CanadianCat

Yup still do. I said in a different post but I think you need to look at a trade as a trade itself and then how they are coached. A 3rd rounder for a top 10 corner. You make that trade any day.

I think its a game of chicken between Tepper and Rhule The longer Rhule coaches, the worst his reputation. But if he gets fired he keeps his money. The sooner Rhule quits the better options he has on the college ranks. But if he quits he doesnt get his money. I think Tepper wants to stick it to Rhule and wont fire him til the end of the season but then it will be too late for Rhule to catch on with a team. So I think Tepper is betting Rhule pulls a Bobby Petrino

Agree with everything you say.

You like to pile on all the time and generally poo post, but for those that actually want a balanced perspective... Sam was a good trade. At the time the consensus was that the Jets wrecked him and if he would have hit not one would be complaining. Picking up the 5th year option was a mistake CJ Henderson was a good trade. A 3rd rounder for a starting player, with his upside, is always worth it. Baker was a good trade. Also considering they took some of his salary for a potential franchise QB... again good trade. And I know your going to say that well Sam and Baker suck. Thats true, but I for one can appreciate that we made all those moves with a decent potential that we might get impact players and never needed to touch our 1st or 2nd round picks. Evaluate the trade for what it is. How the player is coached is another story.

I'm all in on blowing up the coaching staff, but I actually really like what Fit and Morgan are doing. I think he has been hamstrung by the fact he was hired after Rhule and the final decision goes to Rhule but I love they way he approaches the draft and how he continues to look for value. I think he should be given the chance to hire his own staff and make the accountability start from there.

I actually dont disagree with this approach. Firing Rhule at this point doesnt improve the team in anyway.

To me the silver lining here is that I think the roster has talent and I actually really like Fitterer and Morgan at the top. I think we need to just blow out the coaching staff and draft a QB. Its really ugly football right now, but I think the fixes are pretty simple.

I agree... But at this point keep Baker in... We will get a better draft pick

I mean there is no point making a change until the season is over. The end result might be the same

I actually liked the Darnold trade. I thought we could have paid less to get him (see the Baker trade) but I liked that we always were looking to get better at that position. It didnt work out, and thats life but if it had we would not be talking about firing the guy.

I hate being negative but assuming he's getting fired, when he goes home and the smoke settles what do you think he will look back and regret the most. I have a few suggestions 1. Coming into a new team and cutting the leader right out of the gate (Cam) (yes there was a chance Cam might not have played unless he got a new contract..) 2. Believing that Tepper was actually going to give him 7 years and not being more aggressive on getting a QB. 3. Giving too much control to his staff (Brady) when he was clearly over his head and not listening to instruction (running the ball more) I feel like those 3 things created the snowball effect as to where we are right now.

There is also a risk of hiring a play caller to be the HC.. those 2 skills are very different.

I'll come to the table on this challenge @Zod its kind of the same reasoning as I had with Fox and RR. I will still maintain that both Fox and RR where very good coaches. But I also agree that sometimes change is good for everyone. Regarding Rhule. I like that he is the CEO type coach. I think a lot of coaches become HC's because they are expect play callers but its hard to do that when you are the HC, you have SO many more duties. So I like that Rhule is a CEO type. Now is he running a successful team? No, but I don't necessarily think that's entirely his fault. He was hired under a 7 year contract. His mission from the start was to build this team right and everyone including Tepper said 'Rome is not built in a day' so I think Rhule has been trying to build a team that once all the pieces are in place you drop a rookie QB in and go. On paper that is the BEST way to build a team as it takes advantage of their rookie salary. I think that is exactly how the team has been trying to build. Thats why we passed on a bunch of QB's in previous drafts. Get the team ready then bring in a QB. BUT.. you also need to not tank.. so we have (smartly IMO) taken shots on high upside players (Bridgewater, Darnold, Baker) if those guys would hit, then we are YEARS a head in the process. They have not... and in this team building theory, thats not the end of the world cause we are still following the master plan. So I think Rhule is building the team exactly the way he was hired to do it. But its hard watching this team on sundays.

Lots of outside people were excited about TMJ. Im not giving up on him.

we would not hire a coach that wants to build around a 3rd round QB.. new coach = new QB

On offence ... Anderson looked good. CMC looks good. Moore looked good. Baker at the end of the game looked good Defence Secondary played tight coverage overall. Burns was getting pressure on clear passing downs.

He has been high on the Panthers all summer. He listed JC Horn as his top 10 break out candidates of the year.

Well... its not like they went all in on him...

Actually if Baker plays well, and we decided to resign him, those QB moves would probably bring down the non elite QB market. Again, good for us.

The absolutely best situation is that he balls out. Even if he does, so long as he's not Joe Flacco on his contract year, we would resign him for top 10 QB money... and consider ourselves lucky.

Hey man welcome here! We have some pretty regular heavy posters that like to crap all over this team but I suppose thats pretty standard. This team is close to being good again. Rhule was hired to rebuild the team and has done so 2x in college. He usually was able to do that in 3 years and this is year 3. His 1st year here, he famously drafted only defensive players and last year we looked really good at times. We are a team that be built to win with speed and with a lead. Our secondary has really good young talent and we have good speed rushers on the line. I would say the weak point of our defence is stopping the run. Our offence has really good skill positions. DJ Moore is one of the best WR in the league and has racked up several impressive seasons with horrendous QB play. Robbie Anderson is our deep threat and we have a bunch of good young prospects to round that group out. Our TE room is a mystery. We gave a big TE contract to a TE that most of us here this is a replaceable tallent. But Tommy Tremble that we drafted last year was comp'ed to Kittle coming out of college, so he has a big following on this board. Our team success, as most teams will come down to offence line play (which we have improved) and QB play. Rhule and Co. have been trying to rebuild this team to the point they can just plunk in a QB. They have taken swings at 1st round picks that didnt pan out (Bridgewater, Darnold and now Baker) if one of them hits we are in a REALLY good spot. If they dont, then we draft a QB next year. The team is good, we have good leadership and some of the best individual skill positions in the league.. .we just need a oline that can block and a QB that can distribute the ball. We are close!

Sunset in my back yard from a few days ago.

Looks great!

I'll be picking it up again this year (as I do every year).. I only play Franchise mode. Looks like this year they finally made some good improvements to it. Here's to hoping!

I think most people in general are 'cup half empty' people and they view their team in that light - I dont think this is unique to the panthers. The last time the forum was 'happy' was probably the last few weeks of the 2015 season and going into the 2016 season when hopes were sky high. But there are always the few that would find something to complain about. Regardless, Im excited. We have built a good team around the QB position and now we have some good prospects there. If Sam or Baker turn out to be the guy we are very close to turning the corner.