LinvilleGorge

I don't mind no longer dumping massive resources into the position but striking a balance between the two approaches would be nice.

I mean, it wasn't a "collapse" as much as it just made an already bad defense historically bad. Add any one player in NFL history to that D and it would've still sucked.

What's the issue? That's always going to be the case. The NFL teams set the value of these picks through the trade market. Fetching a 2nd round pick in the trade market is a pretty big deal and that's because NFL teams really value draft picks.

They definitely shied away in part of Deion and the hype machine. Hell, even the Browns' football people didn't want him. Just look at the faces in that room as the pick was being announced. LOL But honestly, Shedeur checks all the boxes of guys who put up big numbers in college but don't project well to the NFL. QB friendly pass happy offense. Bad defense that forces the team to chase points. Weak schedule. Marginal measurables and talent. I mean, let's be honest, what plus physical traits does he have at the NFL level? Size? Below average. Arm? Below average. Mobility? Average. Then you add in the Travis Hunter factor of an all world athlete being your primary target. Finally, you have to look at his playing style. He basically plays like Johnny Manziel. There's pretty much only two guys who have made that style of play work for them in the modern era and that's Favre and Mahomes and they both have absolute cannon arms. Caleb Williams has that cannon and he's still struggling to make it work. Yeah, the Deion circus hurt him but when you objectively look at his NFL projection then combine it with the reports that he handled the whole pre-draft process extremely poorly it's not a shock he fell to the 5th. If his name was Shedeur Johnson instead of Shedeur Sanders there wouldn't have been this massive hype train around him. The media hype misled a lot of people regarding his NFL projection. He basically projects as a backup and the last thing you want out of a backup is a circus. Their fault or not, that's why guys like The Golden Calf of Bristol, Kaepernick, and Cam never carved out careers as backups.

He really seemed destined for the Pats or Steelers with his six fingers and all.

I wouldn't say most. I think people are letting the overall weak QB class and weak top of the draft board skee their views on Ward. If he played for Bama or UGA or OSU he would've probably been considered generational. The guy has all the physical tools you want and put up insane numbers. What more do you want? The only thing he lacked as a prospect was the media hype and honestly that was largely due to the Sanders hype machine sucking it all up.

Truly amazing insight here. LOL These draft class vs. draft class comparisons just aren't relevant. It really doesn't matter how prospects stack up vs. other draft classes. A lot of people are doing the same thing with T-Mac. Oh, he would've been the 4th or 5th best WR in this class or that class. Okay, great. We're still sitting on the clock at #8 and we have to make a pick or take a trade offer. Drafting a player from another draft class isn't an option so who cares? Everyone kinda accepted going into this draft that it was weak at the top but pretty strong in depth. Now we get to see how it plays out on the field. Plenty of draft projections prove incorrect.

The trade up really put Bryce in a huge spotlight. Yeah, the Bama/SEC effect definitely played a big role too.

If WR is our biggest strength that will be HUGE. It basically means that T-Mac showed up as a legit #1 WR from day one and XL developed into a legit starter over the off-season. IMO, the strength of the roster is obviously OG. We have one of the best pairs of starting OGs in the league with some decent depth behind them. The biggest issue we face is that there are numerous compelling arguments to be made about our biggest weakness. LOL

Hadn't really thought about it because he's been so out of the spotlight so far, but yeah...

It's a message board. Discussion is what it's meant for. How does this require explaining? I'm not "running to his defense" as much as I'm pointing out that your take is dumb and you should feel bad for it. Like I said before, you're the equivalent of a failing business blaming your top sales rep who while not putting up stellar numbers is still your top guy and is meeting expectations all the while seemingly giving everyone else in the organization a pass to focus on one of the few things that isn't abjectly broken. Adam Thielen is the least of the Panthers' issues. That's the whole point. You're missing the forest for the small bush. You're blaming an aging WR with a mid-level contract for not being a good #1 when he was brought here to be a veteran presence and solid #3. That's not an Adam Thielen problem. You're blaming the wrong entity.

The primary person who is going to make or break Bryce is Bryce. The OL is solid. Probably as good as most of our historic best units. The WRs are unproven but we've spent a ton of draft capital. We have a proven RB behind him. It's put up or shut up. You don't trade up to #1 overall to draft a guy who has to be carried. That type of guy should be doing the carrying.

Draft better. That's the solution. The rookie wage scale was a culmination of years of teams sucking at drafting and GMs getting their asses kicked at the bargaining table by players' agents. Now it's happening again albeit at a smaller scale because it's within the framework of the rookie wage scale. There's less room for negotiation but the agents are still carving out wins and setting precedents. It is what it is. Draft better. These 2nd rounder contracts are still a bargain if you draft well and they aren't cap killers even if you draft a bust. It only matters if you Hurney it up and draft 2nd round bust after just after bust.

Bully? LOLOLOL Nice victim turn. Of all the issues facing the Panthers in the Tepper era getting hung up on an aging WR making mid-tier money who has performed as expected while being forced into a role he's no longer cut out for is weird. No one is trying to argue that Thielen is an elite caliber WR at this point in his career and I think virtually everyone accepts that the whole situation was a result of poor roster building and over-reliance on young, unproven talent. But to pin that all on Adam Thielen? I mean, yeah it's flat out bizarre.

Yeah, it's bizarre. These dudes act like Thielen banged their wife or something.

I honestly hope not. I hope T-Mac is a big time impact rookies and that Legette makes a big jump from his rookie to his second year. Wouldn't mind for Coker to eat into his snaps and targets too. The best case scenario for the Panthers as a team will be for Thielen to play well in spots but largely give way to the youngsters.

I get what you're saying but I'm a proponent of drafting the best players and then getting them into camp and figuring out where they fit. Passing a better player for a better "fit" just isn't a good idea. That's how you end up drafting Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan because you already had Clyde Drexler on the roster.

Wild West Extravaganza is a fun one if you enjoy 19th century western history

Like a lot of things in today's economy, market concentration is a huge issue in the vet space. Mars (yeah, the chocolate company) owns roughly half of them with their control of Banfield and VCA as well as numerous smaller chains. Oh, and all that Royal Canin food the vets are prescribing and recommending? Yeah, that's owned by Mars too. Don't even get me started on the racket that is "prescription" dog food and how incredibly uneducated the average vet is on basic pet nutrition. Back to the actual clinics... private equity ghouls who care about literally nothing but profit own another 30%. Now you're down to roughly 20-25% of clinics that aren't under the thumb of Mars or private equity.

Bingo. Weirdly this stuff always only applies to athletics.

This is the pearl clutching college sports fans held onto for decades. Glad to see it still going strong, just shifted to HS now. LOL

Prior to NIL and the transfer portal you at least didn't have the open free agency that has existed at the HS level for years.

There's a spectrum like in all things. But honestly by and large vets aren't making the type of money most people assume they are. Most of them have a poo ton of student loans and running a clinic isn't cheap with the rent, utilities, staffing, etc.

How is he catching 77% of his targets? How is it his fault that he's being asked to carry more of a burden than he should be at this point in his career. I already said it was a result of poor roster building. But for people to be mad about Adam Thielen for this is just misplaced. Don't be mad about an aging veteran signed to be a steady presence, mentor, and probably #3 option at WR on the field for not being a stellar #1.

Where we tank in cap spending for the 2025 season by offensive skill position group: QB - 25th RB - 16th WR - 21st TE - 27th Folks, there's PLENTY to bitch about with the Carolina Panthers but bitching about overpaying a veteran backup QB and a veteran WR when the entire rest of the roster in those positions groups are on rookie contracts... I mean... LOL