Post- Training Camp 53-Man Roster Projection

[carpanfan96]

AT isn't getting cut or traded, they gave him a raise for this season for a reason. He has a cap hit of over 10m and a dead cap of over 8.5m with two void years. 

 

He's going to be a starting WR across from Tmac moving into the slot on 3/4 wr sets. 

[Jon Snow]

AT is insurance for this season and this season only.  If the new guys stay healthy they will get all the targets. As long as they catch the ball in critical situations then AT can enjoy his retirement check from Dan without doing a thing. 

[Swaggasaurus]

AT was on a back to back 1,000 yd pace last year. Without the injury it happens.  I’m not sure what we are talking about here. Yeah let’s toss that guy to the curb for a guy who’s never played an NFL game, the Raccon slayer who can’t catch and an UDFA who has shown promise and injury so far. Oh yeah, we have a slow, small guy who sat out last year. Wildly insane, padded room type poo.

[Basbear]

3 hours ago, CRA said:

well, I mean, we could just close the doors..  But yeah, developing our young players is what teams do.   This is the window where dudes like AT get cut for the young dudes to take over on other teams. 

AT is vastly overrated IMO.  It's just volume and fantasy stats.  He is out there doing small TE work in a position we need a lot more out of.   If BY fails, it's not because AT isn't on the field in 2025.  The BY pick is just a failure.  And this is the season/time for that to be answered IMO. 

 

That's the real problem, AT. He's vastly older than even hunter and somehow wrestled his way into more cash......Yea BY and him have a "thing", same for Dalton...... The one WR that should be traded is AT, but his deal is farrrr too political.

[Basbear]

8 hours ago, CRA said:

well, my thoughts on AT remain the same.  He is occupies too much oxygen.  Too many reps that will serve us no real purpose as he is gone after this year.  We need to be developing Tmac, XL, Coker, Saunders, etc.   

So, letting AT go is more about developing the young guys.  Also clearing a spot for another young guy to be added.  

They never should of pulled him back from retirement w/ a thank you paycheck IMO to begin with.  

The cons of AT outweight the pros for me.  I want to develop our young guys.  

 

100% agree here. 

[CRA]

27 minutes ago, carpanfan96 said:

AT isn't getting cut or traded, they gave him a raise for this season for a reason. He has a cap hit of over 10m and a dead cap of over 8.5m with two void years. 

 

He's going to be a starting WR across from Tmac moving into the slot on 3/4 wr sets. 

As a thank you and to pull him out of retirement because our WR situation was largely unknown at the time.  

AT doesn’t start for 99% of NFL teams.  And folks are bragging about our “deep” we are at WR…yet still want him out there. 

I don’t care about his cap hit.  We should never of begged him out of retirement.  We got tons of youth to rep.  We weren’t a high powered pass O which means opportunities aren’t going to be coming out the ears for everyone to begin with.

I support a real youth movement.  It’s still  development year, not a winning years. I can accept others want to watch a can’t get open, no YAC, slow, old WR with hands at the expensive of younger talent.  

[CRA]

17 minutes ago, Swaggasaurus said:

AT was on a back to back 1,000 yd pace last year. Without the injury it happens.  I’m not sure what we are talking about here. Yeah let’s toss that guy to the curb for a guy who’s never played an NFL game, the Raccon slayer who can’t catch and an UDFA who has shown promise and injury so far. Oh yeah, we have a slow, small guy who sat out last year. Wildly insane, padded room type poo.

You can force feed the ball to all sorts of old vets in the slot and they will get 50 yards on a losing team.  People are confusing stats with being good.   Stats often lie.   AT isn’t good.  AT is a backup role player we choose to start and over target. 

Renfow realistically projects to be what AT should have been here’s A random role player you see on very select downs.  Ricky Prohel. 

[PNW_PantherMan]

15 hours ago, CRA said:

AT doesn’t start for 99% of NFL teams.

Not sure about that.  His PFF grade was 29th overall.  I think he finds a significant role on a few teams.  A 3rd WR is practically a starter in today's NFL anyways.

I agree with your position on AT that we shouldn't have begged him out of retirement.  But he's better than you're giving him credit for.  The offense would be worse without him.  If none of the younger guys take a step it might not even be functional.  Is that a good developmental environment?

[TheSpecialJuan]

https://nfltraderumors.co/panthers-wr-adam-thielen-a-trade-target-for-vikings/

[tukafan21]

16 hours ago, carpanfan96 said:

AT isn't getting cut or traded, they gave him a raise for this season for a reason. He has a cap hit of over 10m and a dead cap of over 8.5m with two void years. 

 

He's going to be a starting WR across from Tmac moving into the slot on 3/4 wr sets. 

The cap hit is meaningless if there is a very real chance he'd be the 5th WR anyways, which there is.  There is a real possibility that Renfrow proves to be more effective in the slot possession role than Thielen is.

If that's the case, take the hit and trade him for a pick as none of T-Mac, XL, or Coker should be losing any snaps to Thielen this year, we need to see what Bryce and all these guys can be.

[CRA]

34 minutes ago, PNW_PantherMan said:

Not sure about that.  His PFF grade was 29th overall.  I think he finds a significant role on a few teams.  A 3rd WR is practically a starter in today's NFL anyways.

I agree with your position on AT that we shouldn't have begged him out of retirement.  But he's better than you're giving him credit for.  The offense would be worse without him.  If none of the younger guys take a step it might not even be functional.  Is that a good developmental environment?

espn analytics also had him like 130 in YAC and 90 something in terms of getting open.  

I mean, Ricky Prohel had a significant role on that 2003 team.  He didn't start.  Because he wasn't good enough to do that.  If AT is starting for you, it's a problem. 

my AT issue is he is taking all the oxygen in the slot.  Despite the fact he has good hands.....he keeps the ceiling incredibly low and THAT is going to be BY's key WR to go to (no matter who it is) given his style and attributes.  

I have had the same issue with this BY since the day we drafted him.  You either have a BY O or you don't.  I'm cool either way.  But if you want BY to succeed your talent has to be slot, TE, and rec RB and it's got to be a YAC O.  You put big bodies on the outside and play chunk ball? Well, let's move on now. 

[csx]

15 hours ago, CRA said:

You can force feed the ball to all sorts of old vets in the slot and they will get 50 yards on a losing team.  People are confusing stats with being good.   Stats often lie.   AT isn’t good.  AT is a backup role player we choose to start and over target. 

Renfow realistically projects to be what AT should have been here’s A random role player you see on very select downs.  Ricky Prohel. 

Blatant Clempson homerism  

[kungfoodude]

16 hours ago, Basbear said:

 

That's the real problem, AT. He's vastly older than even hunter and somehow wrestled his way into more cash......Yea BY and him have a "thing", same for Dalton...... The one WR that should be traded is AT, but his deal is farrrr too political.

The issue has little to do with politics. It's about his value and his cost. Those aren't logical to sell at a value that makes any sense at all for us.

Why trade a valuable contributor for a 7th or conditional 6th at best?

I suppose if you get a mail mary idiot like the Cowboys again, maybe that should be in consideration.

[CRA]

8 minutes ago, csx said:

Blatant Clempson homerism  

I have literally said the exact same thing about BY and this O from day 1.  The slot WR is the key spot in a BY O and you need big play out of it. And Hunter Renfrow doesn't check that box either for me, Renfrow's ceiling is also too low given what a BY O needs to be. 

Renfrow 100% can be a roleplayer off the bench.  Which is what AT should be.   This is the 3rd season of this BY experience.  Part of why it is still a unknown mess is the team isn't built right for the style QB they have rostered IMO. 

Round peg, square hole, random parts.  Tough to win in the NFL that way.

*please also note, I defend XL (that no good dirty Gamecock) as much as anyone on this board.