By Brandon Simmons
Carolina Panthers Fire Sale?
The Carolina Panthers are having a garage sale and already opened with a bang. Last week, they fired Matt Rhule as their head coach, which obviously set off this whole fire sale. Monday, the Panthers traded wide receiver Robbie Anderson a day after he was on the sidelines arguing with coaches. However, leading up to the game rumors started spreading about the Panthers putting running back Christian McCaffrey on the trade block.
The Panthers should entertain all the offers they can but do not move McCaffrey until the offseason. Right now, that is your best player, but also a running back, which means he has relatively short shelf life. So you can end him to a contender now but who’s to say whether or not the quality of picks will be worth it. At player at his level, you want to get at least a mid 1st round pick for him. In some cases, you might get multiple picks for him but that might be an offer made during the offseason, where teams are clearing space and getting their capital up. As for everybody else, get the best offer you can at the deadline. Plenty of names have been thrown around, including cornerback Brian Burns. The names that haven’t been mentioned – at least not yet – are quarterbacks Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold. Darnold was brought in to serve as a replacement for former franchise QB Cam Newton. However, Darnold never lived up to the hype due to poor performance and injuries. Mayfield was brought in to finish what Darnold barely started but he hasn’t lived up to expectations either. It’s hard to believe their futures extend for more than a few more years, but Carolina would surely try to seek something in return for Baker. After losing their head coach and star wide receiver in consecutive weeks, before their bye week, they can consider their season pretty much done and load up on whatever picks they can for a rebuild.
Will Mahomes/Allen rivalry be better than Brady/Manning?
Kansas City Chiefs QB Pat Mahomes and Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen are 2 of the league’s top players at that position and proved it once again this past weekend. The Bills beat the Chiefs in a thrilling matchup similar to their AFC Divisional Round from last season. As the game was showing, CBS showed graphics of all the different sports figure rivalries such as Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird and of course Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning. While these 2 young QB’s have been in some battles so far in their careers, could they really be the next rivalry for the league?
There’s so many things to suggest that this could be the case. They have met in the postseason the past 2 seasons with Mahomes coming out on top, but Allen winning the regular season. They both have similar styles of play, in addition to both teams playing in an aerial-focused offense, but it’s Buffalo that has the better defense. It is a similar tale of the tape to when Manning’s Indianapolis Colts would face off against Brady’s New England Patriots: two high-powered offenses with one team having the better defense. Many people would argue that Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson would likely be in this picture – and they would have a valid point – but Mahomes/Allen has already given us those postseason moments, in addition to the regular season moments.
As of right now, nothing will top Brady/Manning for a long time but Mahomes/Allen will give it a run for its money. Allen might have a chance to beat Mahomes in the playoffs more frequently than Manning could beat Brady during their time. This current Bills team is constructed for that, and has proven to do so in the regular season, but they need to transfer that into the playoffs. Both quarterbacks have no problem playing at their highest levels and getting their teammates to do the same just like their primetime rival predecessors. We can expect this budding competition between these 2 QB’s to really be the new generation’s premiere sports rivalry.
Shoutouts/Shutouts
Shout out to the Houston Texans fans for a new chapter in their lives. Monday, it was reported that the team parted ways with Executive Operations of Football Jack Easterby, who caused quite the stir in his tenure with the team. Easterby was infamously known for being the brains behind a lot of the Texans’ blunders including trading away wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and appointing former head coach Bill O’ Brien to general manager.
Shut out to the Arizona Cardinals offense, who damn near got shut out by the Seattle Seahawks. Cardinals offense only managed to get 3 points against the Seahawks, a team that gives up 27.2 points per game. Their only touchdown came from safety Chris Banjo who recovered a fumble in the end zone. This does not look promising for heading into Thursday Night Football where the last few weeks has been quiet on the scoreboard. Slow news week for Week 6 and the bye weeks are starting to roll in for Week 7 but not without some great action. The game of the week might be the San Francisco 49ers hosting the Kansas City Chiefs in a rematch of Super Bowl LIV. The Chiefs are coming off a loss to the Bills and looking to get back on track, but they will have a rough time doing it against a Niners defense who is first in yards allowed and second in points allowed. 2 outstanding squads that do things excellent on each side of the ball, but until then…I’ll holla.