Hello CSR! Welcome to Brian Answers, part two of your weekly Panthers fan mailbag for everyone! Join me below as I answer all of your burning questions from this week!
@WTMealey: I guess this is an ask Dbelt question, but I’d love some info on the process for the top 100 series. Was there a big board? How many did he have before he cut it down to 100? Did he have them organized by era or position? How much did other folks feedback help?
Straight from the man himself, DBelt:
“A good chunk player wise
was AV on Pro Football Reference, but that wasn’t the end all be all. Circumstances certainly played a role, longevity helped, especially for the good parts. Collins (in particular) didn’t have much longevity, and the bad parts were pretty bad”.
Speaking for myself on this one, but I do believe the list is highly subjective and I wouldn’t put a whole lot of effort into analyzing anyone outside maybe the top 25. We made an effort (headlined by Dbelt) to put together a list of Panthers players worth highlighting in an effort to do something different than the simple 100 players by numbers countdown we’ve done in the past. I like it so far.
magicman56: What will be the most surprising cut or trade before the season starts? I’m thinking maybe Princely or Horn? Not JC but Jimmy
I definitely don’t see Princely Umanmielen getting cut. Of all the pass rushers the Panthers have, he specifically fits the “designated pass rusher” role very well. I know, his snaps were somewhat limited as a rookie, but he was highly effective during those snaps. He’s going to contribute, especially since its a position the Panthers have deemed valuable.
I’d say my most surprising cut (even if I don’t see it actually happening) would be Xavier Legette. But if Legette stays, possibly Brycen Tremayne. I do think Jimmy Horn could also fit that bill, depends on if they think Chris Brazzell/someone else can take those jet sweeps and quick speed option plays for him.
On the defensive side, my surprising cut could be either Chau Smith-Wade or Corey Thornton, leaning more towards CSW there. They drafted Will Lee for a reason, and I expect him to be one of their primary backups at outside corner.
KeepPounding88: Technically this is a Panthers-related question: why did Florida trade for Brady Tkachuk instead of using those picks for Hellebuyck? I get that they wanted to reunite the brothers, but I feel like goalie is a much bigger need for them.
Gonna need to call on our hockey fans on CSR for this one. I have basically zero input because I don’t follow hockey very closely. PLEASE, comment down below with your takes on KP88’s question!
Waldropa: How did Bryce Young make the top 100, which is voted on by active NFL players who should know the game better than anyone else besides their coaches. When on Catscratch, he’s widely and repeatedly considered the worst and smallest QB to ever grace an NFL field?
I’ve seen a lot of comments about this, and I have two sides to the story for my answer.
First side, the negative side; NFL players like him a lot as a person, he was very productive in college, and just beat a few teams he probably had no business getting wins over in 2025. So maybe a little bit of bias.
Positive side; NFL players also recognize colleagues who are students of their craft. Like or hate Bryce Young, he definitely has some anticipation ability that not many QBs have, which can often make up for some physical limitations. I don’t know every player that was polled, but I’d imagine at least a few were guys who had to play coverage against him and got beat on a route purely because he threw it well before they could even react to it. And as a scrambler, despite not being a Mike Vick or Cam Newton or Tim Tebow, he’s made guys miss and gotten TDs on broken plays. So it might be some of that. It could also be just players recognizing game.
I know my answer won’t sway anyone’s opinion on Bryce one way or the other, but I wouldn’t toss out the ranking as purely a “these guys don’t watch Panthers games” thing.
sgtx: Brian, where does CSR rank in active participation among all the SB Nations NFL sites.
Walker is out of town, so I can’t get any specifics directly for 2026, but a couple of years ago CSR was rated in the top 5 in comments. And just visiting other NFL sites, this one in particular seems to be a healthy community with comments. Even if we bash on guys like Brenton Bersin, Colin Jones, and Nick Scott. At least they are talking!
Forager: Besides Bryce Young, which Panthers have previously been named to the NFL top 100?
I used AI for this one (boo me if you want to), but the players named were Cam Newton, Luke Kuechly, Ryan Kalil, Thomas Davis, Greg Olsen, Christian McCaffrey, Steve Smith Sr, Brian Burns, Jon Beason, Jordan Gross, Greg Hardy, Josh Norman, Kawann Short, Jonathan Stewart, and Gerald McCoy (forgot he played here? I did).
That’s all this week, Panthers fans! I’m going on vacation next week, but I’ll still have another fan mailbag rolling out. Just don’t be mad if they are slightly delayed this week. KEEP POUNDING!
