What in the everloving fruit of the loom croissant butter is this?

[Zod]

From NFL.com

https://www.nfl.com/_amp/debrief-32-thoughts-for-32-teams-after-the-2021-nfl-draft?__twitter_impression=true

 

"The Panthers must truly believe in new QB Sam Darnold. After being tied to Mac Jones throughout the draft process, the Panthers passed on both Jones and Justin Fields to select cornerback Jaycee Horn eighth overall. The fact that the Panthers didn't pick up Darnold's fifth-year option until after the first round indicates there was a scenario in which they could have taken a quarterback, likely Trey Lance, who came off the board five spots before Carolina picked. The risk is that Darnold's contract is now guaranteed for 2022. Guaranteeing two years of big money last year to Teddy Bridgewater -- traded to Denver this week -- proved to be an unforced error by the Panthers, and they may have made a similar mistake again with Darnold."

 

 

1. No one in their right mind linked Mac Jones with the Panthers. 

2. They didn't execute 5th year option not because they wanted a qb, but because it would have tipped their hand to potential trade partners. 

[LinvilleGorge]

Yeah, I don't really understand the Mac Jones talk. The word immediately out of Senior Bowl week was that Rhule and company liked Jones but not in the 1st round or certainly at least not at #8. Moving on from a physically limited QB in Teddy to draft Mac Jones at #8 would've been nothing short of baffling.

[Floppin]

Greg Rosenthal is an idiot though and he always has terrible takes wrt the panthers so this isn't really a surprise.

[BrianS]

I never bought any of the Mac Jones talk, though after watching Coach Hoodie at the Alabama pro day I am a little surprised they took him . . . even though I said a LONG time ago that they would.  His body language at that pro day was very deceptive.  Well played Coach Hoodie.

All that aside, the conversations around Darnold's fifth year option could ALL be true.  It could be true that we didn't exercise the option pre-draft because there was a guy we hoped would fall.  It could equally be true that we didn't exercise it in the hopes that someone would offer us a train load of capital for our pick.  Doesn't necessarily need to be one or the other.

[Floppin]

No matter the reasoning for why we did not, there is absolutely NO reason for having executed the option prior to the draft.

[Pejorative Miscreant]

He needed to get 100 words somehow.  

[Shocker]

The talent evaluation skills of Rhule and Fitty really came into focus with this draft.  They know what they are doing.  I must have been wrong on Fields or questioning Darnold too much.

[onmyown]

Dunno. I think it’s quite possible they would’ve taken Lance and that could’ve been the reason for no 5th year option. Or maybe traded if someone wanted Lance - we will probably never know.

SF have up a ton to get him, and their FO is pretty good, so clearly he was a better prospect than most of us thought.

But I think the only team ‘tied’ to Jones was possibly SF, not sure what they’re smoking. Clearly that was some smokescreen BS.

[frankw]

Waiting on the fifth year option had to have had some amount of reasoning connected to the possibility of a qb we liked falling. There is no reason to be a homer about this. It is widely known that Sam Darnold was essentially option D. What stone didn't we turn over before relenting and making a trade for him? We brought in Haskins for a look and even offered the 8th pick for Matt Stafford who is older than Cam Newton. I would caution folks to not make the same mistakes this go around that they did with Teddy last year buying the hype and fluff too soon. Let's see how he looks in camp with all these weapons. Ironically Sam is set up much better than Teddy was this time last year. He's definitely not in NY anymore.

[Arizona Dude]

The draft is done. Kind of weird now the boss is still making threads to generate content. 

Divas gonna diva 
 

[NanuqoftheNorth]

Waiting on Sam's 5th year option was a strategic move. 

Why would the Panthers want to reveal their true intentions prior to the draft? 

Answer: They wouldn't.

[Floppin]

12 minutes ago, frankw said:

Waiting on the fifth year option had to have had some amount of reasoning connected to the possibility of a qb we liked falling. There is no reason to be a homer about this. It is widely known that Sam Darnold was essentially option D. What stone didn't we turn over before relenting and making a trade for him? We brought in Haskins for a look and even offered the 8th pick for Matt Stafford who is older than Cam Newton. I would caution folks to not make the same mistakes this go around that they did with Teddy last year buying the hype and fluff too soon. Let's see how he looks in camp with all these weapons. Ironically Sam is set up much better than Teddy was this time last year. He's definitely not in NY anymore.

Executing his option prior to the draft would have been supremely stupid. Even if they had every intention of not drafting any of the QB's in the draft no matter what, it would have been completely asinine to have used the option prior to the draft. This is is the dumbest of hot takes. 

Like maybe they did have eyes on Lance, or were still on the fence about Fields or whatever, or maybe they hated them. It's all irrelevant and pointing to them not execising the option prior to the draft as some sort of proof is just dumb.

Edited May 2, 2021 by Floppin

[mav1234]

1 minute ago, NanuqoftheNorth said:

Waiting on Sam's 5th year option was a strategic move. 

Why would the Panthers want to reveal their true intentions prior to the draft? 

Answer: They wouldn't.

I don't get why so many commentators are confused by this.  There may have been a scenario in which we don't pick it up, but that is only because you never rule out insane things from the draft. I'm pretty sure Fitterer implied we would pick it up with the way he referred to a plan for the 5th year option... that's how I read it, anyway. Darnolds extension isn't peanuts but it also isn't back-breaking. They are clearly setting him up in almost every way possible to succeed.

More than that, we finally have a front office that is trying to work the draft itself, and that made the draft far more interesting than it has been before for me.

 

[LinvilleGorge]

25 minutes ago, BrianS said:

All that aside, the conversations around Darnold's fifth year option could ALL be true.  It could be true that we didn't exercise the option pre-draft because there was a guy we hoped would fall.  It could equally be true that we didn't exercise it in the hopes that someone would offer us a train load of capital for our pick.  Doesn't necessarily need to be one or the other.

The only guy that really makes since here is Trey Lance and if we were hoping for him then we did a VERY good job of keeping that one quiet. Despite him being a hot mock draft item for us awhile, there was no substantiated rumors of us having the slightest interest in him but that doesn't necessarily mean for sure that we didn't. Fields was there. He and Lance were the only two of the top QB prospects who had any chance of being there. Lawrence/Wilson going #1/#2 was a given and had been for awhile.