Cyberjag

I think the main change will be that when he brings in a Mike Mitchell, it will be for a 2-3 year contract instead of a cheap one year "prove it" deal. Most high priced FA's don't work out, and the best route to winning is to draft your playmakers and plug your holes with serviceable and affordable veterans. That's what he's been doing since he's arrived, and I doubt that philosophy will change.

We have the Andy Dalton of coaches, huh? So a head coach needs to be good at evaluating personnel, game planning, in-game strategy, and teaching (technique/fundamentals/drills). I think Rivera and his staff are outstanding at the last item, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. I'm not in love with his in-game strategy but I understand where he's coming from most of the time. As far as game planning, he's amazingly bad after the bye. I don't know what's up with that, but in general the more time you give him and his staff the worse the team is. Still, he has a hell of a lot of talent to play with right now; our roster is as good as I can remember it ever being. If we can get the offensive line in shape and another legitimate receiving threat, then we should be good for a string of 10+ win seasons.

Yes, and yet the coaching staff still felt he was the safest option on the roster. Makes you wonder just how bad the other options must have been, huh? We probably agree that Bersin is lousy at returning kicks. But as a receiver, he did what was asked of him and did it well.

Good enough to beat out Tavares King and keep Stephen Hill on the practice squad. And he made a few clutch first downs. Most of the season he had reliable hands, which is why he was back there fielding punts (if you think it was for his return capability, you're an idiot). Yes, he made a mistake in the playoffs, which has defined his entire season for a lot of people with short memories. But all in all, he made the team against long odds, delivered when he was asked to (12 of his 15 catches were first downs), and had a pretty good year for a rookie UDFA.

No, I saw the graphic and had a "WTF" moment. I haven't seen anything anywhere else, but thought I would ask. Maybe Polian is just trolling Panther fans.

Bill Polian seems to think so: http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/freeagency/?page=4&year=2015&type=-1 Anyone heard anything on this?

So you take out the weakest link and replace it with a stronger one, and see how the unit performs. Why does it seem like you have a problem with that?

I know this is intended as a joke, but there's a ring of truth to it. Basically, Oher has shown he has the talent to perform as a starter. He's also been pretty bad the past few years, and guys who have replaced him have done a better job. We had that same situation here with Evan Mathis. The Offensive Line is not five guys out there doing their thing, it's a unit. In individual drills, Amini is probably going to look way better than Norwell. No one wanted Remmers. But those two guys looked amazing when they were plugged in with Kalil and Turner, even if neither is the most physically gifted lineman out there. And now we're adding Oher to the mix, a guy with undeniable physical attributes. Matsko has already coached Oher to some of the best years of his career, which is a good sign. And if he meshes well with Norwell and the rest, he's going to look like a completely different player than he did in Tennessee. And at the end of the day, I can't imagine him not being an upgrade over Bell. So yeah, he may have sucked in TN, but so what? The last time we got a lineman from the Titans we got one of their great ones, and that guy kind of sucked here. On the offensive line in particular, past performance is no guarantee of future results.

15 posts and no "I was blindsided by that" jokes yet?

Devin McCourty. Cya Harper...

Of course. But to repeat myself, paying a player based on how much you think your team depends on him versus what he will bring on the open market leads to the contracts that everyone here has been criticizing over the past few years.

There's no doubt that Cam is a more important part of the offense here than most quarterbacks are, but that doesn't mean he's deserving of more money. It means that we haven't really done a lot around him. If you put any top ten QB in Carolina they would probably win as many or more games, provided you also tailored a game plan to suit their strengths. But if you ask Peyton Manning to avoid the rush the same way Cam does, then you're in for a heavy dose of the backup QB. So his agent can make the argument all he wants, but if I'm Gettleman I respond with the market value. Paying a player based on how much you think your team depends on him versus what he will bring on the open market leads to the contracts that everyone here has been criticizing over the past few years.

If I gave you a lineup of players, all in the prime of their careers, would you be more unhappy to see Steven Davis on that list or Derrick Moore? Maybe the prospect of Dee Brown would make you want to go watch Tennis instead of football? To me, the thing that epitomizes 'worst' is knowing that the guy you're lining up not only isn't very good, he's never going to be any good and he's never been any good. That's despair...

I think you go with the player in his prime, and take into account what they did over the course of their career. That's the only way to really scrape up the bottom of the barrel and deliver a steaming pile of bad roster. Otherwise, you end up with a bunch of schlubs who were battling injury or at the beginning or end of their careers when they were in Carolina. And they had to actually EARN starts because there was no one better, not due to injury (sorry Tony Pike). What scares you more, the prospect of Jimmy Clausen as your QB or Matt Moore? Clausen outplayed Moore, but with Moore you had other seasons you could take comfort in--you knew he was capable of being better. Clausen HAS to be the more terrifying prospect. And his comparison should be Weinke, actually...

Hartwig was an all-pro in Tennessee, and didn't to terrible here when he had to start. The problem with him was that he was signed and immediately got injured. By the time he was fully recovered we had Kalil, and didn't need him or his contract.

I don't think he ever started, but can you imagine how long the "worst draft picks" thread would be?

I don't see how you can consider stop-gap one-game wonders who were really just used to stick a thumb in the eye of management as starters.

Carruth belongs in the "Worst person to start" but he actually caught an occasional pass. Not first round quality, but not among the least talented we've had as a starter.

Did Fiametta ever start? I'm pretty sure Salley didn't, which always annoyed me because I got suckered into thinking he was going to be good. As a franchise, I don't know that we've ever had really good, consistent safety play outside of Minter and Harris, unless you count all the one-year-wonders .

Eric Swann hurt. He was supposed to go to State, but didn't make the grades so ended up skipping college. By the time he got to the Panthers, he had no knees left at all.

He was good in Pittsburgh, but he was around 100 years old by the time he got to Carolina. Which makes me think of another topic that I've often wondered about, and that's how good Capers was when he wasn't in charge of personnel and just focused on coaching.

A defense that would make any offense look good... DE: Jason Peter, Chuck Wiley DT: Nick Hayden, Sione Fua LB: Lester Towns, Na'il Diggs, Hannibal Navies CB: Sherrod Martin, Rashard Anderson FS: Haruki Nakamura SS: Damien Richardson

Worse than Hayden?

There's an entertaining thread on this at Reddit, where you choose your team's all time worst starting line-up. The only condition is that you have to choose players who actually started enough games to be considered a starter (so Brian St. Pierre is out, but Clausen's in play). What do you think the Panthers would be?

I don't see us signing any OT that you've ever heard of, and he will probably stay away from the shiny WRs out there because there's always a stupid GM out there that's ready to overspend for those types. We're going to get a collection of DBs and solid Special Teams guys and try to fill our real need positions through the draft. The only difference now is that he's going to sign them to three year contracts instead of 1-2 year deals.