Come join us for all your answers to this week’s fan mailbag!
Hello CSR! Welcome to Brian Answers, part two of your weekly Panthers fan mailbag for everyone! This week, we got a ton of questions about wide receiver, potential team production, and how you should drive a car. As always, come around next week for part one of each week’s mailbag, where you can ask Panthers related, football related, or completely off-topic questions, and see them answered in Brian Answers every week. Let’s dive in!
Charlsong1: What does it take for XL to be definitively declared worthy of being a first round pick?
Right now, I’d say he’s WR4. AT and Coker outplayed him last year, and TMac is the real deal IMO.
But XL is gonna get better, and I think AT is playing his final season. If XL averages 875-1000 yards a season over the next three, does that make it a good move to trade up for him?
I don’t know if Xavier Legette will ever be considered worthy of a first round selection, but to live up to his 32nd overall billing, a strong WR2 career would probably be sufficient. If he can manage like 1500 receiving yards and 7-10 TDs in the two seasons before year 4, I’d say the Panthers are doing alright all things considered.
For my taste, filling that outside WR2 role opposite Tetairoa McMillan sufficiently with solid production would be enough just based on the other talents he’s going to have around him. But if he can get close to 1k yards a season towards the latter half of the rookie contract, I wouldn’t even think about the trade up to acquire him for quite some time.
@WTMealey: Let me see what I can come up with…Me brain is spinning? I want one question about current team and one about the past.
1. What content are you consuming or stats are you analyzing to keep you up to date on Panthers and NFL? Are you an SB Nation company man? Do you visit all the teams or just our division? Walk us through what it is like to be you as far as being a Cat Scratch Reader employee or a Panthers fan and where does that Venn diagram cross over and diverge?
2. Hypothetical Start Up. Not sure what this company does exactly but it is NFL adjacent. So we need folks with NFL smarts, but also folks who will help get a starp up off the ground and running and be good innovative leaders and sales folks and …entrepenuers. You can hire 7 former Panthers. Who are they and why will they help us make a profit? You can also mention some Panthers who were great on the field that you wouldn’t hire if you’ve got some good interesting reasons.
- I think like many things out there, consuming information from a wide range of resources is the best way to go. I’ve always notoriously been skeptical of PFF rankings as a pure baseline to judge players, but I’ll gladly watch and listen to their videos/podcasts to see what they actually have to SAY about players/prospects. I think the Athletic is a solid subscription for your fan needs as well. I think we get a lot of information you can’t get anywhere else from Panthers.com, and the folks there do a great job on social media and on their articles, but you always have to remember its going to have a homer-ish tilt. Personally, I value the opinions of the CSR staff (except for Jon on Curtis Samuel), and even the dedicated commenters we have, even when we all disagree.
- I’d just hire 7 David Teppers and call it a day. He’s got all the capital we could ever need to make this WR5/6 meme a real money bag.
PantherBlueBlood: Will the Panthers be a top 10 Defense this year?
What position do you think we upgrade post June 1.
Will we get Jalen Ramsey added to upgrade the defense?
- I have really high hopes that this focus on the physical part of the defense and stopping the run makes this defense one that offenses don’t want to play against any given Sunday, but until we can see the sum of the parts working well together, I can’t say I expect them to be a top ten defense.
- I think they will upgrade corner and secondary post June 1st, though that may not come til closer to July/August at this point. And I don’t expect Jalen Ramsey to be one of those additions, simply because I think a team that feels they are one or two pieces away from pushing the Super Bowl will come calling, and it doesn’t make sense for Carolina to spend any mid to higher end capital on him.
gsbshsb: The more I see Moehrig highlights, the more I see some FS plays/qualities from him — is everyone 100% certain he can’t fulfill that role? Any stats on how he did lining up there for the last couple of years?
There were a lot of solid responses to this question in the comments, so go check those out. In my mind, I don’t see why Carolina paid him if they only expected box-safety production out of him. I don’t think they’ll cast him as a pure free safety, but I think he’ll take more snaps at that position in heavy passing based downs than maybe people are expecting. He should be the field general of the secondary, and a tone setter in the run game. I think Carolina’s strategy this off-season was to make running the ball as difficult as possible for opposing offenses. If they manage to succeed in that with all the resources allocated to the defensive line, Moehrig playing as a more traditional free safety might actually work out.
RebuildingSince95: Is there any way we can retain Renfrow if he doesn’t make the 53 (without other teams having a chance to get him)?
Technically yes, they can. The practice squads have some veteran slots (six I believe) that allow players with more accrued seasons than your traditional PS player to be added to the practice squad. They also have four slots they can “protect” that they can use each week. However, like commenter Dcangio09 said, I’m not really sure how much value Renfrow would have if he can’t cut the 53 man roster. But there are mechanisms to keep him around. I guess we’ll see what happens during the preseason!
Bruce Guild: How many 1000 yard receivers will we have at the end of the season and who? I’ll go 2 (AT and T-Mac)
How many 10 plus sack defenders do we have at the end of the season and who? I’ll say 0 butI think DB, then Scourton followed by DJ and Moehrig
Who will end the season with the most interceptions and how many? I’ll go MJ with 5
What chance do you give T-Mac at ORY? I’ll say yes since I have lofty goals for 1000 yards receiving
- I’ll go with Adam Thielen on this one. I think Tetairoa McMillan’s calling card as a rookie will be the receiving TDs for this offense, between Thielen, Legette, and Jalen Coker there’s a pretty good chance they vulture enough yards that T-Mac falls short of 1k. But I am an eternal pessimist.
- I agree that I don’t think the Panthers will have any 10 sack defenders. But Nic Scourton might be the best candidate off the edge. Maybe DJ Wonnum if he plays a full season of games.
- Let’s go with Jaycee Horn, have some fun with his new contract.
- I think he won’t get it, just because a QB or RB will probably take precedent.
PeterHollandActor: What is BY’s ceiling? How good can he get? Will he pick up where he left off at the end of last season? Is he just too small to lead us to a championship? That’s what many fans believe. Dan and Dave have done a good job of giving BY a solid O-Line and plenty of weapons. They’ve remade the D. That should give BY more short fields than he had last year. Glad he appeared so comfortable and relaxed during his last presser. Because the pressure is going to be on him to deliver more wins and contend for a playoff spot.
I think Bryce Young’s absolute top ceiling is some form of a Patrick Mahomes-lite, if he can continue to flex those improvisation and anticipation muscles on his reps. I highly doubt he will reach that same tier, but we’ve seen enough flashes to think its possible.
The one thing I will say, I think his resurgence last season showed that when he’s on, he can produce. I don’t think size should matter as much as it used to. I’d be more critical of his actual arm power than size.
Snarky_Comet: This being Charlotte, the melting pot of all driving styles…
When you’re waiting to make a left turn at a blinking yellow light, do you ease into the intersection, or do you wait behind the stop bar until it’s completely clear to turn?
If you’re the former, do you lay on the horn at those who don’t move up? If you’re the latter, why are you the way that you are?
I am very much the former, you ease into the light and get out of the way as fast as possible, regardless of how clear it is. I think anyone who waits like the latter is usually also prone to taking the turn slowly, and in my mind you spend as little time in an oncoming traffic lane as possible.
Bruce Guild: With Shaq and Sam Franklin gone. 2 of our 4 team Captains are gone leaving BY and DB as the 2 remaining. Who has the best shot at replacing them as team Captains?
I think you give Jaycee Horn and Robert Hunt the nods this season for the remaining spots. Horn is a cornerstone of this defense, and Robert Hunt should be around for a while as a vocal leader for this team. Though I could also see that nod going to Taylor Moton or Adam Thielen on offense.
That’s all for this week, Panthers fans! Come join us for another round of the mailbag next week, and KEEP POUNDING!