the real "prove it" one for Bryce. He was great to close out last, so we need to see that it has rolled over and continued to improve within a system that is much more tailored to his skillset.

Watching Hunt's interview makes me think he's really taken the leadership role on offense for us which is huge given the youth we have. Bryce will of course continuing to mature into one but he's a guy I'm very happy to have, even if we're paying premium. I love the guy's energy. Easily one of my current faves:

It can be easy to overestimate rosters this time of year. Most teams are probably waiting until they see what they’ve got in camp for a minute before making a move. Unless they’ve got an obvious hole (like LB has become now)

I've liked him since his rookie year as a prospect, but when he's been asked to play in a large capacity, he has simply not done well. He does not really add anything, rather muddies up the room. Fant is TERRIBLE as a blocker, a pure receiving TE. Let's just put Tremble aside since he's PUP (although I still like him as a TE2, but yeah he's not our future starter)... Sanders has already shown better receiving skills than a Fant and has a nice ceiling. Not to mention, he's got in-line run blocking skills. I really want to see what he's capable of this year. Also has a year+ experience now in Canales' offense, not to mention legit chemistry with Bryce. And after Sanders, I also imagine our staff is waiting to see how Mitchell Evans looks in camp as he's got the in-line blocking skills. If he looks fully capable of filling in behind Sanders, then I don't see a need. Overall, keep an eye out on early August moves. They are usually soft indicators of how staff's view their rookie late rounders and roster overall. This is a wait and see what the market presents and how they think their unit looks in camp.

This is the best this kid could come up with? Yikes. At least go after the obvious limbo teams like MIA/PIT/etc.

Smith-Wade for me. He has the path to some decent hefty snaps in Evero’s scheme. He held his own last year and improved as he continued to get snaps— If he makes some strides, could be a very capable nickel. I agree with Sanders. Bryce had some trust in him that final Falcons game post crazy head-stand. Bryce looked for him a lot that final game and made some critical catches to get us the W. Seems he’s put in major work so I’m hopeful about him. Wallace will have an offseason under his belt. I like him a lot, was higher graded than most remember in his draft (I.e Brugler had him LB3/70 overall) but he isn’t as cerebral of an LB as we’re used to. I think he could thrive if we get D captain/film-junky type next to him— because right now that’s Jewell. Still a bit cautious but love the talent. Rozeboom may snag some playing time from him if he’s still working out the kinks.

Which is what I hope we have happening. Canales established a new culture in house, we rid ourselves of the Rhule era and the brief hiccup that was Frankie. And now with his own thing in place, he’s created the landscape for guys like Bryce, Hunt, McMillan, Brown, Horn and others to make it an even better thing to be a part of

If roles are clearly defined and boundaries are established, and good culture comes from a healthy mix of both. For example - a great coach can be the catalyst for establishing a baseline culture, but the right player in a leadership role can take that and bring it to an even greater level.

Tobias Funke runs our PR dept

I think this puts Moore on the outside looking in / it comes down to Special Teams for me. McMillan Thielen Legette Coker Renfrow Horn (pending how they think he looks as our KR/PR)

Funny timing - was chatting with my long time friend about this game. Watched that catch from the other corner of the endzone in 336. Got rid of those seats in 21' & that memory is probably THE one most baked in my cranium of all of them. Beating DAL in 96' (have feint memories of), NE on Monday night and the NFCC romping as the others. That season overall is still the one I have the most impressionable memories from.

I feel like we're viewed/projected as a team ranked around 24-28th in the league. This is moving up from the cellar at 28-32 but I don't see it overhyped lol. I've said it before-I think realistic expectations is not a specific record, but how long we can technically stay in playoff contention before getting knocked out. It would be nice to see us hang in there until week 15-18 rather than know by week 9 that we're staying cellar dwellers.

I liked Watts as well. Forgot they grabbed him.

We may sniff around some safeties but wouldn't be surprised if we don't end up getting one of these guys like Blackmon/Simmons/etc. If we still haven't popped, we should wait and see who ends up available come preseason. Overall, it's not a position I'm super concerned about/low priority. I wouldn't mind seeing how the young guys look. Falcons and us swapping FSs would be meh. (They've got Fuller now) and don't think it serves us well getting a 32 y/o to plop in for a season. Develop.

Yeah the real burn in this situation was DG forcing Worley and that other CB pick who didn’t make it for a 3CB draft to pair with that atrocious Vernon Butler pick Overcompensated… I won’t forget DG and Rivera laughing like “see we know what you wanted and finally did it” presser. I mean, Joe Thuney was the pick after Worley lol. I will say the one saving grace was how terrible the 2016 draft was overall.

I'm putting Carrier ahead of KB and others at 4. Also because of his impact after he retired during the 2010s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfCHTAB-l54&ab_channel=CarolinaPanthers