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Heeeeere's Danny: My spin: Expectations don't sound too high. Just thinking about taking things day by day, working the plan. Believes in Bryce (sounds real, but still coach-speak). Thinks he has all the tools to succeed in the league. Morgan did have a "we'll see" pertaining to Bryce. His philosophy is to churn the bottom of the roster. The best teams are player-driven, including the team culture. They've drafted high character guys. Hard Knocks do what it do. There were more phone calls on the Burns trade than they showed. It's good for fans. Media/fans may be sleeping on D.J. Johnson. Like I said...lots of believable coach-speak, but I have a gut feeling that there will be real competition for spots. I get the sense that Morgan is keen on adding upgrades from the waiver wire. I'd look for us to upgrade at least the CB position if not the EDGE.

True dat! But worst in the league is a whole 'nother level of disappointment---the highest, really.

I guess I've been intermittently linking vids on here that pretty much align with with my belief that Panthers fans should be realistic about expectations this season. For me, "The Armchair Quarterback" is absolutely on point with a sense of guarded optimism about the additions on offense and an appreciable dose of skepticism about the defense. Even with his "C.J. Horn" reference, you can tell that he's at least informed about the basics. One thing that he emphasizes is that the 2024 season is all about determining if Bryce is the guy or not. This is really the most important immediate question that speaks to the direction of our franchise.

Detroit was very smart to draft Gibbs. It almost got them to the championship. I guess that I have a philosophical difference. Draft football players that can make an impact as much as possible. I think that this is especially important for a team that's rebuilding. You can't afford to miss the forest for the trees. This is a multi-year rebuild, and Brooks is only 21 years old and will hopefully have plenty of years to positively impact the team.

Teams take RBs in the first. There's really no need for an excuse to take a player that should have a profound impact upon the game. People were dragging Dan Campbell for taking Jahmyr Gibbs on the first, but his play went a long way towards moving them forward. Arguably they should've fed him the ball more in the conference championship. We made foolish moves that led us to trading away CMC who has certainly moved the needle for the 49ers. Again, he should've been fed more, and perhaps they'd be champs today. I don't think you need an excuse to draft good football players on day one or two. Sure, you can get lucky in a later round, but you're more likely to draft just a guy (JAG). You can get away with that if you have a QB that can put the team on his shoulders, but every team wants a prolific RB, whether they 'fess up to it or not.

Not quite sure why you're saying that RBs don't last 7-10 years. Plenty have been in the league that long. No, value in the draft is of utmost importance. Where teams fail is either just making the wrong decision, or overthinking what should be an easy decision. Not to mention that the draft by its very mature is a dart's throw.

We agree a lot, but not here. Brooks, pre-injury, was on pace to be a first round pick. In theory, he has the type of talent. Drafting is about getting value: I'm not gonna say "getting something for nothing," but getting more for little. Top-tier backs can make a helluva difference on the field, irrespective of an overblown philosophy about their positional value dwindling. Jahmyr Gibbs is the latest evidence of this. And mind you, we didn't have to spend a first, but a second (and received a 2025 second to boot). For me, whether or not we made the right decision will come down to his play (especially that in 2025 and beyond). If things go right, we'll have Brooks for the next seven to 10 years as a premier three-down back that can take it to the house on any given play.

That's exactly what it is. I think you have to have 100 posts or something. I would tell you to try and recover your password, but for some odd reason the password recovery system won't send links, and odder still is that @Zod hasn't fixed it. So, here we are.

To be fair, being subjected to turf-burn on every play changes a kid. It's a wonder that he hasn't been Carred...if he hasn't been Carred.

I was thinking the same thing. It's a square peg into a round hole type of thing. There's an argument that his movement and ability to create is the best part of his game.

Just like sin is sin, bad is bad. But like I tell the religious, just because sin is sin, that doesn't mean that all sins are equal. We'll likely be bad, but if we can see redemption by year's end, maybe we'll still attain a path to glory. Now, fix the bad password recovery system please.

Scott Fowler gives Tepper "the business," as well he should. He's not kind about it either, but Tepper was the author of that with his sourpuss attitude.

Verge smokin that killa.

Zod

I mean, I wouldn't expect more than he's already displayed. That's generally how these things go.

I don't know, but I wish he'd fix the password recovery system.

I'm sticking with 3-14 until I see something that gives me a reason to increase it.

Nothing is absolute. All billionaires aren't bad, just like any other class of people. Thoughtless and heartless, maybe. I don't know. But some of the things that have gone on, if I were rich I just wouldn't do it, especially if I were a so-called Christian. The Bible says it's easier for a camel to get through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven. Hmmm, I wonder why. It also says that the road to Heaven is narrow, but the road to destruction is wide. Hmmm, again. No anger, just very sober of thought. Truth hurts! I don't know how you got anger or jealousy out of that, but you're off base. I wasn't angry when I posted as much as I was sober. The reason why you're quick to call it an angry rant and call me jealous is because you don't want to acknowledge the truth in the post, or really address the problems. You're happy and content with the status quo. I wonder why. Moreover, the reason why I don't do the tenderbox is because of the rampant dishonesty within it. It's a waste of time, just like Twitter for the most part. You can't have an honest discussion with dishonest people with blinders on.

Human values are turned upside down. Back in the 50s, the top dawg on the ladder made average made about 10 times more than those on the lowest rung. The majority of people (mainly white men, if we're honest) could still support their families working one job while getting an honest day's pay for an honest day of work. They could afford a home and transportation---nothing fancy, but a comfortable lifestyle. Now we have families that can't even afford food, much less a home and decent transportation (and let's not even begin to talk health care). But greed took root, special interests and PACs took over, Corporations were equated to a person by crooked courts, and basically everything than to go to Hell, and that's where our society is headed. Reaganomics took root, a.k.a. trickle-down economics, and obscene wealth disparities began to develop and now the wealth gap is insanely huge and increasing, as many many people can't even make ends meet. People are actually working more than ever; we have a highly productive society (and world), but now even the working-class---middle-class (or whatever you want to call it) is feeling the economic pain that people at or near the bottom have been feeling, and it's all because billionaires have stacked the deck in their favor by stacking Congress and the courts with Plutocrats and wannabe-billionaires in order to continue receiving their corporate welfare to the detriment of hard working people. These people are self-centered and self-entitled and use all manner of instruments to divide and conquer, all so that they can live to excess while others struggle. There is no rightness, righteousness or justice in that. It is hypocrisy of the highest order.

But I don't think that's what he's saying, as much as he's saying that the offense should be better and should actually make us more competitive on a weekly basis. 3-7 wins isn't exactly lighting the world on fire. The defense is a pretty big unknown, but only if we can stay healthy. If Jaycee goes down, which is better than a given at this point, we're essentially just screwed. The same can be said of Clowney to be honest. The analyst said that he doesn't know what the hell we're going to do if the injury bug bites. As for the run game, many seem pretty high on the rookie, and the analyst said that after Reich was canned, we went from 92 to 125 YPG, and he doesn't see any reason that the upward trajectory won't continue with Canales, whom he believes is a talented offensive-minded coach, and the fact that the guard play should be a lot better.

There's much of nothing coming out this time of year, but here's a vid that I believe that many fans need to internalize because it speaks to expectations for the 2024 season. There's nothing really new, but I'd like to point out that one of the few things that I personally learned is that D.J. Wonnum's contract is only guaranteed to the tune of 10 percent. The analyst in the vid is a Vikings guy, and he has seen all of Wonnum's plays. He says that Wonnum disappears for big stretches, and of course, as a Panthers guy, I couldn't help but think of Brian Burns' disappearing act for stretches as well. To paraphrase and kind of give my two cents, Panthers fans should be somewhat optimistic about all of the potential on offense (but not crazily so), and be somewhat worried about the pass rush and defensive backfield. We're thin at both, but hopefully we can at least be competitive based on the offensive side of the ball. This is not to say that we won't be better on defense, but being so thin at rush and on the back end, we will be lucky to substantially improve. One more note is that I believe he's somewhat of a Young apologist, as he didn't really mention Bryce's bad play specifically, taking the position that we just don't know what we have in Young based upon the sh¡t show in 2023. I could argue the point, but what's the point? We'll have to see what Bryce has got when surrounded by much-improved talent and coaching. Check the vid out; it isn't so long, and though there are multiple reasons to be skeptical about the defensive personnel, last year produced a couple of stats that should indicate that Ej knows what he's doing. Like the analyst said, we'll hopefully do for the defense in the 2025 off-season, what we did for the offense this off-season.

I'm just happy to get rid of him. It would have been nice to get more compensation, but once we turned down the Rams' offer, we were screwed on that front. We were destined to take an L. But, we were able to take a substantial amount of savings with his departure and ultimately prioritize the O-line while possibly improving the D-line despite Burns' departure. On one hand wasted opportunity was a hard pill to swallow, but the savings opened up different opportunities.