r/panthers • u/ThomasZ18 Run CMC • 1d ago
Discussion [Panthers] Analysis: Taking a look at the Panthers' initial 53-man roster
https://www.panthers.com/news/analysis-taking-a-look-at-the-panthers-initial-53-man-rosterThe first 53-man roster has been released (with obviously some more moves likely to come), what are your thoughts?
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u/ThomasZ18 Run CMC 1d ago
53 MAN ROSTER
Quarterbacks: (2): Bryce Young, Andy Dalton.
Running backs (3): Chuba Hubbard, Rico Dowdle, Trevor Etienne.
Tight ends (4): Ja'Tavion Sanders, Tommy Tremble, Mitchell Evans, James Mitchell.
Wide receivers (7): Tetairoa McMillan, Adam Thielen, Xavier Legette, Jalen Coker, Brycen Tremayne, David Moore, Jimmy Horn Jr.
Offensive linemen (9): LT Ikem Ekwonu, LG Damien Lewis, C Austin Corbett, RG Robert Hunt, RT Taylor Moton, Brady Christensen, Yosh Nijman, Cade Mays, Chandler Zavala.
Defensive linemen (6): Derrick Brown, A'Shawn Robinson, Tershawn Wharton, Bobby Brown III, Cam Jackson, Jaden Crumedy.
Outside linebackers (6): Patrick Jones II, DJ Wonnum, Nic Scourton, Princely Umanmielen, Thomas Incoom, DJ Johnson.
Linebackers (4): Christian Rozeboom, Trevin Wallace, Claudin Cherelus, Bam Martin-Scott.
Cornerbacks (5): Jaycee Horn, Mike Jackson, Chau Smith-Wade, Corey Thornton, Akayleb Evans.
Safeties (4): Tre'von Moehrig, Nick Scott, Lathan Ransom, Demani Richardson.
Special teams (3): K Ryan Fitzgerald, P Sam Martin, LS JJ Jansen.
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u/Psychobob2213 :Bojangles1: Bojangles 1d ago
Legit surprised that they're keeping 7 Receivers and Renfrow isn't one of them. Props to Tremayne for beating the odds.
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u/Ok-Respond-9007 1d ago
I have heard all of these fabulous things about Tremayne over the past 2-3 days, but I barely heard him mentioned all camp.
Granted, some of the Renfrow stuff may have just been because it was a good story and the media ran with it, but it still feels odd to me that Tremayne managed to beat him out. Hope that means good things.
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u/ryanswo07 Cookout 1d ago
Tremayne didn't even play in the last preseason game and still made the initial cut. He obviously has at least one huge fan on the coaching staff. Could be one of those situations where he's winning almost every single route but the ball goes somewhere else. We wouldn't see that since there's no fans at preseason and media heavily limited to what they could film
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u/Ok-Respond-9007 1d ago
Agreed. There has to be something we aren't seeing. After he was inactive for the Pittsburgh game, you could see all the media scrambling to make it seem like he's been turning heads all over the place...but none of them said a word about that until Thursday (except Rashad on PNP...he was a fan)
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u/cashburro Bad Motherfucker 1d ago
I don't think this really came out of nowhere. He hasn't been discussed a lot on this sub but following the 11v11 reports he was catching TDs regularly. I called this out ten days ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/panthers/s/2nPf0AHFcx
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u/Ok-Respond-9007 1d ago
I'm not necessarily surprised he made the team, but I am surprised that all of a sudden he's being talked about like he was the star of camp.
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u/cashburro Bad Motherfucker 1d ago
Oh yeah I don't think he's been a star per se but I think the coaching staff has been pretty clear that they value consistency over flashes and that being able to play special teams is a big factor for them so it makes sense that they kept him in my opinion
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u/Ok-Respond-9007 23h ago
It just seems odd to me that a team that is seriously shallow at WR in Washington didn't even attempt to retain him after having a year to watch him, but suddenly he's making the Pathers in the crowded room we have here? Good for him, I just am surprised.
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u/SlaytanicMaggot 1d ago
And 4 TEs!
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u/Cyberjag Bojangles 1d ago
Mitchell may not last once Tremble is back.
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u/spurnburn 1d ago
No, he is on the team and staying there, we need 4 TEs. And Tremble is already back
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u/CretinoPopov Ice Up Son 20h ago
Not necessarily, we could sign a third QB or another CB or ILB, for example.
In that case, cutting Mitchell is a possibility.
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u/spurnburn 1d ago
That was always the most likely scenario with us liking to mix in heavy personnel and the i jury history of some other players. It’s only the 6 OLBs instead of 6 CBs that suprises me in terms of roster breakdown.
Obviously, renfrow was one of the 7 I had pegged. that was the other suprise
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u/Loki2x2 Carolina Reaper 1d ago
Right?! I thought he was doing so well.
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u/knave_of_knives One of Us 1d ago
Idk why this is so surprising to everyone.
He is almost 30, hasn’t played a snap of football in 2 years, had a disease that affects his nutrition, and got hurt again.
Other than “is a Clemson grad”, I don’t know what’s so appealing about the guy.
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u/Hefty-Association-59 Division Champs '15 1d ago edited 1d ago
Lunch pale Hard working type of guy you want marrying your daughter
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u/KeyScout721 23h ago
He was 4 years removed from his pro bowl season. He was given a chance to see if he could handle playing again. He failed and hurt his hamstring. He failed in the worse way. The best ability is availability and no team wants a hurt, older guy that hasn’t played in a year. He may hang around and have another chance later. Strange things happen.
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u/MalikMonkAllStar2022 7h ago
I don’t know what’s so appealing about the guy
It was extreme hopium and I'll admit I got caught up in it too (though I do wonder if he would've made it had he not got hurt).
The appeal is that he used to be a very good receiver. In his prime he had an argument for being the best route runner in the entire league. And yes this was always an outside chance but the hope was that he could get to that form and that his dip in productivity the last few years was heavily affected by a condition that is not a problem anymore.
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u/knave_of_knives One of Us 7h ago
He was only that guy for like a season, though. Maybe a season and a half, if you count the weird covid year.
The truth is that was an outlier to an otherwise mid-at-best career. His advanced stats are all just that, middle of the road. That, coupled with a sickness that affects nutrition and ability, and not playing for years is just nothing.
If he wasn’t a Clemson grad, no one would bat an eye.
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u/knave_of_knives One of Us 1d ago
I have to imagine there’s some serious roster churn that’ll happen soon.
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u/Hefty-Association-59 Division Champs '15 1d ago
Serious roster churn is basically a yearly occurrence for the panthers at this point.
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u/Smoove995 23h ago
Did we release Eddy Pineiro? Can't seem to remember it and google still has him on the Panthers.
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u/TCONtheGreat 22h ago
Didn't resign him when his contract expired. It shows their previous team until they sign elsewhere as far as I know
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u/cosmo_hornet Purrbacca 1d ago edited 1d ago
This is a 5-6 win team
edit: so many delusional homers in here downvoting me hahahaha
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u/InertPistachio Ice Up Son 1d ago
Hate to say it but yeah I agree, can't see us getting much more than 5 or 6
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u/Hefty-Association-59 Division Champs '15 1d ago
We need the offense to routinely put up 30. And the defense to not lose anybody to injuries. Then we can get 7-8. It’s a thin needle to thread.
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u/Accurate-Big-7233 Chuba Hubbard 1d ago
This sub is full of delusional morons who think this roster is playoff bound lmao
Extremely cringe. 6 wins is the absolute ceiling
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u/cosmo_hornet Purrbacca 1d ago
this is the same group of people that thinks Bryce Young is a top 10 QB after 5 good weeks of play. really delusional group of suckers
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u/Zoombini22 Bryce Up Son 1d ago
Really thought we had seen the last of DJ Johnson.
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u/Hefty-Association-59 Division Champs '15 1d ago
We don’t have many run defending edge rushers. Wonnum and princely are straight up bad at it. Jones is okay. Scourton is unproven so it makes sense to keep him.
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u/Zoombini22 Bryce Up Son 1d ago
I would agree but I dont think hes a good run defender either...
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u/Hefty-Association-59 Division Champs '15 1d ago
Pff had him at 60. Which is average. Which is better than the first 2 guys I listed by a significant margin.
He’s also a back up. As long as scourton stays healthy we probably won’t see him on the field.
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u/CardiologistThick928 Bryce Up Son 1d ago
Evero is going to cry whenever his starters get hurt in the secondary and LB corps lmao
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u/Philosophfries Cookout 1d ago
Evero is probably already crying lol. Our only hope is that some of these new guys turn out to be studs
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u/dkirk526 1d ago
Why is it some people think all of our backups need to be starting caliber players?
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u/knave_of_knives One of Us 1d ago
They don’t, but depth in the back 7 is important. That’s where you pull your special teamers from, so if they get hurt there, then we’re really starting to churn the roster at a position we could be doing better at.
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u/Philosophfries Cookout 1d ago
Because good offenses will throw away from your best defensive backs and chip/double your best rushers. You simply must have quality depth and a strong system or your weak links will be exploited. Some of our starters are completely unproven and/or are hardly starting caliber already- where do you think that leaves their backups?
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u/dkirk526 1d ago
CBs and ILBs regularly play every down for a defense, so deep depth at those positions isn’t as necessarily as it is on the DL and at OLB, where we have pretty solid depth.
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u/Philosophfries Cookout 1d ago
Sure not as necessary because they aren’t rotational positions, but still important to have serviceable backups in case of injury (which was the original concern).
No one expects them to be starting caliber, but when you’re the backup on one of the worst defenses in the league, it would be understandable for the DC to shed a tear trying to make that work.
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u/dkirk526 1d ago
We had the worst defense in the league last year because we were mostly starting backups at times. Most of our current backups ended up starting a not insignificant number of games.
Injuries happen to every team, and usually the rest of the defense should be able to mask a deficiency from a player or two, but there were a number of games where half the defense or more was made of players who currently aren’t with the team.
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u/Philosophfries Cookout 8h ago
We had the worst defense in the league last year because we were mostly starting backups at times
Here’s your answer why people want better quality backups lol. Our best guys have injury histories and our current backups aren’t at the serviceable level that good defenses have.
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u/dkirk526 8h ago edited 7h ago
…I feel like you completely misread this comment.
No, backups aren’t supposed to completely replace your starters. “Better backups” people are asking for is starters on the bench. In many cases, we were playing backups to our backups to our backups and it’s like people memory holed how we were adding guys off the street every week, then blamed our backups for having to start a significant number of games. Most teams with the injuries we had aren’t faring much better.
Example: Against Washington where we gave up 40 points, our starting lineup included 4 players who were backups going into week 1 (Ray, Thurman, Wallace, Scott) and 3 more guys who we picked up off the streets because our depth was injured (Charles Harris, Lonnie Johnson, Marquis Haynes). One of the other starters was Shy Tuttle, who was probably the worst regular starting player.
If you only have to start 2 or 3 backups, they should be good enough that you can ideally get through a stretch where the rest of the defense can make up for it.
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u/Philosophfries Cookout 7h ago
I feel like you completely misread this comment
Which part? Your claim so far seems to be that complaining about the quality of our backups is silly because…last year they played, did poorly, got injured or replaced, and now aren’t held in high standing? Lmao
If our guys are getting hurt, isn’t that more reason to want quality depth? I’ve genuinely never heard someone that pays any attention to football argue that the importance of depth is overstated.
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u/dkirk526 7h ago
I don't even know if you're reading my comment, because that's not my point.
Backups are going to be worse than your starters. When you're starting 5 or 6 or 7 backups, you're going to suck and it's going to make it much more obvious how much worse your backups are.
When your backups are hurt, you're digging off the streets, and will be in an even worse position.
In many places, we currently do have decent depth, but no teams have "quality depth" to completely replace half your defense.
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u/dkirk526 1d ago
Yeah and most teams are generally in bad spots when their starters go down for the season. You don't follow every team, so naturally you won't notice how good or bad their backups are performing, but more often than not, teams aren't stacked with talent behind their starters.
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u/MalikMonkAllStar2022 7h ago
Isn't it really just ILB and CB? Lathan Ransom and Demani Richardson aren't terrible backups at the safety spot. I feel like having a decent backup at 7 of 11 spots on defense is not an awful place to be.
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u/Comprehensive-Car190 1d ago
I'm really surprised Jacoby Windmon didn't make the roster. Dan even called him out as being a great special teamer on the broadcast. I guess we figured we needed more youth/ceiling at LB.
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u/AngularPenny5 Cheerwine 1d ago
I'm gonna consider the loss of Renfrow a necessary sacrifice to remove Shemar Bartholomew
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u/Romanscott618 1d ago
I’m honestly really shocked DJ Johnson is still on the squad lol
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u/Hefty-Association-59 Division Champs '15 22h ago
Johnson is an average run defending edge. Wonnum and princely are bad run defending edges.
Pat jones graded well there last year. But he only had 100 run defending snaps so that’s a bit inflated. And atypical compared to his normal sub par run defense. Could be him getting better. Or it could be a blip.
Scourton was good in college. But he’s a rookie. So it makes sense for us to keep Johnson for this year.
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u/Sabre500 Luuuuuke 22h ago
DJJ is an Evero guy. He was even the one who pounded the table for Johnson
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u/brentman21 Ice Up Son 1d ago
I would venture to guess this is why Renfrow pushed to join the Panthers. He can test the waters of getting back in the league without leaving home and upending his life. I'm sure practice squad pays better than the recycling game does. I'm excited to see what our WR group can do.
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u/Certain_Cranberry_77 1d ago
In other news, the Saints have chosen their tank commander
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u/lolwhoisthisdood Derrick Brown 1d ago
I don't claim to know much, but at least we aren't going winless
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u/PrinceOfDokkan Retro Logo 1d ago
I know it doesn't say much but comparing our roster to Jaguars, we actually have a better roster on paper. I do like Arik Armsted, Walker, and Brian Thomas and Travis Hunter but besides that they don't have many other standouts.
-We have a loaded O line
-a blooming QB
-Young Receivers that have shown growth and promise
-Chubba and a solid RB room behind him
-on Defense we have Patrick Jones, Derrick Brown, Rozeboom, Jayce Horn, Trevon Moehrig, and some average level players along side them like Mike Jackson, Wharton,
-we also have promising defenders like Lathan Ransom and Corey Thornton.
I like the idea of what we can be
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u/DANIEL7696 1d ago
They do also have Hines-Allen, Oloukun and Tyson Campbell
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u/PrinceOfDokkan Retro Logo 1d ago
I'm not familiar with those players so that could be a blind spot on my part. Are they like pro bowlers?
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u/DANIEL7696 1d ago
Oloukun puts up absurd tackle numbers most years and Hines-Allen is good for like 7-8 sacks each year and in 2023 he had 17.5 sacks
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u/PM_ME_UR_DOUCHE 22h ago
I’d like to see us go after Jalyn Armour Davis the corner just cut by Baltimore. Their fans seemed genuinely surprised he got cut but they do have an extremely talented group of corners.
Dude was a stud at bama and has great size
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u/smikkelson2 Ice Up Son 22h ago
There are a couple intriguing options at corner. Noah Igbinoghene could be another one, coming off his best season
I haven't really followed ILB cuts but could definitely see us going after someone there too
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u/nowamediocreperson 22h ago
Also some of these roster shocks will be released for cuts from elsewhere or be back on PS so we'll see how everything lands in a week or 2
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u/dkirk526 8h ago
Renfrow was cut for all the reasons people wanted Thielen traded. He’s a worse version of Thielen who is at the tail end of his career and going to take away opportunities from the younger guys.
Had they kept him, it’s unlikely they’d have held onto him beyond this season, outside of him being far and away better than expected. This team wants the top four receivers next year to be Coker+XL+TMac+Horn.
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u/eric4280 Bad Motherfucker 1d ago
Dj Johnson and David Moore LOL. Never fails.
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u/aiden3buckets Ice Up Son 1d ago
Moore is really solid as a wr6 and plays special teams. I don’t understand the hate for him
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u/Psychobob2213 :Bojangles1: Bojangles 1d ago
He carriers a similar tag as Nick Goings: the more things you can do, the harder it is to get rid of you.
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u/Ok-Respond-9007 1d ago
Nick Goings was a dawg the year he had to become our primary carrier though (mostly through sheer number of touches, but still).
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u/dkirk526 1d ago
Savvy veteran. Probably won't get a ton of snaps, but can return punts and will be good to help a roster with 5 other 1st and 2nd year receivers.
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u/Hefty-Association-59 Division Champs '15 1d ago
Johnston is probably the only guy who’s at least proven he can defend the run from the edge. And we especially have several sub par run defenders. So it makes sense to keep him in a rotational role.
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u/Far_Most5189 1d ago
I get Moore hangin around year after year. He’s a reliable vet that’s been in Canales’ system. But to not even consider him a fringe player for cuts again this year is crazy with how much depth we had.
I have no reasoning for DJ lol
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u/DarthLordDonkey JJ Jansen 1d ago
What are you basing this on? If your talking about reddit boards, that isn't reflective of the team's thoughts. The best way to tell how the coaching staff and management thinks of the players is by what they say in press conferences and in media produced by teams. At no point was Coker mentioned as a fringe player by anyone on the staff, and in the blueprint video, he was outlined as one of the 4 receivers who is safe on the roster, whereas Moore notably wasn't listed. The idea that David Moore was never considered as a cut is a fabricated narrative.
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u/Far_Most5189 1d ago
David Moore was listed as a second string on both of the early unofficial depth charts released. I get that’s not a true sign because there were guys listed as starters on other teams that got the axe. But if I’m looking at people who might get cut I’m looking at anyone outside of the 6 on top of the depth. Dan said in an interview like week 2 of preseason they would keep 6 or 7
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u/DarthLordDonkey JJ Jansen 1d ago
If you know that it's not a true sign, then you know that trying to read too much into the depth charts is futile. Even so, Renfrow was listed as a backup and was cut, only further showing that just because he was listed in the "top 6" that doesn't mean a damn thing.
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u/eric4280 Bad Motherfucker 1d ago
Bingo. We’ve had convos about friggin COKER being potentially on the out but David Moore was always safe. The nepo crap is out of control.
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u/knave_of_knives One of Us 1d ago
Not a single person with a functioning brain thought Coker was getting cut.
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u/eric4280 Bad Motherfucker 22h ago
Oh no i didn’t think so/ but PnP podcast even talked about how there were rumblings that he’d been on a bubble.
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u/DarthLordDonkey JJ Jansen 1d ago
Who had conversations? People on the internet. Unless you have a viable source that shows the team was considering cutting Coker, I am not going to be worried that he was "potentially on the out". David Moore has an advantage due to his familiarity with the team and the coaching staff, but he was also very effective in the role he will be asked to play again, and is a veteran voice that Canales clearly trusts, saying he made it due to nepotism is just ignoring all the great traits he brings to the table.
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u/eric4280 Bad Motherfucker 1d ago
GREAT traits? Or acceptable traits?
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u/DarthLordDonkey JJ Jansen 1d ago
I didn't misspeak, great traits. He is a veteran voice in a room where 5 of the other 6 players are either rookies or 2nd year players. He is the most familiar of any player on the team with the coaching staff. He has a proven ability to fill in any WR position. He can play on any special teams unit. There is more than just what we see on gameday, David Moore is a great asset to this team that the coaches clearly love. He isn't a star, nor should he be asked to play a major role, but for a depth WR, he fits that role very well.
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u/Sooner242 Cookout 1d ago
I get people are upset that Renfrow didn’t make the team, but I don’t get taking that anger out on David Moore acting like he’s a bum. He has been a consistent target for Bryce, has solid hands, and is a known quantity for this team compared to Renfrow who hasn’t played in two years and has a bad hammy rn.