A QB dilemma looms for Panthers at No. 1
Alabama’s Bryce Young should be the clear-cut, obvious pick at No. 1 overall for Carolina in this month’s NFL Draft. Young went 23-4 in two years as the Crimson Tide’s quarterback. He threw 80 touchdowns against 12 interceptions and won the 2021 Heisman Trophy. Alabama coaches rave about his leadership and film sessions. ESPN’s
Kirk Herbstreit compares Young to Steph Curry in terms of playmaking magic. The draft experts at ESPN and NFL Network rank Young as the best pure football player in this year’s draft. But (there’s always a but) . . .
There’s a reason Herbstreit compares Young to Curry — like the basketball star, Young is undersized. Alabama listed Young at 5 feet 10 inches and 194 pounds last year, and Young weighed in at 204 pounds at last month’s NFL Combine.
As noted by NFL.com, no quarterback who weighed less than 207 pounds at the Combine has ever been drafted in the first round. The concern is they can’t hold up to the rigors of a 17-game season and 280-pound defensive linemen — i.e. Tua Tagovailoa (listed at 217 pounds) suffering multiple concussions last year after getting “ragdolled” by defenders. Young suffered a sprained AC joint in his right throwing shoulder during the 2022 season, which forced him to miss one game in October.
There’s a second option for the Panthers at No. 1 — a big, strong-armed, textbook-looking quarterback in Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud. He’s 6-3, 214 pounds, went 21-4 as a starter, and was a two-time Heisman finalist. But he’s not as dynamic an athlete as Young.
Young and Stroud will almost certainly go 1-2 in the draft, which starts April 27, with the Texans likely to draft the QB who falls to them at No. 2. But the order in which they are drafted will depend on the Panthers’ appetite for risk.
“I think Bryce Young is the best pick, and I think Stroud is probably the safer pick,” ESPN’s Todd McShay said. “I’m not worried about the height in terms of Bryce Young seeing the field and being able to locate the receivers. It’s just about his durability. C.J. is the best pocket passer with a bigger build, so on paper, he’s built to last longer in the NFL.”
If the history of new Panthers coach Frank Reich is a guide, then Stroud is the pick. Every quarterback Reich has coached between the Chargers, Eagles, and Colts has stood at least 6-4, from Philip Rivers to Carson Wentz to Nick Foles, Andrew Luck, and Matt Ryan. Reich himself was a 6-4 quarterback.
But Reich said last month at the NFL owners meetings not to look too deeply into his history. Not to mention, he’s not the only one making the decision, with owner David Tepper being heavily involved in the process.
“All these people are putting this label on me that I only look at big quarterbacks,” Reich said. “Absolutely, [durability] is a consideration. Also a consideration — his playmaking ability, his accuracy, and his leadership, his instincts. But since you’re asking about Bryce, he’s good at being instinctive in the pocket and minimizing [hits].”
NFL Network draft expert Daniel Jeremiah called Stroud “the purest thrower” in this year’s draft and highlighted his accuracy (69.3 completion percentage). Stroud also had an epic game in the semifinal playoff loss to Georgia, throwing for 348 yards and four touchdowns while scrambling for 34 yards and making several plays with his feet.
That performance almost works against Stroud, though. It was just the second time in 2022 that Stroud rushed for more than 10 yards, and left scouts wondering why he didn’t show more playmaking ability throughout the season. Stroud didn’t rush for a touchdown in two seasons as a starter.
“The big question with him was not a lot of off-schedule, not a lot of playmaking,” Jeremiah said. “But then all of a sudden you see the semifinal game and you are, like, ‘Dude, where has this been?’ The old scouting adage is if you can do it once, you can do it. So you know he does have that ability. Bryce is just a little bit more of a playmaker consistently when you watch him. I just love his instincts and feel.”
Young had seven rushing touchdowns in two seasons as Alabama’s starter, and he took just 18 sacks in 12 games last year.
“Bryce can extend and create and has this presence and field vision like no other in his class,” McShay said. “Herbstreit brought it up — watching Bryce Young is like watching Steph Curry in a basketball game. Everything is so slow, and the way they process things so quickly and see the whole field or court is so similar.”
Jeremiah believes Young isn’t just a scrambler, and can be an elite passer.
“In terms of the ability, it’s all there — I mean, every type of throw you want to make,” Jeremiah said. “He can make plays on schedule, off schedule. The talent is exceptional. You talk to people that have been at Alabama for a long time, and they’ll say, ‘We’ll see how it translates, but this is the best football player that we’ve been around.’ Like, he is outstanding.”
The Panthers seemed impressed with Young when their entire leadership team, including Tepper and his wife, took Young out to dinner the night before his pro day two weeks ago.
“He held court,” Panthers GM Scott Fitterer told the team website. “Nothing’s too big for him. Like, he can walk into any environment and be in total control. At 21 years old, if I walked into a restaurant, sat around with a bunch of 40-, 50-year-old men, it’d be a little intimidating. Instead, he just sat there and asked us questions. We asked him questions . . . Just a really, really solid person.”
Young seems like the player with the highest upside for the Panthers. They traded two No. 1s, two No. 2s, and receiver D.J. Moore for the No. 1 pick. They only get one shot to draft a franchise quarterback, and they need to get it right.
“The only thing I’m worried about with Bryce is, can he hold up?” McShay said. “That really is it. If he was 6-2, 220 pounds, there would be no conversation. Bryce Young would clearly be the No. 1 quarterback in this class.”
OUT OF BOUNDS Their response gets personal
In due time, an arbitration proceeding headed by Roger Goodell, or perhaps a civil court of law, will determine whether Terry McDonough’s claims of misconduct, discrimination, harassment, and cheating against Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill have merit. McDonough, a 10-year Cardinals employee who didn’t have his contract renewed this offseason, will eventually have his day to argue that Bidwill sidetracked his career for refusing to go along with an improper scheme, and Bidwill will have his opportunity to defend himself.
But what is not up for debate is the sleaziness of the Cardinals’ response to McDonough’s arbitration filing last week. It was wholly unprofessional and the type of mud-slinging that should be beneath a multi-billion-dollar NFL team. It may have also exposed the Cardinals to liability for invasion of privacy, per sports attorney Daniel Wallach.
Writing that “it pains us to be forced into a position of exposing the details of Terry’s character,” the Cardinals assassinated McDonough’s character with accusations that had nothing to do with the matter at hand — that McDonough had “abandoned responsibility” to one of his children “and cut her off financially,” and said a family member accused McDonough “of extreme domestic abuse.”
“Unfortunately, it appears that the Cardinals will defend this case through dishonest character assassination,” said McDonough’s attorney, Mike Caspino.
“I look forward to arbitrating this case, and for the truth to come out.”
The Cardinals’ response was written by Jim McCarthy of CounterPoint Strategies, an external public relations firm. McCarthy has a history of aggressive, combative PR, perhaps most famous for representing Augusta National Golf Club in 2002 in their battles with Martha Burk of the National Council of Women’s Organizations, who said she feared for her life after McCarthy called her a “drive-by-shooter” and “bomb thrower” for demanding that the club start admitting women.
McDonough, a Hingham native and the son of legendary Globe sportswriter Will McDonough, certainly has his demons. In 2019, he spoke for the first time about his 1982 car accident that killed his high school friend. He also acknowledged his struggles with alcohol and drug addiction.
McDonough’s arbitration filing carries a whiff of frivolity, as well. One aspect that strikes as odd is his focus on a seemingly minor case of “cheating” — team executives using burner phones to communicate with former GM Steve Keim during a five-week suspension during training camp — and a passing mention of far more serious accusations. Without providing details, McDonough said Bidwill “created an environment of fear for minority employees” and reduced two pregnant women to tears with “abusive and bullying mistreatment.” Those are tough accusations to casually lob without any proof, and certainly deserve further examination.
But even if McDonough is making the whole thing up, the Cardinals’ response was petty and vindictive, and does nothing but reflect poorly on Bidwill. Goodell should tell him to hire a new PR consultant and stop with the smear campaigns.
SAFE BETS Raiders stacked with ex-Patriots
Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler are no different from most other head coach-GM combos in terms of bringing in familiar faces. When you’re starting a new program, it only makes sense that you bring in coaches and players who can help teach and implement your systems and establish a new team culture.
The Raiders just seem to be taking it to an extreme. With quarterback Brian Hoyer signing a two-year deal last week, and Danny Amendola hired as a coaching assistant who will work with kick returners, the Raiders now have 12 exPatriots on their 90-man offseason roster, and seven ex-Patriots on their coaching staff, not including McDaniels.
Ten of the 12 players are on the offensive side of the ball, which the Raiders have asked McDaniels to overhaul from the days of Jon Gruden and Derek Carr. The Raiders’ top two quarterbacks are former Patriots (Jimmy Garoppolo, Hoyer), as is their new No. 2 receiver (Jakobi Meyers) and fullback (Jakob Johnson). The Raiders also have running back Brandon Bolden, receivers Phillip Dorsett, Isaiah Zuber, and DeAndre Carter, and offensive tackles Jermaine Eluemunor and Justin Herron.
On defense, the Raiders have defensive end Chandler Jones and defensive tackle Adam Butler, and still could bring back safety Duron Harmon.
On the coaching staff, both coordinators are former Patriots (Mick Lombardi and Patrick Graham), as are offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo, quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree, tight ends coach Jerry Schuplinski, senior defensive assistant Rob Ryan, and Amendola.
ETC. Gronk doesn’t bite on trade talk
A few Patriots-related notes:
■ Arguably the biggest story in the NFL last week was the report from Pro Football Talk that the Patriots have shopped Mac Jones to multiple teams this offseason, including the Raiders, Buccaneers, Texans, and Commanders. But one person who doesn’t believe the report is former Patriot Rob Gronkowski, who called it “fake news” on FanDuel’s “Up & Adams Show.”
“There was just too much turnover this year,” Gronkowski said. “Just the whole offensive staff was basically turned over this year, and then if you’re shipping [out] your quarterback, that’s just too much turnover to have in the NFL in one season, and to be able to compete the following year. But in the future, if Mac Jones doesn’t put it together this year with Billy O’Brien and all that, I could see that being a possibility after this season.”
Reading between the lines, and assuming the report is true, the trade offers likely happened early in the offseason, not recently. Jones is still a Patriot, while the Raiders chose Jimmy Garoppolo, the Commanders signed Jacoby Brissett, the Buccaneers signed Baker Mayfield, and the Texans will likely take a QB in the draft. Jones should be easily tradable, with just $4 million coming to him in the next two years. It seems likely that Bill Belichick was only trading Jones if he could get a lot in return, and no team was willing to bite.
■ Meanwhile, the loss of Hoyer to the Raiders portrays even more dysfunction going on inside the Patriots. They released Hoyer even though they owed him $1.4 million in guaranteed salary, and Hoyer subsequently signed a two-year, $4.5 million deal with the Raiders, with $4.2 million of it fully guaranteed.
The Patriots don’t owe Hoyer the $1.4 million anymore, but considering the Raiders guaranteed Hoyer’s roster spot for the next two seasons, why didn’t the Patriots try to trade him and get something back in return? Add Hoyer to the list of quarterbacks the Patriots let leave for practically nothing, a list that includes Tom Brady, Garoppolo, and Brissett.
■ The Patriots are busy bringing 30 draft prospects to Foxborough for official visits, including top receiver prospects such as Southern Cal’s Jordan Addison, Mississippi’s Jonathan Mingo, and Boston College’s Zay Flowers. The pre-draft visits are also a good time for teams to look at players who have injury questions, and three of the Patriots’ visits qualify — Mississippi State defensive back Emmanuel Forbes didn’t finish drills at the combine because of a hamstring injury, Georgia offensive tackle Broderick Jones had a medical exclusion from the combine because of his left wrist, and San Jose State defensive lineman Viliami Fehoko didn’t work out at the combine because of a right hamstring injury.
Extra points
It may have just been a case of Ravens GM Eric DeCosta covering his bases when asked last week if the team would consider drafting a quarterback in the first round. “I’d have to say yes, because we have quarterbacks in our top 31,” DeCosta said. But it was also an acknowledgement that the Ravens have been potentially planning for life after Lamar Jackson. Even if Jackson does sign his franchise tag tender and play for Baltimore this year, the relationship doesn’t look strong for the long term. A quarterback such as Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker, who will likely miss most of his rookie year as he returns from ACL surgery, could be a perfect pick for Baltimore . . . Several veteran offensive players remain available in free agency, including running backs Ezekiel Elliott, Kareem Hunt, and Leonard Fournette, quarterbacks Carson Wentz, Teddy Bridgewater, and Matt Ryan, and receivers Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry, Julio Jones, Chosen (formerly Robbie) Anderson, and T.Y. Hilton. Former Patriots offensive tackle Isaiah Wynn is also still unsigned.