Climbers and Fallers

[Icege]

Special teams right now also has guys that might not even make the practice squad. By snap counts, the guys most often out there were:

• Isaac Gifford
• Jack Henderson
• Trevian Thomas
• Bam Martin-Scott
• Jon Rhattigan
• Boogie Basham
• Thomas Incoom
• Krys Barnes
• Brycen Tremayne
• Jacoby Windmon
• JaTravis Broughton

Less than a third of those guys have a shot at making the opening day roster.

 

[shaqattaq]

3 hours ago, kungfoodude said:

I would say Scott being overtaken is a net positive. He is a known weakness in the starting lineup. 

Special Teams may emerge as a leading concern overall. Something to watch.

Keeping Scott over Franklin last year caused both those problems! I cringed any time he had to play D, but I do the same for Scott. At least Franklin was a ST beast. Even Smitty mentioned him when he pointed out that we didn't really have a gunner on the team.

[kungfoodude]

Just now, shaqattaq said:

Keeping Scott over Franklin last year caused both those problems! I cringed any time he had to play D, but I do the same for Scott. At least Franklin was a ST beast. Even Smitty mentioned him when he pointed out that we didn't really have a gunner on the team.

Well, Franklin is a JAG at best. I think we ultimately need to aim higher than that for a long term solution. 

But, roster holes were to be expected. Let's hope one of the younger guys steps up and wins that job.

[NAS]

5 hours ago, Icege said:

Link to article

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Nothing mattered more to the Carolina Panthers in their exhibition opener than the crisp play of quarterback Bryce Young during a 73-yard touchdown drive on the second of two series for the first-team offense.

But that’s not to say the rest of the game was meaningless. So there was a lot for Dave Canales and his coaching staff to comb through from the loss to the Cleveland Browns, which Canales indicated wasn’t quite as bad as the 30-10 final score would suggest.

Climbers

• WR Jalen Coker - "Leaned out" in the offseason with a stricter diet and training regimen, maybe some impressive snags including a TD and a one-handed catch negated by a penalty, and logged five special teams snaps after playing a total of 31 all of last season.
• CB Corey Thornton - Showed up against the pass as well as the run and is competing for CB3.
• EDGE Nic Scourton - Made Canales' favorite play of the game when he hustled to force Shedeur out of bounds for a 1yd loss.
• S Lathan Ransom - Was second on the team in tackles against CLE and seems inevitable to take Nick Scott's starting position.

Fallers

• S Nick Scott - Has been helping Moehrig with calls but made a critical special teams error and seems destined to be overtaken by Ransom or Richardson sooner rather than later.
• Special teams - Negated a 46yd kickoff return with holding penalties, had too many men on the field on a Browns punt, and gave up 46yds on two punt returns.
• CB Shemar Bartholomew - Was one of the guys called for holding that negated the 46yd return, has been passed by Thornton on the depth chart, slipped on a play that went for a 19yd completion, and was a step slow on an in-breaking route that turned into a 12yd TD (but did have a nice PBU).
• Back-up offensive tackles - Nijman and BC got beat bad on third and long to give up a sack, and Nijman also was called for a facemask penalty that wiped out a 34yd one-handed catch by Coker.

Legette should absolutely be a faller 

[ColumbusCounty]

2 hours ago, shaqattaq said:

Keeping Scott over Franklin last year caused both those problems! I cringed any time he had to play D, but I do the same for Scott. At least Franklin was a ST beast. Even Smitty mentioned him when he pointed out that we didn't really have a gunner on the team.

We're really missing Franklin, Johnson and Franks.... hell I'd throw in Farley too. But specifically Franklin was a ST monster...easy to see why he had more than a dozen contracts offered to him this offseason. 

Incoom played his role well on ST in that first preseason game, atleast the first half anyway but we still have ALOT of work to do. 

 

[MHS831]

7 hours ago, Panthera onca said:

Yes, the special teams were abysmal on Friday. There is a lot to clean up.

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.

[shaqattaq]

16 hours ago, kungfoodude said:

Well, Franklin is a JAG at best. I think we ultimately need to aim higher than that for a long term solution. 

But, roster holes were to be expected. Let's hope one of the younger guys steps up and wins that job.

Yeah, Franklin was a good ST guy that could fill in at safety IN AN EMERGENCY. But he was still better than Scott, IMO.

[kungfoodude]

38 minutes ago, shaqattaq said:

Yeah, Franklin was a good ST guy that could fill in at safety IN AN EMERGENCY. But he was still better than Scott, IMO.

He was a slight bump, at best. Nothing that will move the needle as much as it needed to be at safety.

Let's just hope Richardson or Ransom ascend enough to take it over. And also that it's not a sinking and floating turds situation.