seantaylor=god

2 minutes ago, -9- said:

 

curious about Stromberg also ...

 

... '22 1st Team All-SEC and voted  the SEC's "Top Offensive Lineman" ...

 

... 3rd round draft capital ...

 

... to afterthought?  what happened?

Had two vets in front of him and got hurt.

still could be something.

1 hour ago, ThatNFLChick said:

 

I like him but that’s not a great clip for Johnny hips seem stiff  and no wiggle. 

https://www.profootballnetwork.com/2024-senior-bowl-weigh-ins-and-measurements/
 

Johnny Wilson was 6’6 1/8, 237 pounds, with 35 plus inch arms.

I will be watching him at the combine.

Just now, CommanderInTheRye said:

As a Jayden Daniels fan there may be another benefit too:

 

Johnson as a lifelong Tarheel player and fan may find it especially difficult to select someone other than Maye with our second overall pick.

This is a great point- it Will be hard to separate bias if Johnson is the coach. Hopefully, if GMAP doesn’t believe in Maye he vetoes it.

Anyone concerned about the lack of discipline displayed repeatedly by the Ravens? It was so obvious, it seemed an intentional choice to intimidate and effect Mahomes. Not sure if it came from the HC, DC, line coach, or purely player driven, but the fact that Macdonald didn’t get it under control reflects negatively on his leadership and gives me serious pause as far as his HC potential.

27 minutes ago, Commander202 said:

I hate to say it but it’s true , Ben Johnson going to Seattle might end up more appealing . they literally have a better offense and some talented defenders to work with. Plus a proven organization and less media problems since we all know espn/nfl and even our own radio hosts love to bash us .

I guess anything is possible. But we have the number two pick to address QB, and he’s from NC. Maybe he has some burning desire to live in Seattle and follow Pete ****ing Caroll, but I don’t see it. And I live in Seattle!

37 minutes ago, mac8887 said:

Trade #2 for the bears latter 1st+justin fields+2 more future 1sts. I really think fields is on the way up.

 

We take the best ot or bowers or nabers if he is there and then have 4 1st rounders over the next to years.

Why would the bears do that?

1 hour ago, KDawg said:

Been awhile since I watched him. If I remember right he’s kinda lumbering and not really quick. Good speed, good hands. I actually think if he adds some good weight he could be a tight end candidate. Huge target.

 

Wouldnt necessarily want to rely on him as a possession outside receiver.

I’m really looking forward to seeing his three cone numbers. That will probably help us determine if he’s a TE or a Mike Evans type. Also, is he actually 6’7 240? Or is he like 6’6, 235? 
 

When I watch these guys I try and imagine them in the NFL. Are there successful players like them?

When I look at the plays that they are succeeding on, was everything around them perfect or did they have to evade rushers and reset, or get to their second or third read? Are they making NFL throws? Are their wins things that will work in the NFL?
 

Context is what makes it so difficult.

Bo Nix in that system looks decisive and elite. Jayden throwing bombs/ running all over looks fantastic.

Drake Maye has prototypical tools but didn’t play as well last year as other QBs.

Penix is slippery in the pocket with a rifle arm.

ETC. 

Who will be the best pro, not who performed the best in his last year of college, not who runs the fastest or has the best arm. 
 

And we haven’t even mentioned football intelligence, processing, work ethic, leadership, off the field issues, psychology, scheme fit, coaching, poor organization ruining their chance, etc. 

It’s so difficult and why it’s wild when people act like they know for sure who will succeed.

Every one of these QBs, in the right system, with proper coaching, with players around them, has a chance to be successful. But most won’t be, and for some due to circumstances completely outside their control.

For the first time in 20 years, football evaluators will be leading our decision making and we have a process in place to actually get it right.

@Going Commando@KDawg

Have either of you, or anyone else, watched Johnny Wilson, WR from FSU? 
 

Watching some of his highlights and I would have never guessed he is 6’7, 240 pounds with the way he moves fluidly. Snatches the ball and seems like a hands catcher with a huge catch radius. I wonder what he runs, and his ability to block.
 

Any interest in him as a WR or TE?

That size makes him really intriguing to me, if he can run in the 4.6 range.

7 hours ago, FootballZombie said:

 

So this Joe guy must have attended UNC, has family that works for UNC, and is a paid member on UNCs board of directors.

 

Either that or he had a super fun night. lol

 

That is a take.

In fairness, he did chart every pass and game he played his career. His take on what he sees could be biased but it’s not made up.

He did it for others too. I can’t find his take on Caleb, but he didn’t like Jayden.

Interesting. I can’t find details but you may be right.

This is from last week:
Archer wrote team owner Jerry Jones has "adjusted" Quinn's contract in order to fend off outside interest but posited the former Atlanta Falcons head coach might now be tempted "if the right opportunity presents itself."

https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/10104392-cowboys-rumors-jerry-jones-adjusted-dan-quinns-contract-but-dc-wants-to-be-hc-again.amp.html

1 minute ago, GoSkins1976 said:

If he was under contract I would agree with you but he isn't so he can do whatever he wants

Exactly. Quinn may like it in Dallas but he’s not under contract in 2024.

He obviously wants to be a HC still, or he wouldn’t be taking all of these interviews.

If he doesn’t get a HC deal, I would imagine he would want a long term DC position of at least 3 years vs the one year deal he had in Dallas. It could be with us.

1 minute ago, Warhead36 said:

Id love to bring Christensen in as QB Coach 

I think it’s pretty much a guarantee he’s on staff in some capacity, even if it’s just an offensive consultant or part time gig.

QB coach would make a ton of sense.

I think it’s important to note that Clyde Christensen, who coached with BJ, has been at UNC this season and has worked with Maye.

If BJ is our coach and we draft Maye, have no doubt that they have thoroughly looked into him. We will likely have inside information others aren’t privy to. I think he will be the pick based on familiarity, tools, football intelligence, and character, observed up close for over a year and communicated honestly to our staff.

Conversely, if BJ is the coach and we don’t take Maye, we can trust that they must really like another player better or know Maye’s warts more than others and don’t think it’s correctable.

Assuming we hire Johnson, I would expect he brings in Clyde Christensen in some role. He was a mentor during BJ’s time in Miami-

And he spent last season on UNC staff working with Maye-

https://northcarolina.rivals.com/news/christensen-talks-why-unc-coaching-qbs-drake-maye-more

CHAPEL HILL – New North Carolina offensive analyst Clyde Christensen met with the media Tuesday afternoon at the Kenan Football Center to discuss his role with the Tar Heels, why he chose to come back to his alma matter, Mack Brown, and so much more.

Christensen brings 43 years of coaching experience to UNC, including 27 years in the NFL, where he won two Super Bowls and coached quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck and Jameis Winston, amongst others. He came to Chapel Hill following a four-year stint as the quarterbacks coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Christensen previously served as the offensive coordinator for both the Bucs and the Indianapolis Colts.

While in Tampa Bay, Christensen won a Super Bowl and helped Brady lead the NFL in a number of passing categories. He also mentored Winston to a season where he led the league in passing and set franchise records for passing yards, TDs and completions.

During his 14 years in Indianapolis, Christensen won a Super Bowl and served in a number of roles including assistant head coach, offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach, and wide receivers coach. He worked with Manning when he set franchise records for completions, attempts and yards and guided Luck to a standout rookie season, when he set NFL rookie records in passing yards and 300-yard passing games.

*So why UNC, why Mack Brown, and why now?

“One, it’s my school (and) I love my school,” he replied. “Two, my wife is from Winston-Salem, and she’s got some parents that are getting up in age, so we really made a commitment to get her back closer to them.

“And I wasn’t sure if retired is kind of a strong term, so I don’t know that that was ever an option, I knew I was going to do something. And Coach Brown asked me to come up, we visited, and it’s just a chance to get involved.

“And frankly, I love the place, I love what they’re doing here, I’ve always wanted to work for Coach Brown, have always admired Coach Brown… A chance to be a part of that was special.”

Christensen also said he will go hard this spring, but afterward will sit down with Brown and figure out what his role would be moving forward with respect to time and commitment.

“It’s been a bunch of fun,” he said. “It’s awful good to be back. My wife and I drove in here, and I think I feel ten years younger reminiscing. I met my wife here, some awful good memories, and being around younger people, not 45-year-old quarterbacks, (much) younger folks, makes you feel younger again.”

*While Christensen is just now returning to Carolina in a professional capacity, he has always taken the Tar Heels with him wherever he’s gone in the NFL. Saturdays are laid back days in the NFL, as teams have prepared for their game for the next day, and sometimes travel if it’s an away game. And there’s a lot of razzing and competition among coaches and players representing their schools. 

*Naturally, one of the things all fans and media that cover UNC want to know from Christensen are his early impressions of Drake Maye.

“I watched a bunch of the Tar Heels…,” he said. “I admired his toughness. I’ve come up a lot of times, we have some grandkids in Durham; we come to North Carolina a lot. I’ve been at the last couple of spring practices for at least a couple of days and watched him and met him and knew him. They let me sit in the quarterback room a few times and visit with the team a few times.

“It wasn’t like I was not familiar with him… I knew he was going to be a good player just watching him when he was a backup to Sam (Howell). Just a talented guy… Love how he plays, love his toughness, and now sitting in these and being a fly on the wall; a bright, sharp kid. I’ve really enjoyed it, and looking forward to getting to know him better and getting to know his football better.”

*More from Christensen about what stands out about May’s game.

“It stands out how smart he plays, that he’s athletic, that he has a little bit of Andrew Luck in him that he’s a deceivingly good athlete, can pull the ball down and run, can make all the throws. He’s a big guy. You don’t see a ton of quarterbacks in a pro style, and he’s one of them that can really sit in the pocket or get outside the pocket…

“I like his humility. The great ones I’ve been around all have a level of humility that you wouldn’t expect. The guys that I’ve had a good fortune to be around have all had good humility, and I think he carries himself with a humility that’s attractive and warrants being a good leader and people following him.”

*Going from coaching legends to now much greener college kids, even someone as talented and accomplished as Maye, isn’t as much of an adjustment as some believe, Christensen said.

“I’ve never looked at it in any – coaching is coaching,” Christensen said. “If you’ve got a chance to improve somebody, whether it’s a high school kid, or a junior high kid at camp, or it’s Tom Brady, who’s 44 years old when we get him, there’s just something to figuring out how do we get them better, how do we improve them, how to we encourage them as men.

“Everyone asks what’s the difference, and there never has really been a difference for me whether it’s Holy Cross, whether it’s the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, or whether it’s the Carolina Tar Heels. Coaching is coaching.”

*Christensen was a suite mate with Lawrence Taylor during his time at UNC at Eringhaus. He wouldn’t share many LT stories, obviously, but did speak about him, as the two still have a relationship.

“That always was the eyebrow raiser in the NFL,” Christensen said, smiling. “Stevie Streater and Lawrence, LT, we were in suites that time, it was over in Eringhaus, which is still standing, and hopefully air conditioned by now. We all lived in there.

“So, LT has always been a loyal, loyal guy, and a loyal friend.”

3 minutes ago, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

I don’t think Johnson is going to deplete the Lions staff to the extent some of you guys do.  Of course he’s taking some with him, but it’s a bad look to just up and take pretty much every key piece of the offensive staff from a head coach you have a lot of respect for, that put you in the position to become a head coach yourself.

I agree. I think he takes Fraley as his OC and maybe one assistant. 

No question Daniels was a better college QB last season than Maye; it’s not debatable. There is a reason he won the Heisman.

The team should get a good idea about which QB fits their scheme from combine interviews, watching them throw, private workouts,etc. 

Pro projection is real though, and we aren’t just looking for the best college football player. 
 

Hopefully GMAP and the new HC can get on the same page as far as which QB to take and maximize their talents by designing an offense for them.

14 minutes ago, ThatNFLChick said:

 

What about attacking ILB in FA? I kind of want to address the offense in the draft (so a full youth movement) and FA for the defense.

 

Agree. Although, I also could see the utility in hammering BPA in draft after QB AND signing FAs on offensive line ( and drafting guys too) to make our new QB as comfortable as possible. Since it’s a rebuild and record isn’t a huge issue, it’s less important for me to fix the defense. A better staff will fix it (historically bad, can’t get worse) but we don’t need it to be excellent right away. Better for the defense to peak in 2026 season than next year, by 2026 we are hopefully a legit playoff contender behind Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels.

10 minutes ago, Going Commando said:

 

That trade already looks bad, and it's going to get worse looking the better Montez plays.  We gave up a Probowl every down edge in his prime who only ended up costing 25 AAV for a second round pick.  We have had a systemic issue of devaluing our best players and selling low on them that has hopefully gone away with the Rivera regime.  We've also had a monstrous issue with getting to second contracts for players where it should be routine GM work that predates the Rivera regime, but is hopefully over now too.

 

It's also infuriating that Montez blew up and looked like Maxx Crosby literally the moment we traded him.  Wasting potential with trash coaching and scheming and getting into stupid personal agenda based feuds with our players because of trash culture is a big reason our players are so devalued, and why trading them has been such a losing game for us.. This should be unacceptable to us, and hopefully it won't continue under the Peters

Agree. I’m hopeful that as our team gets better players want to re-sign with us early, we get better FAs, and average players look great in our scheme, so we can be on the winning end of some trades.

2 minutes ago, Going Commando said:

 

Definitely under.  Montez is a different kind of player from him.  He's a king sized every down lineman edge who is a perennial Probowler type of talent, and former first round pick.  The Bears absolutely swindled us for him, and it feels like they're one big QB and WR pick away from being a power team.  Jonah isn't that kind of player.  He's much smaller, and is going to play a stand up role.  He won't have the same level of impact as a run defender, but I think he has the talent to lead an edge rotation and generate a ton of pressure.

I agree with your assessment on Montez but not sure “swindled” is fair. I’m not sure paying 100 mil for a great DE (elite though?) who may not not fit the new scheme (what are we going to run?) or may not want to sign long term (and would force us to play the franchise tag game) made sense for this team.
 

I would have been pretty critical if we turned down that trade to eke out another win or two, and then hired a GM and HC that wouldn’t want to sign him to a LTD anyway.

I think the compensation itself was fair. I don’t think anyone else would have offered more and it made sense to move him. No one but the Bears was offering that kind of compensation for a rental player (who they extended, which was smart).

40 minutes ago, Chris 44 said:

Its really baffling how they could miss on players so often and or play them in roles not suited to them. Many on this board would wonder allowed about picks and where they have them playing, but for the most part, at least in my case, figured "well they are the guys who have been in the NFL a long time and certainly know better than me". Its as if they were trying to be too clever at times, bordering on arrogance. Would love to know the dynamics between coaches and scouts and who pushed for each individual player.

I suspect coaches (Del Rio) influenced Rivera on picks over the scouts. 

9 minutes ago, pico926 said:

Nice try bud. Mahomes led the nation in passing his final year in college. Herbert passed for 32 TDs @ Oregon his last season. Maye had 24 TD’s in the ACC in 2023 with a 79 QBR😊. You right it ain’t all about the Heisman but don’t try to compare Maye to a damn Mahomes or Herbert. It’s ludicrous.

Are you serious? Maye passed for 38 TDs and over 4000 yards as a 20 year old last year.

Why is it folks with the worst takes are always the loudest?

I’m not sure why folks try and comp Daniels to Jackson. I don’t really see a lot of similarity. I guess he’s the most recent “running QB” but Daniels is a better passer and not nearly the space player as Jackson. Seems more like RG3, Geno Smith or Tyrod Taylor. 

55 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

Its crazy to me how so many of you guys wanna pass up on drafting a franchise QB. Did you learn nothing from 2020?

Some people are super risk adverse. But drafting a first round QB (not even trading up) is not even much of a risk. If he fails, try again. You have to find a QB. It’s the most cost effective and best chance to do it. Especially now, the cost of FA QBs is insane. I’m still so thankful we have the number two pick we are so ****ing lucky.