Panthers believe Hardy innocent, will try to workout extension

[TheMaulClaw]

He's gone, no matter the outcome.  Imagine him in BAL with Suggs or in DEN with Ware.

 

Fox will be all over him.

[Matthias]

So your telling me that all the injuries along the interior line and RB wouldn't have affected anything?   You'd let Hardy walk for Veldheer and Ginn?  While I like Ginn go look at his catches this year. Remember Philly's was doing well at WR until he got hurt too.  I like Mitchell too, wish we could have kept him.....no way I'm choosing him over Hardy though and quite honestly Mitchell got overpaid. 

 

Had we known Hardy wasn't going to play what you're saying makes the most sense.  DG has made some mistakes.  I'm not blaming him for Hardy's situation though...the guy doesn't have a crystal ball.

 

Of course those moves I mentioned wouldn't have been the only ones, but Veldheer is playing at a probowl level.  I would say him alone would be worth letting Hardy walk.  As for Ginn, the Cards have three receivers they really love, and why shouldn't they?  Ginn probably doesn't get a lot of playing time to say the least.  Philly only had one decent game against the Steelers, and that was pretty much it concerning playing receiver.

 

Ultimately, Hardy was a rental.  Like I said if he had a great year this year, he was going to break somebody's bank.  If anything, if we were thinking about signing him long term, this whole trial thing may have been the best thing that could have happened, to bring his price tag down.  It was a bad move to slap Hardy with the tag.  It's not hindsight in my opinion if this was simply a rental year.

[WOW!!]

Fox will be all over him.

As will 29 other teams. Young Elite pass rusher usually don't hit the market. So it will be a frenzy if we let him walk.

[TheMaulClaw]

Of course those moves I mentioned wouldn't have been the only ones, but Veldheer is playing at a probowl level.  I would say him alone would be worth letting Hardy walk.  As for Ginn, the Cards have three receivers they really love, and why shouldn't they?  Ginn probably doesn't get a lot of playing time to say the least.  Philly only had one decent game against the Steelers, and that was pretty much it concerning playing receiver.

 

Ultimately, Hardy was a rental.  Like I said if he had a great year this year, he was going to break somebody's bank.  If anything, if we were thinking about signing him long term, this whole trial thing may have been the best thing that could have happened, to bring his price tag down.  It was a bad move to slap Hardy with the tag.  It's not hindsight in my opinion if this was simply a rental year.

 

No way you can quantify the statement that it was a rental year or not.  I'd bet that Hardy would have been resigned in lieu of a CJ restructure or release. 

 

They signed Ginn to an ok deal that's why.  They didn't sign him to a multi-year deal to not catch any passes. 

 

We'd all love a probowl tackle....no doubt.  My opinion is someone would have outbid us for Veldheer just like they did Collins.  Then it's quite possible we would have wound up with neither.....which still eventually happened, but that's on Hardy not DG.

This is all under the assumption that Veldheer would erase all of Cam's problems this year.  It wouldn't have.  Cam got sacked a lot even with Gross at LT.  Don't confuse this as me saying Cam doesn't have the tools to be great, he does, but he has some issues.

 

We won last year because we had one of the best defenses in history with an average offense.  In 2011 and 2012 our offense looked great but we were still losing games because of a bad D.

[TheMaulClaw]

As will 29 other teams. Young Elite pass rusher usually don't hit the market. So it will be a frenzy if we let him walk.

 

Yeah but Fox drafted him.

 

[WOW!!]

Yeah but Fox drafted him.

Atlanta and Tampa have the money and will run to the phone if Hardy is on the market. Denver might not have the funds.

[LawCat]

Hardy is a great football player, done wrong by the NFL plain and simple. I believe the team tried to stand up for him because they believe he is innocent, or at least not entirely to blame for the situation. Ultimately placing Hardy on the exempt list was a spineless Roger Goodell move. 

 

I'm sure Hardy was facing an out and out suspension by the league and accepted the exempt list to save face (and to ensure he still got paid). Probably the most prudent decision under the circumstances.

 

I would love for him to re-sign with Carolina, but I wouldn't blame Hardy at all if he decided to move on to a new town, away from the crazy crowd he got hooked up with in Charlotte. The young man deserves an opportunity to prove he is not the knucklehead the league and the media made him out to be. 

 

Best of luck to you Greg and HottyToddy.

[TheMaulClaw]

Atlanta and Tampa have the money and will run to the phone if Hardy is on the market. Denver might not have the funds.

 

How bout that Giants offense you think is so much better?

[WOW!!]

How bout that Giants offense you think is so much better?

No Cruz and no RB plus Eli is Eli. I'd still take Macdoo over Shula.

[Matthias]

No way you can quantify the statement that it was a rental year or not.  I'd bet that Hardy would have been resigned in lieu of a CJ restructure or release. 

 

They signed Ginn to an ok deal that's why.  They didn't sign him to a multi-year deal to not catch any passes. 

 

We'd all love a probowl tackle....no doubt.  My opinion is someone would have outbid us for Veldheer just like they did Collins.  Then it's quite possible we would have wound up with neither.....which still eventually happened, but that's on Hardy not DG.

This is all under the assumption that Veldheer would erase all of Cam's problems this year.  It wouldn't have.  Cam got sacked a lot even with Gross at LT.  Don't confuse this as me saying Cam doesn't have the tools to be great, he does, but he has some issues.

 

We won last year because we had one of the best defenses in history with an average offense.  In 2011 and 2012 our offense looked great but we were still losing games because of a bad D.

 

Wasn't just CJ's contract that we had to worry about.  Cam's contract was coming up, as well as Luke's the following year.  If we broke the bank for Hardy, it would have been harder to sign Cam/Luke, while also signing more free agent help along with them.  So we would have given Hardy a big deal, Cam a big deal, and Luke, with hardly any money to sign Cam good o-linemen and good receivers.  On the back end, we wouldn't have the money to sign a good free agent defensive back, or perhaps someone else of elite quality.  The contracts were just too close together to give them all big deals.  We already spent a great deal of time on the defense.  We could have drafted a guy who could pick up some of Hardy's slack within a year or two, or signed a good DE.  Kony Ealy is coming along fine right now.  These past two games he had a solid push into the back field, and his run defense has improved.  Give him a year, and he will be a fine piece to the team. 

 

Of course I haven't even mentioned Norman's contract if he continues to improve.  That is money we will need.  On Veldheer, the Cards are paying him around 7 million a year.  Six million less than what we gave Hardy with the tag.  That is smart money right there.  What we did was dumb money.

[TheMaulClaw]

No Cruz and no RB plus Eli is Eli. I'd still take Macdoo over Shula.

 

Right on queue....Beatty giving up a sack fumble.

[WOW!!]

Wasn't just CJ's contract that we had to worry about. Cam's contract was coming up, as well as Luke's the following year. If we broke the bank for Hardy, it would have been harder to sign Cam/Luke, while also signing more free agent help along with them. So we would have given Hardy a big deal, Cam a big deal, and Luke, with hardly any money to sign Cam good o-linemen and good receivers. On the back end, we wouldn't have the money to sign a good free agent defensive back, or perhaps someone else of elite quality. The contracts were just too close together to give them all big deals. We already spent a great deal of time on the defense. We could have drafted a guy who could pick up some of Hardy's slack within a year or two, or signed a good DE. Kony Ealy is coming along fine right now. These past two games he had a solid push into the back field, and his run defense has improved. Give him a year, and he will be a fine piece to the team.

Of course I haven't even mentioned Norman's contract if he continues to improve. That is money we will need. On Veldheer, the Cards are paying him around 7 million a year. Six million less than what we gave Hardy with the tag. That is smart money right there. What we did was dumb money.

Hardy is as important to this defense as Luke and TD imo.

You just don't pick up elite pass rusher at the corner store.

If you can. Could you get a JJ Watt while you're there.

[WOW!!]

Right on queue....Beatty giving up a sack fumble.

Still take him over Bell and Foulcant morphed into 1 player.

[TheMaulClaw]

Wasn't just CJ's contract that we had to worry about.  Cam's contract was coming up, as well as Luke's the following year.  If we broke the bank for Hardy, it would have been harder to sign Cam/Luke, while also signing more free agent help along with them.  So we would have given Hardy a big deal, Cam a big deal, and Luke, with hardly any money to sign Cam good o-linemen and good receivers.  On the back end, we wouldn't have the money to sign a good free agent defensive back, or perhaps someone else of elite quality.  The contracts were just too close together to give them all big deals.  We already spent a great deal of time on the defense.  We could have drafted a guy who could pick up some of Hardy's slack within a year or two, or signed a good DE.  Kony Ealy is coming along fine right now.  These past two games he had a solid push into the back field, and his run defense has improved.  Give him a year, and he will be a fine piece to the team. 

 

Of course I haven't even mentioned Norman's contract if he continues to improve.  That is money we will need.  On Veldheer, the Cards are paying him around 7 million a year.  Six million less than what we gave Hardy with the tag.  That is smart money right there.  What we did was dumb money.

 

Cards made a nice gamble on Veldheer, but that entire football team is solid, but the Cards wouldn't have the record they have if it wasn't for their D. 

 

We can go around and around in circles on this.  Either way we'll  never know how Hardy would have impacted this football team.  I don't blame DG for tagging the best DE in the game last year.