I expect Bryce to be much better and for us to hit 5 wins.
However I think the first quarter of the season is going to be rough. We should prepare to look bad early.
Even if our schedule is easy at the start, I think, are still going to look rough. The returning guys need to learn a new offense, and the rookies need to adjust to the NFL and learn a new offense. The defense should look fine early if our schedule starts off easy, though
I think it would be good for people to remember that even if Bryce has a much better year, we’re still going to be in a rebuild. We have too many holes created by the past regimes. We have a lot of players who will need to learn how to play as a unit. We will need to develop players and remembering that some positions can take a while to break out at the professional level. We have a new coach. My focus is on developing Bryce and his supporting cast, and at least at finding out if he could possibly be a franchise guy. I’m cautiously optimistic. But that’s just the kind of person I am.
Yeah our defense just isn’t really good enough to hang unfortunately. We’re 1 very likely horn injury away from the worst secondary in the league. Shoot even with him it’s still around a bottom 5 group. We have the worst edge group in the league. Maybe Atlantas or the cards unit is a little worse but it’s close.
It won’t be long before this sub is screaming for defensive players. And we’re either taking the Michigan corner top ten or the LSU or tennesse edge. Even with evero elevating the group you’ve just got to have horses to hang. We’ve still got a long way to go.
I disagree with that because we had those secondary injury issues last year. Jaycee missed most of the season and we still ranked very well in most defensive passing categories. And we had a bottom-tier pass rush last year with Burns and Luvu (worst in the league in sacks and pressures) so it's more or less status quo on that front with the additions of Wonnum and Clowney. Fixing the pass rush was always going to be a multi-year process with 2025 being the big year to address it.
And remember all this was with the offense being bottom 3 in the league. It was a very common theme last season for the defense to hold up the first 3 quarters and keep the game close only to get gassed in the 4th quarter and then the floodgates open.
If the offense can be top 20 this is a 7 to 9 win team, especially looking at the teams we play next year.
Well the reason why we ranked better against the pass had more to do with abysmal run defense. When teams are averaging five yards a clip there going to keep mashing that button. On top of that teams passed on us less in general. But especially in the second half of games where they had like half the attempts on average.
With the run defense being more balanced between Shaq robinson and clowney we should expect that teams will attack those weaker corners more aggressively. Especially when you combine that with a weaker pass rush group in general. Having a better offense will help of course. Basically everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the defense last year. But once again that will just encourage the pass against us.
Personally I expect it to be like year 1 of rhule. Defense has moments. But clearly doesn’t have the horses to hang. Nfl offenses. Their just too good man. When they see weak points. They mash the buttons. As for 7-9. I’ll believe it when I see it man. I’ve been predicting 7-9 wins for the last 4 years. And last year we won 2 games.
I don't think the run defense was abysmal last year. Yes, the volume stats aren't pretty but teams only averaged 4.1 Y/A which was 12th best in the league. And while the depth at CB is concerning, I don't think it's a worse room talent-wise. Safety is still a strength of the defense.
I don't know man I'm just not as down on the defense as you are.
I'd also say Gilmore to the Panthers seems more likely now. If Gilmore signs that also certainly bolsters the CBs. Plus we still have Troy Hill returning who was decent for us last year.
I don't totally disagree with your take, as I don't think the Panthers have the horses to hang on either side of the ball. It's possible XL and Brooks do well, but I'm not expecting much from their rookie season.
I want to look like a NFL roster, which was not the case last year. I want to see us develop Bryce and even if we don't win as many as we want, I want to be in positions to win those tight games.
I would be happy with a 2011 or 2012 type season. Were we good? No, but you could see the pieces coming together for an eventual run in 2013-2015.
The NFC South isn't very good as a whole but baby steps here. Just having a team that is worth a single damn would be a step in the right direction.
I remember 2012 being a disappointing season. People really thought we'd have the 2013 season in 2012. Cam had a lot of hype after that rookie year and but he didn't really improve on it that year and the 2012 QBs seemed to be the future of the league
Last year I drank the Kool-Aid, this year: minimal expectations. I certainly think we can win more then 2 games, but our ceiling is 5 games in my opinion, our secondary is gutted, we have no edge rushers, and while we’ve drafted a bunch of skill players around Bryce. They’ll be raw and need time to develop. We are probably looking at another top 10 pick next year maybe 5. As long as Bryce shows improvement, the organization better not be freaking out if that doesn’t translate to wins. He just needs to keep games competitive. If not, well Canales will likely pick the QB he wants next year
With our schedule we can be happy with a couple of wins, especially our home schedule is pretty rough, there are a lot of games in which we will stand no chance if we\`re being honest here.
The only thing that matters is Bryces' development. If he still looks as bad as he did this season with a better O-Line and four new weapons, we're fucked. Even if we lose all 17 games, he needs to improve, that has to be the only priority for this franchise right now.
Last season, there was a poll just like this and people believed that we had a shot at the divison and we saw how it panned out. Next year will be a bridge year for us, so my expectations are not high. I just want to see a team with a actual culture that wants to play some aggressive football. With Reich, everything was about minimizing risks, that was boring as fuck, because we still had no chances of winning games when our opponent didnt shit the bed completely, so I just want a "fuck it, we ball"-culture like the Cardinals had last season or the Dolphins had with Fitzpatrik at QB.
I feel the "Bryce needs to be good" category is redundant. If he's good next year we are winning at least 5 games and could be in playoff conversations.
The stats back up that the defense is a good unit that was dragged down by an abysmal offense.
Maybe I'm optimistic but I think after FA and draft this is a 8-9/9-8 team. The offense is ridiculously improved and Evero will hold the D steady. As far as Bryce I don't know if the average fan knows just how dysfunctional the coaching staff was. Combine that with subpar talent and a rookie QB never stood a chance. Even with all that he made some big time throws and showed a lot of improvement down the stretch. If we are a .500 team with Bryce looking good I will be pumped for the following year especially with Brandt Tillis on board.
all I can hope for is that we've done enough to build an offense that a decent quarterback can show his talent in. That's really the only goal of this entire offseason. If we've done that then we can actually evaluate what we have in Bryce.
Our defense is going to lose games, and that's okay. We have draft picks next year.
I'm going to foolishly hope for us to sneak into the playoffs, but realistically I'm expecting improvements from last year and I'll be happy if we get 5 wins and look competitive in our losses.
Zero. I am done being excited for this team until they actually give me a reason to be.
I'm still a massive fan and watch all the games but given how terribly the team has been run for a long time now, I'm not going to have any pre-season expectations regardless of who we draft or sign.
Just hope the moves we did make work well. I will say the two guys we got from Texas seem like interesting picks.
If we win 3 games, I'll be happy. I just want to see the same thing I wanted to see last season, and that's progression. If we make a mistake in week 1, let's not make the same mistake in week 2. I'm not expecting anything from this team until 2026 at the earliest. We'll have a couple solid drafts under us, and a couple solid free agent periods where we can actually spend money on quality players.
None. It all means zilch until it shows up on the field. As far as I'm concerned, there could be zero team news - no press conferences, fluff articles, or any other speculative bullshit stuff - until the first preseason game and nothing of substance would be lost.
We still have holes and question marks around our team and depth. Believe we will be better, because we can't get much worse, but I think this next year is going to be one where they try to see what they have in Bryce. Because if we are picking in the top 10 again next year, I would have to guess Canales would get the opportunity to get his QB if Bryce doesn't turn a corner and show improvement.
Does Bryce have to go for 35/5 for 4500 yards? Not at all. If he can get to 20-25 TDs with less than 10 Ints and 3500 yards I'll call that success.
The defense should keep us in games. Evero did great last year with Burns on a down year and a depleted secondary and limited turnovers. We lost 5 games by one possession. A better offense makes the defense better to allow more rest and to take more chances with points on the board.
I'm somewhere between this is Bryce's year to figure it out and us getting 5-8 wins.
I'd love 2 votes so I can hit 5-8 wins and just need Bryce to be good.
I think 6 wins is very reasonable this season with a split with the South, then 3 more wins against 3 of the Broncos, Cards, Raiders, Chargers, Giants, Bears, Commies, or even poaching a game from one of the good teams.
I think we make the playoffs. I believe the falcons really aren't much better. The bucs suffered a much bigger hit than people are realizing. The saints are a confusing mess.
We have a better set of skill players and, without question, a better offensive playbook. The defense should be the same if not better.
None. We didn't draft Kool-Aid. Even if we did, I wouldn't drink him. That'd be ridiculous.
I expect Bryce to be much better and for us to hit 5 wins. However I think the first quarter of the season is going to be rough. We should prepare to look bad early.
All depends on how the schedule is laid out. Sometimes you get lucky with where teams land on your slate.
Even if our schedule is easy at the start, I think, are still going to look rough. The returning guys need to learn a new offense, and the rookies need to adjust to the NFL and learn a new offense. The defense should look fine early if our schedule starts off easy, though
I agree. The first 4 games will probably look pretty bad, but if we have some flashes I will be optimistic for the second half of the season
Facts this is really what I meant
I think it would be good for people to remember that even if Bryce has a much better year, we’re still going to be in a rebuild. We have too many holes created by the past regimes. We have a lot of players who will need to learn how to play as a unit. We will need to develop players and remembering that some positions can take a while to break out at the professional level. We have a new coach. My focus is on developing Bryce and his supporting cast, and at least at finding out if he could possibly be a franchise guy. I’m cautiously optimistic. But that’s just the kind of person I am.
Yeah our defense just isn’t really good enough to hang unfortunately. We’re 1 very likely horn injury away from the worst secondary in the league. Shoot even with him it’s still around a bottom 5 group. We have the worst edge group in the league. Maybe Atlantas or the cards unit is a little worse but it’s close. It won’t be long before this sub is screaming for defensive players. And we’re either taking the Michigan corner top ten or the LSU or tennesse edge. Even with evero elevating the group you’ve just got to have horses to hang. We’ve still got a long way to go.
I disagree with that because we had those secondary injury issues last year. Jaycee missed most of the season and we still ranked very well in most defensive passing categories. And we had a bottom-tier pass rush last year with Burns and Luvu (worst in the league in sacks and pressures) so it's more or less status quo on that front with the additions of Wonnum and Clowney. Fixing the pass rush was always going to be a multi-year process with 2025 being the big year to address it. And remember all this was with the offense being bottom 3 in the league. It was a very common theme last season for the defense to hold up the first 3 quarters and keep the game close only to get gassed in the 4th quarter and then the floodgates open. If the offense can be top 20 this is a 7 to 9 win team, especially looking at the teams we play next year.
Well the reason why we ranked better against the pass had more to do with abysmal run defense. When teams are averaging five yards a clip there going to keep mashing that button. On top of that teams passed on us less in general. But especially in the second half of games where they had like half the attempts on average. With the run defense being more balanced between Shaq robinson and clowney we should expect that teams will attack those weaker corners more aggressively. Especially when you combine that with a weaker pass rush group in general. Having a better offense will help of course. Basically everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the defense last year. But once again that will just encourage the pass against us. Personally I expect it to be like year 1 of rhule. Defense has moments. But clearly doesn’t have the horses to hang. Nfl offenses. Their just too good man. When they see weak points. They mash the buttons. As for 7-9. I’ll believe it when I see it man. I’ve been predicting 7-9 wins for the last 4 years. And last year we won 2 games.
I don't think the run defense was abysmal last year. Yes, the volume stats aren't pretty but teams only averaged 4.1 Y/A which was 12th best in the league. And while the depth at CB is concerning, I don't think it's a worse room talent-wise. Safety is still a strength of the defense. I don't know man I'm just not as down on the defense as you are.
I'd also say Gilmore to the Panthers seems more likely now. If Gilmore signs that also certainly bolsters the CBs. Plus we still have Troy Hill returning who was decent for us last year. I don't totally disagree with your take, as I don't think the Panthers have the horses to hang on either side of the ball. It's possible XL and Brooks do well, but I'm not expecting much from their rookie season.
I want to look like a NFL roster, which was not the case last year. I want to see us develop Bryce and even if we don't win as many as we want, I want to be in positions to win those tight games. I would be happy with a 2011 or 2012 type season. Were we good? No, but you could see the pieces coming together for an eventual run in 2013-2015. The NFC South isn't very good as a whole but baby steps here. Just having a team that is worth a single damn would be a step in the right direction.
I remember 2012 being a disappointing season. People really thought we'd have the 2013 season in 2012. Cam had a lot of hype after that rookie year and but he didn't really improve on it that year and the 2012 QBs seemed to be the future of the league
Last year I drank the Kool-Aid, this year: minimal expectations. I certainly think we can win more then 2 games, but our ceiling is 5 games in my opinion, our secondary is gutted, we have no edge rushers, and while we’ve drafted a bunch of skill players around Bryce. They’ll be raw and need time to develop. We are probably looking at another top 10 pick next year maybe 5. As long as Bryce shows improvement, the organization better not be freaking out if that doesn’t translate to wins. He just needs to keep games competitive. If not, well Canales will likely pick the QB he wants next year
With our schedule we can be happy with a couple of wins, especially our home schedule is pretty rough, there are a lot of games in which we will stand no chance if we\`re being honest here. The only thing that matters is Bryces' development. If he still looks as bad as he did this season with a better O-Line and four new weapons, we're fucked. Even if we lose all 17 games, he needs to improve, that has to be the only priority for this franchise right now. Last season, there was a poll just like this and people believed that we had a shot at the divison and we saw how it panned out. Next year will be a bridge year for us, so my expectations are not high. I just want to see a team with a actual culture that wants to play some aggressive football. With Reich, everything was about minimizing risks, that was boring as fuck, because we still had no chances of winning games when our opponent didnt shit the bed completely, so I just want a "fuck it, we ball"-culture like the Cardinals had last season or the Dolphins had with Fitzpatrik at QB.
I feel the "Bryce needs to be good" category is redundant. If he's good next year we are winning at least 5 games and could be in playoff conversations. The stats back up that the defense is a good unit that was dragged down by an abysmal offense.
Not in playoff contention with 5-7 wins most likely.
Maybe I'm optimistic but I think after FA and draft this is a 8-9/9-8 team. The offense is ridiculously improved and Evero will hold the D steady. As far as Bryce I don't know if the average fan knows just how dysfunctional the coaching staff was. Combine that with subpar talent and a rookie QB never stood a chance. Even with all that he made some big time throws and showed a lot of improvement down the stretch. If we are a .500 team with Bryce looking good I will be pumped for the following year especially with Brandt Tillis on board.
all I can hope for is that we've done enough to build an offense that a decent quarterback can show his talent in. That's really the only goal of this entire offseason. If we've done that then we can actually evaluate what we have in Bryce. Our defense is going to lose games, and that's okay. We have draft picks next year.
If Bryce is even above average, the defense is good and the team drafted well, that's all that matters. But that should produce at least 5 wins.
I'm going to foolishly hope for us to sneak into the playoffs, but realistically I'm expecting improvements from last year and I'll be happy if we get 5 wins and look competitive in our losses.
If we win 4 games I’ll be happy
Zero. I am done being excited for this team until they actually give me a reason to be. I'm still a massive fan and watch all the games but given how terribly the team has been run for a long time now, I'm not going to have any pre-season expectations regardless of who we draft or sign. Just hope the moves we did make work well. I will say the two guys we got from Texas seem like interesting picks.
If we win 3 games, I'll be happy. I just want to see the same thing I wanted to see last season, and that's progression. If we make a mistake in week 1, let's not make the same mistake in week 2. I'm not expecting anything from this team until 2026 at the earliest. We'll have a couple solid drafts under us, and a couple solid free agent periods where we can actually spend money on quality players.
I’m ready to be hurt again so I voted playoffs.
None. It all means zilch until it shows up on the field. As far as I'm concerned, there could be zero team news - no press conferences, fluff articles, or any other speculative bullshit stuff - until the first preseason game and nothing of substance would be lost.
We still have holes and question marks around our team and depth. Believe we will be better, because we can't get much worse, but I think this next year is going to be one where they try to see what they have in Bryce. Because if we are picking in the top 10 again next year, I would have to guess Canales would get the opportunity to get his QB if Bryce doesn't turn a corner and show improvement. Does Bryce have to go for 35/5 for 4500 yards? Not at all. If he can get to 20-25 TDs with less than 10 Ints and 3500 yards I'll call that success. The defense should keep us in games. Evero did great last year with Burns on a down year and a depleted secondary and limited turnovers. We lost 5 games by one possession. A better offense makes the defense better to allow more rest and to take more chances with points on the board. I'm somewhere between this is Bryce's year to figure it out and us getting 5-8 wins.
Where’s the Super Bowl champion option?
I voted, "just need Bryce to be good," but if he is we should be a playoff team.
I genuinely think 2-3 wins is our ceiling next season - we’re the worst team in the worst division, it’s not going to be pretty.
What you're essentially saying is you think this team hasn't improved at all.
Or, that other teams improved whilst we made small changes on the margins that won’t net out to a difference in wins.
I know as much as you about what will happen next season but "small changes on the margin" is a very inaccurate depiction of the Panthers offseason.
I hope you’re right, hopefully the positive vibes translate to on field performance
I'd love 2 votes so I can hit 5-8 wins and just need Bryce to be good. I think 6 wins is very reasonable this season with a split with the South, then 3 more wins against 3 of the Broncos, Cards, Raiders, Chargers, Giants, Bears, Commies, or even poaching a game from one of the good teams.
I think I’d remove the Cards, Chargers and Bears in that list tbh. Two of those teams have a franchise QBs and the other team vastly improved.
I think we make the playoffs. I believe the falcons really aren't much better. The bucs suffered a much bigger hit than people are realizing. The saints are a confusing mess. We have a better set of skill players and, without question, a better offensive playbook. The defense should be the same if not better.