Taco

Football enthusiast with a deep background in X and O's. All Football. No Feelings.

[Taco @TacosTweets]

@DuncOnDemand Already happening. Justin Jefferson cap hits 50m next year.

[Taco @TacosTweets]

This was true earlier in the offseason, but it's no longer correct.

In April, the #Bears restructured Kmet’s contract. They converted $7.65M of his salary into a bonus. Because of the restructure, the dead money if they cut him now is high ~12M.

Trading him after June 1 would only save the #Bears around 1.35m against the cap. Cutting him outright wouldn’t come close to the $10M figure anymore.

All this to say, the #Bears are not trading Kmet unless the deal sweeps them off of their feet.

[SleeperPanthers @SleeperCarolina]

With June finally arriving, if the Chicago Bears cut TE Cole Kmet they would save ~$10 million in cap space.

Given the Bears have drafted a TE in back to back drafts, moving on from him seems very plausible.

The #Panthers have a great opportunity to trade for the veteran tight end or pick him up if released to give the tight end room the help it needs.

#KeepPounding

[Mike Kaye @mike_e_kaye]

The #Panthers enter OTAs in a couple of weeks with four non-specialists over the age of 30.

They have three players who are 21 and won't turn 22 until July at the earliest. Two of those players are entering their second seasons (Scourton, Etienne -- Freeling is the other one).

[Taco @TacosTweets]

With the upcoming media rights deal having an opt-out clause in 2029, the next round of QB contracts are going to bottom out at 50m AAV. The new media rights deal will balloon the salary cap at least 10% and even more.

This means that agents are going to be working their ass off knowing that this will happen during the duration of their client's next deal.

The NFL is also currently in re-negotiations of the deal and could have something signed as soon as September. If an agreement is met then the cap for 2027 would skyrocket.

All of this to say... There is no way #Panthers QB BY9 and his camp are going to be signing 35m-40m with all of that upcoming.

FWIW Stroud is estimated to get 4 years @ 224m. (56 aav)

[(Thomas) threes&tds @threesandtds24]

My takeaway is that unless Bryce has an atrocious year which I don’t foresee he’s gonna get paid

It won’t be 50 million a year. I can see it being in that 35-40 million range and now it’s whether or not Bryce would agree to that

My guess is that he would #Panthers

[Taco @TacosTweets]

Now the #Panthers can afford their draft class

[Spotrac @spotrac]

The Carolina #Panthers processed a salary conversion on CB Jaycee Horn's contract, moving $16.4M into signing bonus, adding 1 void year - creating $13.1M of 2026 cap space.

Updated Cap Hits
2026: $10.9M
2027: $25.9M
2028: $31.8M
2029: $33.9M
2030: $3.2M (void)

[Up & Adams @UpAndAdamsShow]

A 6.5 win total for the Panthers is just PLAIN 👏 DISRESPECTFUL 👏

@FDSportsbook | @Panthers | @heykayadams

[Damien Lewis @Damienlewis72]

Run It Back! 💙🖤 #Panthers

[PFF @PFF]

Teams that received A+ Draft Grades 👀

[Jared Feinberg @Jared_NFLDraft]

If Sadiq is the pick tomorrow, you’re going to get a Y TE who will start out as a move piece while he continues to develop his play strength on drive blocks. Technique is there as a move blocker.

Versatility in 12/13P is there, too.

I don’t see any issues.

[For Panthers Fans Only (Podcast) @FPFO_Podcast]

🚨 ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨

Do you think you know the NFL Draft better than anyone else? 🤔

This is a predictive mock draft and will be graded based on the REAL NFL DRAFT Thursday night

Come compete for a Carolina Panthers 2026 Rookie Jersey 🔥

Best of all, ITS FREE TO ENTER

Link to enter and scoring will be posted below👇

#KEEPPOUNDING

[Cody Alexander @The_Coach_A]

https://t.co/l1hXDY6gOs

[Taco @TacosTweets]

FWIW no one but staff members of NFL franchises know where they rank the draft prospects.

The rest is just fandom and media.

[(Thomas) threes&tds @threesandtds24]

I like KC he’s my WR3. But if he doesn’t pan out we are going to need to have some real conversations about how we evaluate wide receivers bc he’s gone from WR7 to WR2 in a span of six weeks #Panthers

[Taco @TacosTweets]

@Jared_NFLDraft

[Taco @TacosTweets]

@PanthersAnalyst @djdotmp4 https://t.co/qIbZRFLtnT

[Joe Person @josephperson]

@1pantha1 @CLT_Sportsfan @TheSportzNutt Lemon didn’t visit.

[Joe Person @josephperson]

@1pantha1 @CLT_Sportsfan @TheSportzNutt Lemon didn’t visit.

[Taco @TacosTweets]

@PanthersAnalyst @threesandtds24 https://t.co/Qfo6h8QEfd

[Taco @TacosTweets]

Max Iheanachor
He is a RT with good size (6-6, 330) &solid pass-pro technique. Currently, he is projecting as a swing tackle who can develop into a starting RT. He has shown a good foundational strength, and a sticky consistent blocker. We also met with him.

as well as Caleb Tiernan, Austin Barber, Travis Burke and Jude Bowry. All are players we have met with in some fashion whether it was top30, senior bowl, or zoom meetings.

This is a deep class of OTs. It isn't a huge fall off from optionst 19 to 83.

The big drop off happens at the positions we could capitlize on in this draft WR, S, LB and TE.

DMo and DC wouldn't bring up these positions specifically if we weren't looking.

[Taco @TacosTweets]

@threesandtds24 🫡

[Taco @TacosTweets]

My thinking is that we have to define “quality” here.

Majority of the NFL’s current starting tackles were taken out outside of the 1st round (55%). 15 of them are considered “impact” players because of their on field performance. 20 of the first round picks are considered “impact” players while 5 of them are on bust watch.

Mathematically you are correct about the odds being in favor of the first round pick but odds being “low” might be a bit too aggressive.

There could be an arguement that you get more swings outside of the first round, so you’ll have more misses. However, in the context of this thread we are really focusing on 2nd and 3rd rounds and the league has a 70% and 45% starter rate between those two rounds.

All this to say, OT talent exists outside of the first round, and Taylor Moton says “Hi” as a former 2nd rounder himself.

[Taco @TacosTweets]

Going out on a limb here... but it could be that...

The #Panthers used a whopping 11 different starting offensive line combinations across 18 games which tied for the most in NFL history in a single season. (Rams 2022)

Ickey and Moton were only responsible for 20% of the sacks allowed last year. A total of 6 sacks. The other 29 came from the rest of the line.

Reminder that Ickey missed the first two games of the year recovering from an appendectomy.

[Edgar Salmingo, Jr. ✌🏽 @PanthersAnalyst]

The #Panthers pass blocking performed below average last year, and that was with a healthy Ikem Ekwonu

They can definitely consider OL prospects in the draft for the future and to upgrade on this area

[Taco @TacosTweets]

You’ve added a few too many “what ifs” in this reply to be able to provide you with a constructive response.

I doubt the FO is going to make the selection at 19 with your doomsday scenario - that’s just not good business. If they did, then they all would be thinking “we should draft a WR because what if TM4 tears his ACL, Coker continues to have soft tissue issues and no one wants XL”

None of this is about being bummed from selecting an OT. There is a legit path that it happens. It’s the point that it’s not controversial to NOT draft an OT.

Also, I appreciate what Trey has to say. However, if our coaches came away impressed with one of their top30s/senior bowl interactions and felt they could be a long term piece drafted in the mid round, then what Trey has to say doesn’t really apply here.

These people who speak on platforms are great for digesting content, but remember - they are not in those scouting rooms or draft conversations. Hence why every year mock artists flip flop and every week the same pod/show has a different player going to your favorite team since their last episode from the week before.

All while at the same time, nothing has changed about your favorite team in that period of time.

[Taco @TacosTweets]

We aren’t looking for depth at WR, LB, S and TE. We are looking for an impact starter. After the top 50 at those positions you run short on impact now options.

There are only a handful of players in those position groups that can start day 1 and make an immediate impact. I’m open to hearing your case on who you think is an impact player at those positions outside of the top 50. However, when you look at scheme fit, capabilities, and talent .. you run thin on options.

That’s how the FO views that pick at 19. Who makes an impact day 1 in 2026, not 2027.