After "humbling" second season, Ikem Ekwonu ready to take advantage of a new offense

[pantherclaw]

13 hours ago, Panthera onca said:

At least he didn’t watch Netflix all offseason 

For real! How dare a football player watch Netflix. He has no time for himself!! fug

[CRA]

12 minutes ago, pantherclaw said:

For real! How dare a football player watch Netflix. He has no time for himself!! fug

Luke Kuechly didn't even have a TV his first 4 years in the league. 

I mean, it was a bad answer by Bryce Young coming off the season he had.  Not the end of the world.  I think it's fair to say that wasn't a good answer given who and what he is.  He didn't just say he watched a little Netflix.  He said he had nothing to do with football all offseason. 

Hard to imagine, Cam, Luke and a host of other Panther greats...intentionally having nothing to do with football early in their career or after a bad year all offseason. 

 

[pantherclaw]

6 minutes ago, CRA said:

Luke Kuechly didn't even have a TV his first 4 years in the league. 

I mean, it was a bad answer by Bryce Young coming off the season he had.  Not the end of the world.  I think it's fair to say that wasn't a good answer given who and what he is.  He didn't just say he watched a little Netflix.  He said he had nothing to do with football all offseason. 

Hard to imagine, Cam, Luke and a host of other Panther greats...intentionally having nothing to do with football early in their career or after a bad year all offseason. 

 

Luke is an outlier even among the elite. 

Was it a bad answer? Sure. 

Anyone that expects any player to be nonstop football every waking moment needs to reassess life priorities.  

[Waldo]

He looked like a giant bag of stink last year. No idea he he ever makes a big enough leap in his pass protection to stay at LT but it's at least a reasonable attempt for this year with the new talent he will be playing beside. It's not like he came into the league a polished prospect but more as a pass protect project and run mauler.

BC will probably get a good look if Ickey can't improve. Could be worse, like a 36 year old back up sitting on the roster to force themselves to justify using the pick they spent on Ickey without giving any meaningful possibility of useful competition in a situation a reasonable doubt like this. 

[CRA]

1 minute ago, pantherclaw said:

Luke is an outlier even among the elite. 

Was it a bad answer? Sure. 

Anyone that expects any player to be nonstop football every waking moment needs to reassess life priorities.  

I think fans want the #1 overall pick, who had a rough first year that some exposed issues......to not take his first offseason completely off of football.  

and while Luke is an outlier.  I think Bryce's first NFL offseason given what he is.....probably makes him a bit of one too.   Because I don't think his offseason, is a very common approach by those that have been in his shoes. 

 

[csx]

55 minutes ago, pantherclaw said:

For real! How dare a football player watch Netflix. He has no time for himself!! fug

And to think this criticism comes from people who spend their work days posting on a message board.

[frankw]

8 minutes ago, csx said:

And to think this criticism comes from people who spend their work days posting on a message board.

Comparing the average working person to a 22 year old sitting on a guaranteed 38 million dollar contract isn't going to win many people over my guy. Just a heads up.

Edited May 30, 2024 by frankw

[ForJimmy]

7 minutes ago, csx said:

And to think this criticism comes from people who spend their work days posting on a message board.

People will take quotes and use them to back whatever agenda they are pushing unfortunately it’s just part of it. The part about him doing his workouts every morning will get ignored by some while the part about Netflix will get highlighted. At the end of the day he will either produce or not. Until then we will have the same conversations over and over because it’s the offseason. 

[ForJimmy]

To follow the topic, I think Icky will look a lot better with a legit LG beside him vs the 4th stringers we were suiting up last year. The OL should look better with center being still a question mark IMO. 

[CRA]

5 minutes ago, frankw said:

Comparing the average working person to a 22 year old sitting on a guaranteed 38 million dollar contract isn't going to win many people over my guy. Just a heads up.

not to mention his literal job is to be an entertainer.  we are the audience.  he chooses that. 

 

[CRA]

4 minutes ago, ForJimmy said:

People will take quotes and use them to back whatever agenda they are pushing unfortunately it’s just part of it. The part about him doing his workouts every morning will get ignored by some while the part about Netflix will get highlighted. At the end of the day he will either produce or not. Until then we will have the same conversations over and over because it’s the offseason. 

my grandma does morning workouts.   

[raleigh-panther]

I just don’t think Morgan or Canales are going to tolerate not improving week over week

I wish Ickey the best.  
 

He is very young and needs to learn he isn’t in the ACC anymore and in the NFL, it is ‘what have you done for me lately’ even for the greatest stars

if he doesn’t learn it, he won’t be in the league long 

[kungfoodude]

15 hours ago, Shocker said:

He is the real question mark on this OL.  He needs to get stronger and more fundamentally sound very soon.

I predict that he won't be the only question mark on this OL.

I am rather skeptical of that unit overhaul.

[kungfoodude]

1 hour ago, Waldo said:

He looked like a giant bag of stink last year. No idea he he ever makes a big enough leap in his pass protection to stay at LT but it's at least a reasonable attempt for this year with the new talent he will be playing beside. It's not like he came into the league a polished prospect but more as a pass protect project and run mauler.

BC will probably get a good look if Ickey can't improve. Could be worse, like a 36 year old back up sitting on the roster to force themselves to justify using the pick they spent on Ickey without giving any meaningful possibility of useful competition in a situation a reasonable doubt like this. 

I am gonna guess we aren't gonna see much of BC outside of being a backup, which is really where he will be the most valuable. 

My guess is they believe in that GB FA signing more. 

Ikey has to do the work necessary to be great. For all the people saying he should switch to LG, well he is still going to need to work there too. He needs to figure that stuff sooner rather than later or he is gonna be out of the league a lot more quickly than he realizes.

Talent can't get you there as a pro football player. Only hard work can.

Edited May 30, 2024 by kungfoodude