strato

And very few QBs are.

Well as one of his biggest and longest non believers (pun intended), he has risen to a level that is acceptable if he can roll that out every week. But it only happened infrequently. And I am still not in love with it, he is limited physically and will always be limited. Acceptable though. A duffer can go out and golf on Saturday is likely to have a few really good shots. So why can’t all his shots be good? It is hard. It isn’t that hard to have some success in spurts. The trick is keeping it going. How many good games would he have to turn in to earn an extension? I would have a hard time coming up with 6 that meet a high standard from 2025. So, 8? I am no. Don’t have three more years for him to figure out how to get to 12 or 13. Double them? I might bite. Depending on the insanity of the annual pay. And then I thought about it. 12 games is only 2/3rds. I believe I would want more for an extension that paid him market value.

Not sure but I read that people are lining up to chase him and his salary was estimated to get to 24million. It was 20 last week I think.

Well, if you are a fan it was okay. Good. If you are an analyst type and maybe not a believer, it isn’t the same ride. Lots of talking heads from the NFL media sphere opine on Bryce and Canales, while ignoring the down parts, with some well deserved love for DB.

We need to hope they don’t wait. Lot of guys hitting the draft for 2027. You give them a year behind Bryce who can either become the bridge or he can hold out, whatever. A lot depends on Bryce and what he can do with year 4. If he doesn’t provide definitive beyond a doubt notice that he is the guy, you can’t just keep on with giving him the next year.

I wouldn’t trade XL for the guy and it doesn’t have a lot to do with XL. There is something wrong with this picture, buyer beware. Let me tell you guys, lots of people have talent. Talent is cheap. That is like, the easiest thing to have. It is what you can do with it that makes the difference. Like Robbie Anderson, like that idiot WR we traded for from Pittsburgh two years ago, Johnson. They both had plenty of talent.

I smell something fishy. Why would they do that? He had a less than good 2nd season but he had a really 1st season.

If that’s how it has to go, okay. I am good with a new LOT anyway. But his 5th, all 5th year, the money is guaranteed. I def don’t know how you can settle for less when talking guaranteed.

I know people say it can’t be done this way but I’d see how he plays this year. If it wasn’t good enough I’d tell him look, you are gonna have to play out that 5th year, collect your 26.5 million, and prove you deserve that extension. Which might happen after I draft his potential replacement next year.

I am talking about a token payment of as little as possible base for 2027 just to keep him tethered. They waste the kind of money I’m talking several times every year, it is inconsequential. 2-3 million. The real money would come in incentives only after he met them. In which case, he will have earned it. Or we just pay him 17.4 million for nothing and we are in the same no man’s land at the end of the year. Believe me it would be team friendly until he hit the escalators. The timing of this sucked and calls for being creative or sucking it up and plan on him moving on. I am not looking at him being a guard as any kind of given. They need feet too. They need push too.

I think I’d prefer Hill Jr myself too but overall I would like that draft. I am there after the 3rd too. I don’t pretend to know 200 players and how they would or wouldn’t fit. Same for me every year pretty much, I learn them after we take them. 2023 was the only exception in years.

Well, thanks for about two good games Andy. They were a welcome respite.

Not talking a real extension. (I would never do that either) Talking basically about buying a little cap space and it being more of a retainer that can be revisited.

And they had no doubt planned on it to be that way with Icky’s deal. But it can’t be a normal extension like he was about to get. Put some incentives in there that could take it up to that level if he heals up great. If he doesn’t want to work with that, I would do what I had to do now and after the season. Before blindly paying.

I watched some of it. Through the Miami game. Took a break. If you understand that they are going to gloss over why we were 1-3 and down 17-0 and just go with it, isn’t so bad.

Yeah. The writing was on the wall. He was a Field’s supporter that wasn’t too thrilled about going through a year with another rookie QB, to start with. And said so in so many words. That won’t endear you to the rookie QB or the team. And they were drafting his replacements right and left.

I think so too. I believe I used the word ‘impact’. I meant it in purest sense. Not upgrade, contribute to, but make an impact. That is what we need, and it is okay if it is short term.

I think he is back too, and we’ll overpay him a little. But for me that is due diligence, not issue addressed. I’ll bow out there is plenty of other stuff that is in there people will comment on.

Without having the perspective of actually viewing it to see what they mean by Ascension, it sounds a little self congratulatory. Unless Tepper bought himself a throne to ascend to.

I expected to hear that, that’s fine. But it isn't even a little subliminal? You don’t discuss it. Anyway that is my thing to pick at.

The more I think of it the more I think a young CB needs to be in play. My real issue with your post is the complete lack of emphasis on LOT. You have it 5th on the offensive needs list. For me it is number one overall. I rank ILB very highly too. It is the worst mini unit we have on defense if not the entire team. I understand the pass rush argument but I look at Edge more as a short term problem because we have two we are developing and I certainly believe we need t9 draft more help. I would take a guy that could make an impact on a three year deal we can get out of after two. And draft another edge to develop. If we turn ILB into a strength I don’t see how the pass rush doesn’t benefit some, too.

Probably some kind of extension news. Or Nicole Tepper visits another local business.

This other thing though, speaks to me. It is a guy who is fully grown and mature going against 19, 20, 21 year olds in college. He gets to the pros and almost everyone is a full grown man. Only the rookies are sometimes a bit less. He had an advantage, now he is the rookie at the NFL level. What happens then?

I find that after all the decades of watching including 30 years as a Panthers fan the general emotion level has for sure dropped. I am way more detached and don’t go as nuts over different things that happen in the games. More matter of fact realist when looking at the team. Not sure exactly how to describe it. What I do still have is that weird thing where I feel better when we win and just blah when we lose. I don’t have the emotional attachment to the players I used to feel though. So many years of them going “it’s a business, I have to feed my family” I guess. I mean, you are getting 10 million but need 11 because you have to feed your family? Or a better example, 48 million for 4 years but you leave because someone offers you 49? STFU.

Yes the Icky thing really kills us this year with a 17.4 I think, million dollar hole, for nothing. His extension would likely have reduced his 2026 hit. But the extension was going to be massive. At the same time, the massive extension money is largely freed up now and can go elsewhere. There is just no way he should be in line for the same payday as pre injury. I say largely freed because maybe we can do a little hollowed out extension to give him a window to get back and stay with the team past this year. Snap count and/or other incentives for 2027. Something that leaves the door open for him to get a fresh contract that reflects his value moving into 2028. Whatever that proves to be. We’d have a lot of that money that was earmarked for his extension available to us starting next year.