MHS831

Lenoir Rhyne's greatest--was with Jeremy Chinn in draft value--I am not sure how his $58m contract will be absorbed. Is he better than Ransom? Prolly not. He is 29 and is overpaid. They would love us to take him off their hands.

That is what makes it hard to evaluate him-and that is why this season, there are no excuses. Not only did he lose Burns, Chinn (some blame him for that), Brown, Luvu, etc., they did not draft for D (Wallace? A third rounder?) Tough sledding. My point was this--is he a one-trick pony or did he do anything to adjust--try a new look, etc. In this league, if you are young and successful, they will figure you out--but yeah--we had a bad roster.

all we really know is that our depth has issues. However, there have been too many dropped passes (TMac already has 2 or 3, sanders? Don't let that ball hit you in the hands--Moore's fumble) and I thought our OL depth was better. DL is not as stout as we hoped (based on a few plays) and LB is scary. Some are worried about CB--bartholomew has been terrible, but Thornton and Evans are pretty solid, from what we have seen. Horn, Jackson, Thornton, Smith Wade, Evans-- I am not as excited about Ransom as I was, and that is not fair for a fourth rounder. He will be fine later, I hope. The running game should be ahead of the passing game, and i have not seen it yet. I really liked what i saw from Brycen Tremayne both as WR and on special teams--watch him--long shot, but mid season, he could be a PS pull up. Smart guy too. Interestingly, Kingston played center Saturday and did fairly well. Stay tuned. Finally, and this is the last I will say about it--we need a better color guy for preseason games--I liked Rucker back in the day, and Delhomme is fine. But Smitty sucks. Oh, and it looks as though we have our kicker, via UDFA. I think that battle is over.

If this defense is not playing well early, Evero is gone. He has had an "excuse" that could be valid--last season, losing brown to injury after losing Burns and Luvu etc. That is not to say that gives you a golden ticket to suck, however. A good coordinator would have made adjustments, etc--and i don't recall him doing that very much. Maybe my memory fails me. If the defense struggles out the gate, he, like Bryce last year, could be the first casualty. Hell, don't we have Capers on the staff? This ain't hard.

TMac was not a bad pass--he will come down with that ball most of the time. Sanders dropped a dime--and the INT? I don't know what that was about. The 2 announcers were rarely talking about what was happening when it was happening--so it was hard to follow the game. Few replays--. But they droned on about some topics while stuff was happening--I turned off the sound. Smitty is a dick. You don't try to one up your partner, you dont draw attention to yourself for being right, etc. I bet he has a blow hole on the top of his head and will soon grow some chin nads. Nuff said.

Three words and the problem is solved. Notre Dame Box (mic dropped)

I agree (it was frustration/sarcasm). However, I think the Browns might cut an upgrade over Plummer....but your second point is one I agree with too.

I would have liked to have seen Ewers or Will Howard. It blows my mind that we entered the season with all hope riding on Young.

of course, bad routes can make a QB look terrible.

Looks like we should sign a new third team Qb after cuts. You could argue 2 or 3.

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Let's see if Bryce comes out timid and indecisive--if so, not a good sign.

Barthomew is getting burned this preseason. Prolly gonna get pulled for Thornton. Bart has given up 3 TDs so far....

I think the pass to TMac was pretty good and Sanders let it hit him in the facemask. Hard to get into a groove when you are in third and long--having said that, Bryce not hitting the checkdown was just stupid--it reminded me of the first two games last season--indecision when there was only 1 decision.

Going on the record here--MARK MY WORDS!!! XL is going to have 1000 yards receiving and 7 TDs.

At this time of the year, it could be due to a lack of focus during the first few weeks of practice--usually the last unit to fall together once starting positions are fixed. However, you never know. The Etienne fumble on the punt was another sign that they were not seasoned--so we shall see.

If I am not mistaken, Ladd McK was available, and that is who I wanted. Now, had we done that, Coker would be the #2 behind TMac right now and we'd have AT/Renfrow/Ladd at the same spot, but it might be better considering bryce is the QB. Not giving up on XL, but yes, those one hit wonders are not worth first round picks. That pick, followed by an injured RB (Brooks) was very desperate or too cute. Morgan seems to have settled down.

It was a stupid question, for sure. TMac/Coker/AT/Renfrow/XL--probably in that order.

Wasn't Brad Hoover an UDFA? I think we could argue both sides--

I cra, but hear me out. It would not take us too much work to run a 4-3. I even think, with the personnel we have up front, we could be better off in a 4-3. Nothing we have says 4-3 OLB, but look at this: 4-3 DEs: Wonnum (6-5, 260), Scourton (6-2, 265), Jones (6-4, 265) Princely (6-4, 250 speed rusher), Incoom 6-2, 265) They could add 5 to 10 lbs each, imo. 4-3 DTs. Brown and Brown, Robinson and Wharton (who can play DE in some situations), Cam Jackson 4-3 MLB Wallace (6-1, 244) Rozeboom, Bam Scott 4-3 OLBs This is the position that would need to be addressed. Depth: Kris Barnes (played OLB at UCLA) Add 2 players and sign a cut OLB as depth...

I think--just a hunch--that the competition is between Ransom and Richardson. Keep them both hungry and do not hand the job to an UDFA or a 4th rounder. It is a motivational thing. I could be wrong.

I would say this--obviously, we have not seen enough to know how good we will be--but I think the difference between good and possibly great rests on the shoulders of three people--and you are right to rely on these guys for insights--I would say, however, that there is a lot of pessimism and skepticism right now, understandably. This may sound crazy, but those three people are TMac, Young, and Sanders. TE: If Tremble and Sanders can step up, and I expect them to do so, we could have another dimension to the offense that we have not had for some time. I think Bryce, who has become better at his progressions and checkdowns, will benefit. WR: With TMac and what seems to be an improved and maturing Coker, Young has WRs he has not had since arriving. He relied on AT, and AT is a third-down slot WR at this point. If XL develops into what he can be--you could argue that in one year, Young has 3 WRs better than his best WR in years 1 and 2. OL: Hunt and Lewis have made a huge difference, but C is still an area where we could improve. HOWEVER, Mays was strong at the position at the end of the season last year. I think we have 2 serviceable centers. Key to the OL is that Ickey continues his development, and I expect him to, and Moton stays healthy. On paper, Brady Christensen, Mays/Corbett, Zavala (who played at a starter level at the end of 2024) are pretty good backups. The OL is probably as good as it was in 2003, when the Panthers went to their first Super Bowl. RB: We have had former first rounders Stewart and Williams (Double Trouble) in the backfield and it worked well. Now we have RBs who are a notch below that level, but with a better OL. Dowdle and Hubbard are a strong combo (both 1000 yard rushers last year) and Etienne is a serviceable third down option who can catch passes. As Young improves his progressions, a checkdown RB is important, as is a TE--and I expect us to be better in these areas. The only real question mark is QB. Bryce has 8 solid (not great, just solid) games under his belt, but that improvement was probably based on his OL. XL did not help much, and Coker came on midway through the season out of necessity. Now Bryce has weapons instead of check downs--he has to step up and get them the ball. I saw two good signs Friday--1. His fade pass to TMac was on the money and a good read, and his slant to TMac (dropped) was an excellent, confident pass. He is starting to develop swag. I hope he can stay healthy and keep progressing. If so, the offense goes as he goes.

No, I agree. It has to be based on optimism about players at this point, but we are talking about players like Ransom, Sanders, Coker, Wallace, Richardson, Thornton, etc. playing key roles. Normally--in the past--we were not doing that beyond round 2--I simply feel that the focus is on the bottom of the roster.

About depth: S: I think we have 3/4 that can start. CB: With Thornton, Horn, Jackson, and Smith Wade, Bartholomew and Evans behind them--we are deep (somehow). ILB: No depth. We need some badly OLB: Wonnum, Jones, Scourton, Princely, and maybe a fifth--we are deep. DE: Brown, Robinson, Wharton---and Ray, who I think sucked last year--maybe we could use one more. DT: Brown, Cam Jackson, Shy Tuttle--not bad--Shy better play better OFFENSE WR--TMac, XL, AT, Coker, Renfrow, and Horn--good depth TE--Tremble, Sanders, Evans--not flashy but solid OL--Christensen, Mays, Zavala--that is pretty good depth. RB--Chuba, Dowdle, Brooks, Etienne---stable full QB--Young, Dalton, Plummer---not much depth So I think we have depth issues at 1. ILB (personally, Rozeboom is a backup and Wallace is not without flaws) 2. DE (need a fourth) 3. QB (Hard to find a backup better than Dalton, and that is sad) Surprisingly, DBs on paper look good.

Oh, they will be busts alright----in Canton!!!