The End of the Road for XL

[Tr3ach]

1 hour ago, Bear Hands said:

Traded up into the 1st for a 4th round developmental talent over Ladd McConkey, Zach Frazier and Cooper DeJean. 

He may be our biggest 2nd WR blunder yet over DJ and Mingo lol

Well they liked him over Ladd because Dan said he could be a true X receiver. 

[Carolina Cajun]

2 minutes ago, Tr3ach said:

Well they liked him over Ladd because Dan said he could be a true X receiver. 

In fairness, he's gonna be an AMAZING ex-reciever.

[CRA]

Just now, UnluckyforSome said:

Well, we have never ever been any good when we have looked bad in preseason. It has been a reliable predictor of how the team will be heading into the season. 

That said, many folks will brush it off, invoke Iverson's famous line about practice, and instead say well no team gameplans, and it's all vanilla coverages and har har we are going to the Superbowl.

Preseason talks.  People just don’t listen to how it talks.   It’s not about wins and losses. 

preseason told us a lot when Dave told the world other people needed his playcalling reps….not him. Told us Dave is an idiot that doesn’t know where he or his team stand vs the league on that front.    

And to no surprise, our play-calling this season  is horrific.   It’s called exactly like we have a newb playcaller without a lot of experience that didn’t take things serious enough coming into this season. 

Preseason told us about Canales, XL,  Bryce.  All sorts of stuff.   It’s not about scoreboards or wins.  That stuff is meaningless.  

[Chief Keek]

That 2024 draft is starting to rival some of the worst in Panthers draft history.

[Wanderlai]

Im all for cutting bait when the evidence is clear…..now do Bryce 

[ImfromClayton]

If somebody offers a 3rd or 4th for him, you accept it no matter what. That said, we got a similar pick for mingo, so who knows. He has a good relationship with the head coach at App state, who is a long time NFL guy, so they may find somebody who feels like they can work with him. 
 

I do think he can figure it out if he wants to, but it’s gonna take a lot of work on his part and will take a wake up call we haven’t been able to give him here. He’s just one of the most mentally absent players I’ve ever seen. I hate it, because I do think he’s a good person, and he still oozes talent. Kind of like Bryce playing better after throwing a pick, he doesn’t seem to play hard at all until he has a bad drop. 
 

hindsight, you can tell how our front office felt about him after a year taking T-Mac in the first. 
 

last crazy thought: I would actually be very interested in seeing him try to play a running back. Or a really athletic H back or something. I just don’t know if he has the mental capacity to play WR in the NFL. Think David Montgomery/Deebo/the way we used Curtis Samuel type role. 

[Johnstonny]

3 hours ago, Bear Hands said:

Traded up into the 1st for a 4th round developmental talent over Ladd McConkey, Zach Frazier and Cooper DeJean. 

He may be our biggest 2nd WR blunder yet over DJ and Mingo lol

Ohhhh but Dan Morgan!

[carolinanimal]

3 hours ago, CRA said:

He needs a punt returner to work a screen/dump game for him.  That ain’t Horn.  He needs some physical quick runner.

and Bryce and Canales need an offseason to figure out how to setup and work a good screen game.  

I think Horn would be great in those middle of the field routes. He is quick, but that would require your QB to throw passes in the middle of the field and actually see them. Even the commentators on the game noticed Bryce doesn't throw to the middle of the field. 

[ThPantherFan]

5 hours ago, Carolina Cajun said:

think the XL Experiment is over.

You are probably correct.

[Johnstonny]

1 hour ago, carolinanimal said:

I think Horn would be great in those middle of the field routes. He is quick, but that would require your QB to throw passes in the middle of the field and actually see them. Even the commentators on the game noticed Bryce doesn't throw to the middle of the field. 

Put him in the shotgun, on a stool.

[parker]

He gets one more year.  It takes time to develop WRs. 

[SOJA]

I was very vocal about wanting Ladd 

[frankw]

Regardless of how frustrating he may be at times. At the end of the day if we are still lowering the bar for a #1 pick who is now a fourth year starter I don't see any point in rushing to trade a WR with only 31 career games. See what happens next year and go from there.

[ClawOn]

6 hours ago, kungfoodude said:

He shouldn't have been out in the game to have the opportunity to make the drop.

This is another consistent Canales problem. Lack of accountability for consistently poor play.

Agreed but at least he got the quick hook.  Speculation somewhat but I get the sense that he actually plays pretty well in practice,  then completely falls apart on game days.