Joe Person: Ickey is expected to be extended, Mays is someone we want to keep long term, TE, LB and OLB are our biggest needs heading into the offseason

[SmokinwithWilly]

11 minutes ago, strato said:

No tight ends this time around. Trenches, ILB, if the right edge is there then you adjust. 
 

Talking about Young and thinking his standards are suddenly like 4-5 notches higher because of a couple of games is such a trap. 
 

He is like the 5 that shows up to the party with a couple of fat 2s. Don’t look too close. 

I wouldn't mind taking a look at Michael Mayer from Vegas. Ever since they took Bowers he's disappeared. He's had a thumb injury this season, but he may be able to had since he's been mentioned in some trade rumors this year before the deadline. His contract is still manageable too. 

[Mr. Scot]

2 hours ago, Sup said:

Why do you think Bryce would beat out whoever we bring in? If you ranked the NFL QBs, where would you put him?

Because I don't think they plan on bringing anybody in except for a role that's understood to be a backup. 

I get that fans want competition for Bryce, but there's no indication the team does. 

[strato]

1 hour ago, SmokinwithWilly said:

I wouldn't mind taking a look at Michael Mayer from Vegas. Ever since they took Bowers he's disappeared. He's had a thumb injury this season, but he may be able to had since he's been mentioned in some trade rumors this year before the deadline. His contract is still manageable too. 

I was talking draft. Any way you want to upgrade otherwise I’d have no problem. 

I Draft wise I neglected to mention FS and CB, depending on what it all looks like in the moment. 
We are gonna have to do something at ROT and inside on the OL before resigning those expensive FAs we have right now. 

[SmokinwithWilly]

6 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Because I don't think they plan on bringing anybody in except for a role that's understood to be a backup. 

I get that fans want competition for Bryce, but there's no indication the team does. 

The team should. If they don't, they should be fired. You always look to improve. Always. Bryce gets hurt week 1 and is out for the season. You want Jack Plummer as your QB for the season because you don't want anyone capable of competing? That's loser mentality. 

[TLGPanthersFan]

14 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Because I don't think they plan on bringing anybody in except for a role that's understood to be a backup. 

I get that fans want competition for Bryce, but there's no indication the team does. 

Would not be the first time out FO were dumbasses. 

[Mr. Scot]

5 minutes ago, SmokinwithWilly said:

The team should. If they don't, they should be fired. You always look to improve. Always. Bryce gets hurt week 1 and is out for the season. You want Jack Plummer as your QB for the season because you don't want anyone capable of competing? That's loser mentality. 

I don't doubt that they'll upgrade the backup spot. I'd be extremely shocked if that didn't happen.

I'd be equally shocked if that player doesn't come in understanding that he won't be competing for the starting job. 

[Mr. Scot]

2 minutes ago, TLGPanthersFan said:

Would not be the first time out FO were dumbasses. 

They believe Bryce is "ascending" per reports.

We'll find out if they're right or not.

[SmokinwithWilly]

39 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

I don't doubt that they'll upgrade the backup spot. I'd be extremely shocked if that didn't happen.

I'd be equally shocked if that player doesn't come in understanding that he won't be competing for the starting job. 

Why would you not let him compete? Put the best QB on the field. Period. Why must we coddle Bryce? Why should everyone else on the team have to compete for a starting job except for him? You think if the team sees another QB outperform him in TC and he's still handed the job it won't wreck the locker room? Again I say. Loser mentality. 

[Mr. Scot]

21 minutes ago, SmokinwithWilly said:

Why would you not let him compete? Put the best QB on the field. Period. Why must we coddle Bryce? Why should everyone else on the team have to compete for a starting job except for him? You think if the team sees another QB outperform him in TC and he's still handed the job it won't wreck the locker room? Again I say. Loser mentality. 

How many teams with established starters ever bring in competition?

Do you see the Bucs telling Mayfield "you were the starter last year but this year you have to win the job again"?

If the team believes Bryce can be the guy (and just about all indications right now are that they do) they're not gonna put money and resources into another quarterback. They'll direct those toward shoring up somewhere else. 

You don't believe Bryce should be the guy. I don't believe Bryce should be the guy. Hell, a solid percentage of this board doesn't believe Bryce should be the guy.

But the only people whose opinions matter appear to think differently.

[Sup]

37 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

How many teams with established starters ever bring in competition?

Do you see the Bucs telling Mayfield "you were the starter last year but this year you have to win the job again"?

If the team believes Bryce can be the guy (and just about all indications right now are that they do) they're not gonna put money and resources into another quarterback. They'll direct those toward shoring up somewhere else. 

You don't believe Bryce should be the guy. I don't believe Bryce should be the guy. Hell, a solid percentage of this board doesn't believe Bryce should be the guy.

But the only people whose opinions matter appear to think differently.

But the thing is, Bryce is so mediocre/bad that anyone they bring in will be competition. 

[SmokinwithWilly]

3 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

How many teams with established starters ever bring in competition?

Do you see the Bucs telling Mayfield "you were the starter last year but this year you have to win the job again"?

If the team believes Bryce can be the guy (and just about all indications right now are that they do) they're not gonna put money and resources into another quarterback. They'll direct those toward shoring up somewhere else. 

You don't believe Bryce should be the guy. I don't believe Bryce should be the guy. Hell, a solid percentage of this board doesn't believe Bryce should be the guy.

But the only people whose opinions matter appear to think differently.

How many teams coddle their QB the way Bryce has been coddled? I have never seen any other team in the NFL EVER baby a QB the way that Bryce has been. 

Bryce was named day 1 starter his first year. It was obvious he didnt deserve it. He wasnt ready as evidenced by the worst rookie year in NFL history. 

So let's move to year 2. He's named starter again with no competition in TC and is benched 2 games later. We have the ghost of a backup in Dalton who is so bad he can only beat Vegas and let's remember, the only reason he lost his starting job was a car accident, not because Bryce actually beat him out in practice. 

And year 3. We sign Dalton again, who already proved he couldn't be depended on to put an even remotely passable performance on the field, and bring back Jack Plummer, who was even worse than last year. It was obvious he was nothing more than a pretend body in an attempt to create an illusion of some type of attempt to find a backup. 

Then we start again with garbage play again and Bryce gets benched with a phantom injury, and the ghost of the ghost of Dalton breaks his thumb on the first drive and craps the field all over again. If we had actually made an attempt to find a legitimate QB2, it's possible Bryce doesn't step on the field again. Bryce is not agood QB and if we had any other mediocre QB, our record would be the same or better. 

Bryce is not entrenched. He's been placed, protected and sheltered from ever having to face a  real QB competition in TC. Richardson and Levis both were ass and both were benched and eventually replaced. 

Do I expect Baker to face competition in camp? Sure. I expect Tampa to find the best QB2 they can at price that fits their cap and resources and system and get him up to speed. If he's better than Baker, and if he's better by a significant margin, that's best for the team. The ultimate goal is a Super Bowl. Bellichek was constantly getting QB2s with the GOAT as his starter. He knew the value and that was realized when Cassell led them to an 11-5 record as a backup. 

You and I may think differently than the people that matter but I will say it again. If you're afraid to bring in a capable backup, especially after the debacle of last year. The starting role wasn't earned, it was given, and that's loser mentality.

Edited 7 hours ago by SmokinwithWilly

[mrcompletely11]

9 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

How many teams with established starters ever bring in competition?

Do you see the Bucs telling Mayfield "you were the starter last year but this year you have to win the job again"?

If the team believes Bryce can be the guy (and just about all indications right now are that they do) they're not gonna put money and resources into another quarterback. They'll direct those toward shoring up somewhere else. 

You don't believe Bryce should be the guy. I don't believe Bryce should be the guy. Hell, a solid percentage of this board doesn't believe Bryce should be the guy.

But the only people whose opinions matter appear to think differently.

If you think Bryce is an "established starter" then that probably would be the place to begin

[mrcompletely11]

10 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

They believe Bryce is "ascending" per reports.

We'll find out if they're right or not.

Thats not true, thats what Brandt said about him in the off season.  Then he has continued to play "meh".   We simply dont know how the staff feels about him now.  There are no reports that they like him or not

[MHS831]

10 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

They believe Bryce is "ascending" per reports.

We'll find out if they're right or not.

I think the best way to make Bryce better is to make everyone around him better.  This is why I advocate for a stud (top 5, eventually) TE.  I mean, when we have been a good franchise, we have had a stud TE (Walls, Olsen) and ILB (Beason, Mills, Morgan, Luke, etc) so it is in our DNA.  Expect us to address these areas this year.  (An Olsen or Walls would help Bryce a lot).  In terms of productivity, I think we are going to work with XL for one more season and ride the TMac / Coker momentum.  Where else could we find a position to improve productivity?  TE.  A position that caters to Bryce's style and shortcomings, a stud TE gives him another weapon he has not had.

The Panthers run a lot of 2-TE sets (I have seen 3) and they have a blocker (Tremble) who is great in the run game, a balanced TE (Evans), and Sanders is supposed to be the pass-catching TE. He had 340 yards last season and he has about 170 this year.  If we are going to play around with XL for another season, it only makes up to add to Bryce's weapons in a way that does not put XL on the bench, basically ending his development. It makes sense to bring in a pass-catching dawg.  The way the offense is designed, I see carrying 4, but its not ideal.

Having said that, I mentioned Oregon's Sadiq in another thread, but I am starting to warm up to Vanderbilt's Stowers and, in the Olsen/Walls mold, I kinda like Endries from Texas.  Of course, Stowers is probably going in round 2 and Endries in 3 or later.

I still say, 5 months before the draft, that I would not be surprised if we take a TE very early.