Bryce might be the most frustrating player we've ever had.

[kungfoodude]

3 minutes ago, SmokinwithWilly said:

And a legitimate question to ask is what does this offense look like once Bryce is off his rookie contract? How is that offensive line going to look? We have a ton of money invested up front and that is 100% unsustainable with Bryce making starting QB money. Icky and Moton are going to be 50m per season plus the guards at 32 and possibly Mays at 6-8 if we're lucky. Add in Bryce and that's 125m just on those 6 players if we tried to keep them all. It's just not doable. 

So then the real question IMO becomes, if we spent the money on our OL, and less on a QB, would the outcome be that much different? I haven't seen Bryce elevate the offense enough by himself on a consistent basis to warrant the contract we would have to give him, not to mention the players we would have to give up, based on the accelerations of the bonuses as I understand them, would likely include Icky. 

Moton would be gone by then, Ikey likely on a big deal and it's likely one or both of Lewis and Hunt will be gone due to finances or performance drops. 

Mays will likely never see 6-8 mil/year here. He is a backup caliber player and has roughly the same valuation as BC. We should not be either relying on him as a long term starter nor paying him like one, as he is essentially a backup player. An extremely valuable one like BC but not one with a lot of free agency heat, I would imagine(like BC). You can't be paying backup IOL like starters. It's not smart.

[PantherChris]

1 hour ago, outlaw4 said:

People who think Bryce is the most frustrating player ever to wear a Panthers uniform were not around here when Jake Delhomme was our QB. If anything, I'm getting a bit of deja vu.

Not even close Jake was guts and glory at least with Jake if I was pissed it was because he took a ridiculous 50 yard shot into triple coverage.

[SmokinwithWilly]

4 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

Moton would be gone by then, Ikey likely on a big deal and it's likely one or both of Lewis and Hunt will be gone due to finances or performance drops. 

Mays will likely never see 6-8 mil/year here. He is a backup caliber player and has roughly the same valuation as BC. We should not be either relying on him as a long term starter nor paying him like one, as he is essentially a backup player. An extremely valuable one like BC but not one with a lot of free agency heat, I would imagine(like BC). You can't be paying backup IOL like starters. It's not smart.

Moton is a lock next year. His dead cap if cut is in the 20s. Hunt is too. His hit is too big. Lewis could be a casualty and Corbett certainly is one. Mays, dunno. If we keep him, unless we plan on drafting a center, he could pursue starting money. That's why I thought paying Hunt and Lewis was insane instead of drafting guards and a center with Icky's contract looming on the horizon. This 5th year and extension is a potential clusterfug. 

[kungfoodude]

3 minutes ago, SmokinwithWilly said:

Moton is a lock next year. His dead cap if cut is in the 20s. Hunt is too. His hit is too big. Lewis could be a casualty and Corbett certainly is one. Mays, dunno. If we keep him, unless we plan on drafting a center, he could pursue starting money. That's why I thought paying Hunt and Lewis was insane instead of drafting guards and a center with Icky's contract looming on the horizon. This 5th year and extension is a potential clusterfug. 

Well Bryce wouldn't be off his rookie deal until 2028 and its likely his big cap hits(assuming a top 10 QB contract) wouldn't start really hitting until 2029 at the earliest and 2031 at the latest if it is structured like a lot of the last couple of waves of big QB contracts. 

A healthy chunk of this core OL will be gone by the time his cap situation gets dicey. A smart team would have good replacement OL on various years of their rookie deals for a healthy chunk of the other four OL spots(assuming Ikey gets a big, long term deal).

 

Mays is unlikely to get significant interest as a starting NFL center, if I had to guess. This is a mirror scenario to BC last offseason where a large part of the Huddle dramatically overvalued his marketability. 

Edited 3 hours ago by kungfoodude

[Navy_football]

4 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

Well Bryce wouldn't be off his rookie deal until 2028 and its likely his big cap hits(assuming a top 10 QB contract) wouldn't start really hitting until 2029 at the earliest and 2031 at the latest if it is structured like a lot of the last couple of waves of big QB contracts. 

A healthy chunk of this core OL will be gone by the time his cap situation gets dicey. A smart team would have good replacement OL on various years of their rookie deals for a healthy chunk of the other four OL spots(assuming Ikey gets a big, long term deal).

 

Mays is unlikely to get significant interest as a starting NFL center, if I had to guess. This is a mirror scenario to BC last offseason where a large part of the Huddle dramatically overvalued his marketability. 

The 2026 draft is going to be OL heavy. Team needs everything. Unless guys are willing to take cap friendly deals to stay, they'll be traded a year early or released when the cap hit isn't crippling. That's the NFL. 

[kungfoodude]

Just now, Navy_football said:

The 2026 draft is going to be OL heavy. Team needs everything. Unless guys are willing to take cap friendly deals to stay, they'll be traded a year early or released when the cap hit isn't crippling. That's the NFL. 

We should be trying to solve the center issue once and for all, if possible. Outside of that, we should always be drafting OL to help get the depth upgraded or groom future OL starters, IMO.

I get that we have way, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too many holes on the roster to just focus on that one area(a roster strength, at that) but I have a personal philosophy of taking at least one OL in just about every draft, if not more than one.

[Navy_football]

1 minute ago, kungfoodude said:

We should be trying to solve the center issue once and for all, if possible. Outside of that, we should always be drafting OL to help get the depth upgraded or groom future OL starters, IMO.

I get that we have way, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too many holes on the roster to just focus on that one area(a roster strength, at that) but I have a personal philosophy of taking at least one OL in just about every draft, if not more than one.

OTs early but really good IOL is almost always available 4th round and beyond. Heck UDFA is a great time to pick up guys that need a year or 2 before you pencil them in as starters. 

[SmokinwithWilly]

7 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

Well Bryce wouldn't be off his rookie deal until 2028 and its likely his big cap hits(assuming a top 10 QB contract) wouldn't start really hitting until 2029 at the earliest and 2031 at the latest if it is structured like a lot of the last couple of waves of big QB contracts. 

A healthy chunk of this core OL will be gone by the time his cap situation gets dicey. A smart team would have good replacement OL on various years of their rookie deals for a healthy chunk of the other four OL spots(assuming Ikey gets a big, long term deal).

 

Mays is unlikely to get significant interest as a starting NFL center, if I had to guess. This is a mirror scenario to BC last offseason where a large part of the Huddle dramatically overvalued his marketability. 

That's if he doesn't push to have his extension like other QBs that have remained with their teams have done following year 3. Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, Herbert, Hurts, Lawrence all got their extensions after year 3. Lamar played out his 5th year. That's why I said the 5th year and extension could be a potential clusterfug. His agent could very well push for the extension. Lamar didn't have an agent to advise him. Playing out the 5th year is not the norm at all. 

 

[kungfoodude]

47 minutes ago, Navy_football said:

OTs early but really good IOL is almost always available 4th round and beyond. Heck UDFA is a great time to pick up guys that need a year or 2 before you pencil them in as starters. 

Or 2nd and 3rd round for "need" players at the position. Hell, the top centers have been available in those rounds most drafts.

[kungfoodude]

48 minutes ago, SmokinwithWilly said:

That's if he doesn't push to have his extension like other QBs that have remained with their teams have done following year 3. Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, Herbert, Hurts, Lawrence all got their extensions after year 3. Lamar played out his 5th year. That's why I said the 5th year and extension could be a potential clusterfug. His agent could very well push for the extension. Lamar didn't have an agent to advise him. Playing out the 5th year is not the norm at all. 

 

I am aware. It's gonna be an interesting decision cycle on "The Bryce Question."

I don't think there are many good answers, unfortunately.

[SmokinwithWilly]

1 hour ago, kungfoodude said:

I am aware. It's gonna be an interesting decision cycle on "The Bryce Question."

I don't think there are many good answers, unfortunately.

One of the reasons I really didn't like the timing of the Moton extension. Not knowing how Bryce was going to perform and how the option/extension was going to play out, that flexibility of not having that guaranteed $$$ could do a lot moving forward with getting Icky signed. There was nothing wrong with waiting until the end of the season to see how all of this played out then extending him if we felt the need to do so. 

[kungfoodude]

1 hour ago, SmokinwithWilly said:

One of the reasons I really didn't like the timing of the Moton extension. Not knowing how Bryce was going to perform and how the option/extension was going to play out, that flexibility of not having that guaranteed $$$ could do a lot moving forward with getting Icky signed. There was nothing wrong with waiting until the end of the season to see how all of this played out then extending him if we felt the need to do so. 

Yeah, probably not the path I would have chosen either but I also don't think it's that big of a crutch. It's pretty easy to get out with fairly minimal impact after next season.