What is closest to your Bryce opinion?

[woahfraze]

As a general optimist who tries to be even handed, I was in the “I have hope” but it’s now gone category. 

I acknowledged that the bad games were more frequent than the OK ones which were in turn more frequent than the good ones. I just held out hope that he could put things together and more consistently perform at those mid and higher levels. But I’m off that train now. I think he can probably improve his consistency a bit from where he is, but it’ll never be good enough.

He’s on the roster next year because he’s under contract, but I don’t think we should pick up his 5th year option and definitely not extend him. He may start next year too because there genuinely are not as many competent QBs as there are starting spots in the league, so the alternatives are all trash. But we’ve got to get fresh blood in the QB room and find our next starter. 

[CRA]

2 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

Canales biggest problem is himself. He cannot figure out what the average Huddler can.

We ran the ball to substantially above average success against the 49ers but then continued to call pass play after pass play for a bad QB.

The overall fault of the offensive struggling fall far more into Canales lap than even Bryce's. How many times has he continued to do the exact same thing? Go away from something working for unknown reasons?

I do think there is a win/lose aspect he is presently in with his QB situation.   Let's say he does some really good Steve Wilks play ugly to win coaching......with a really ugly game plan beats SF (which we could have), gets New Orleans, and a Tampa game.  Completely minimizes Bryce Young. 

well, that would have put him at 9-8 on the season.   And then......Bryce Young is going nowhere.  Maybe Morgan replaces Dalton but the Bryce conundrum gets even worse.  Now you go that 5th year.  and we know Bryce is going to get unfair credit.  He already gets absurd credit for anything that goes okay. 

you are to an extent damned if you do if you are Canales IMO.  

I want them all gone.  I just don't think Tepper can get the hire.  I think the only way Tepper can get a good hire....is to give a decent coach way more power than Tepper would like.  

[CRA]

5 minutes ago, woahfraze said:

As a general optimist who tries to be even handed, I was in the “I have hope” but it’s now gone category. 

I acknowledged that the bad games were more frequent than the OK ones which were in turn more frequent than the good ones. I just held out hope that he could put things together and more consistently perform at those mid and higher levels. But I’m off that train now. I think he can probably improve his consistency a bit from where he is, but it’ll never be good enough.

He’s on the roster next year because he’s under contract, but I don’t think we should pick up his 5th year option and definitely not extend him. He may start next year too because there genuinely are not as many competent QBs as there are starting spots in the league, so the alternatives are all trash. But we’ve got to get fresh blood in the QB room and find our next starter. 

I still contend no well run team would have him on the roster next year.  You got to move on from him.  And you can't put the #1 overall pick, 3 year starter as the backup...that creates horrific in house dynamics. 

[woahfraze]

6 minutes ago, CRA said:

I still contend no well run team would have him on the roster next year.  You got to move on from him.  And you can't put the #1 overall pick, 3 year starter as the backup...that creates horrific in house dynamics. 

You absolutely can start someone over him with the level of performance he’s shown over a large sample size. Doesn’t matter what his pedigree is. I think the locker room really does like him, but they like winning more. If there’s another QB on the roster that can beat him out for starter, it won’t be a problem. The issue is, as bad as he’s been, I’m not sure there is a QB that can so definitely beat him out in that fashion. A rookie is going to struggle because the 2026 class is pretty poor and just in general, the transition to pro QB is more difficult now than it has been in the past because the college game doesn’t require QBs to play under center or attack the areas of the field a pro style offense does. And the retreads are always a gamble. For every Darnold or Daniel Jones that finally puts it together after 5-6 years, there’s a dozen other busts who can’t.  

[kungfoodude]

14 minutes ago, CRA said:

I do think there is a win/lose aspect he is presently in with his QB situation.   Let's say he does some really good Steve Wilks play ugly to win coaching......with a really ugly game plan beats SF (which we could have), gets New Orleans, and a Tampa game.  Completely minimizes Bryce Young. 

well, that would have put him at 9-8 on the season.   And then......Bryce Young is going nowhere.  Maybe Morgan replaces Dalton but the Bryce conundrum gets even worse.  Now you go that 5th year.  and we know Bryce is going to get unfair credit.  He already gets absurd credit for anything that goes okay. 

you are to an extent damned if you do if you are Canales IMO.  

I want them all gone.  I just don't think Tepper can get the hire.  I think the only way Tepper can get a good hire....is to give a decent coach way more power than Tepper would like.  

The charge of a head coach is to win games. The rest of it is just horseshit.

So, ultimately, he is to blame for the perplexing losses when he willingly sets us up to fail.

I have zero use for a head coach that is some stooge worried about front office or ownership decisions above the goal of success and winning.

That's Dave Canales. He is the one that seemingly cares more about every aspect that doesn't have to do with winning. 

[Waldo]

45 minutes ago, woahfraze said:

You absolutely can start someone over him with the level of performance he’s shown over a large sample size. Doesn’t matter what his pedigree is. I think the locker room really does like him, but they like winning more. If there’s another QB on the roster that can beat him out for starter, it won’t be a problem. The issue is, as bad as he’s been, I’m not sure there is a QB that can so definitely beat him out in that fashion. A rookie is going to struggle because the 2026 class is pretty poor and just in general, the transition to pro QB is more difficult now than it has been in the past because the college game doesn’t require QBs to play under center or attack the areas of the field a pro style offense does. And the retreads are always a gamble. For every Darnold or Daniel Jones that finally puts it together after 5-6 years, there’s a dozen other busts who can’t.  

Being under contract means little in the NFL. There isn't a QB on the team that should be here next year regardless of contract. If Youbg isn't good enough to pick up his 5th the smart play is to move him, by trade or by release. He isn't good enough to start so make room and start swinging elsewhere is the only good move at this point. Someone else already made posts about why you don't keep guys who you are not picking up their 5th year option and it's valid. 

Edited November 26, 2025 by Waldo

[CRA]

36 minutes ago, woahfraze said:

You absolutely can start someone over him with the level of performance he’s shown over a large sample size. Doesn’t matter what his pedigree is. I think the locker room really does like him, but they like winning more. If there’s another QB on the roster that can beat him out for starter, it won’t be a problem. The issue is, as bad as he’s been, I’m not sure there is a QB that can so definitely beat him out in that fashion. A rookie is going to struggle because the 2026 class is pretty poor and just in general, the transition to pro QB is more difficult now than it has been in the past because the college game doesn’t require QBs to play under center or attack the areas of the field a pro style offense does. And the retreads are always a gamble. For every Darnold or Daniel Jones that finally puts it together after 5-6 years, there’s a dozen other busts who can’t.  

there is a reason, NFL teams don't do that though.   It creates weird dynamics.  There is no point, having the #1 overall QB, who was drafted to be the franchise, who is presently wearing the C patch on his jersey......to occupy the role as the #2.  You simply move on from him. 

You just trade him for peanuts.  You move on.  What is the rationale for keeping him rostered and how does that outweigh the negatives for keeping him. 

Bryce Young doesn't compare to all these random QBs with elite NFL QB traits.   He has never shown their highs or tools.   The we have to keep him so he doesn't go somewhere do make us look dumb mentality just ain't something I endorse.  He doesn't have the tools to go make us look stupid elsewhere. 

[Khyber53]

2 hours ago, kungfoodude said:

I think this is a damning thing for Dave Canales. He is going to end up losing the team over his confounding decisions on the offensive side of the ball, which he is directly responsible for.

I think he's been trying to prove a point and also allowing it to play out in case his team owners were right. Also, by listening to him, he doesn't give up on people and wants to keep at it until there's a breakthrough.

And I think that it's come to that undeniable spot, the lynchpin of the entire exercise. This team would be playoff bound without a doubt with a QB that had been in the top 24 of the league. Not top 4, not top 10, not even top 20... but a QB that was barely better than the bottom quarter of the league as a passer. He's given everything here and we had that moment against Atlanta where Bryce shined in a desperately dark moment. But this week showed that he can't push the rock over the finish line. He just can't compete at the level needed.

Canales got the defensive performance he needs as a HC to win and we've seen Evero get that out there (surprisingly) on a number of occasions this season. And Canales called his own plays against SF, called a pass heavy game like he did in Tampa and Seattle. That's his bread and butter. Bryce couldn't bake the bread, though. It's as simple as that.

We have the rest of the team pretty much. We've got a good receiving corps (I'd think given better passing). We have a better o-line than we're given credit for had the QB behind them been braver, taller and more decisive. We have an excellent running backs group. Our defense is strong on the back end, needs linebackers and a better rush, but it's marginally okay and sometimes surprisingly effective. Got a first class rookie kicker and a solid punter. 

If you evaluate the team and put just a marginally, even average QB in the mix and we'd be two to three games ahead of where we are now. 

So the math is simple. The only question remains: draft QB and start at square one again, or has Canales got his next QB reclamation project already in mind?