What would you have done?

[CRA]

Where are you getting all that money?

Not tagging Hardy I would asssume. Plus, all the Avant, Cotchery, Ed, Roman, etc money is back

[TheCandyMan]

I for one was very disappointed we let Teddy Ginn walk, and I thought we should of done everything in our power to keep him in a Panthers uniform.  He was someone we could trust to catch punts, and he added that speedy receiver on offense we're currently missing. 

[NanuqoftheNorth]

 i wouldn't have given rivera an extension until after he pulled off two winning seasons.

This^^^.

[rayzor]

Where are you getting all that money?

he said it..."let hardy walk".

[Ezrider1423]

I would have let steve go, but would have replaced him with better WR's than what we did. I definetely wouldn't have tagged Hardy. Also I agree Bell and Chandler are very good backups. That is our glaring problem.

Very good backups? They're not very good anything..sheesh, they're ps material. At best.

[FugginPoo]

Shouldn't have tagged hardy, 75% of that 13mil should've been spent on the offense after Gross retired.

 

Yes, Defense would've taken a big step backwards(did anyway given situation w/Hardy) but you have to protect your Franchise QB long term.  You then focus on finding the next Hardy.

[CRA]

Why can't you though? everyone says "some other guy" but WHO is that other guy you would have taken in the draft, WHO is that other guy you would have signed instead of Harper? I'm not asking for the moon here, just viable alternative options to what we did.

I don't work in the NFL....I don't know who would be avaliable on other rosters. They would be in play though.

Then there is the draft. Always a variety of options to move around

Then FA

Spouting off names is easy. There is tons of talent in the league.

We need speed at WR for example... You just want me to name someone randomly and say we should of made it work?

[Ricky Spanish]

This thread is really reinforcing my disdain for this fanbase. Rayzor is making good points, as are some others, but no one is accepting the fact that Hardy is already tagged, and then no one is giving me specific better alternatives to what we did.

 

 

[Ricky Spanish]

I don't work in the NFL....I don't know who would be avaliable on other rosters. They would be in play though.

Then there is the draft. Always a variety of options to move around

Then FA

Spouting off names is easy. There is tons of talent in the league.

We need speed at WR for example... You just want me to name someone randomly and say we should of made it work?

 

I'm talking about free agents and draft prospects. I really don't see how you can't look at the list, point at the guy, say I would have given him the money to sign him, and then not signed this guy in his place. 

[CRA]

I'm talking about free agents and draft prospects. I really don't see how you can't look at the list, point at the guy, say I would have given him the money to sign him, and then not signed this guy in his place.

We needed speed at WR. AZ rookie who played over at Mars Hill for a bit...Josh Brown. 3rd round. Heck, Bruce Ellington. I can name tons of WRs with some speed and quickness. Can do the same in FA. Bryant would have a nice add. Physcial freak that is very raw...a gamble though

It isn't as simple as not player X but should of inserted Y. The entire offseason and everything would alter.

[Ricky Spanish]

And for the record, I was one of the people that wasn't thrilled about the franchising of Hardy. I understood the logic behind it, but I wasn't thrilled. That's why I'm asking you to accept it and then tell me what you would have done afterwards. 

[AceBoogie]

Where are you getting all that money?

The 13 million we paid Hardy and it doesn't cost a dime to keep Steve.

[CRA]

And for the record, I was one of the people that wasn't thrilled about the franchising of Hardy. I understood the logic behind it, but I wasn't thrilled. That's why I'm asking you to accept it and then tell me what you would have done afterwards.

I was big preacher of total OL worry this offseason. Everyone was concerned with T and I felt G play was just as worrisome.

Outside of that, I think speed at WR was huge. Silly for us to intentionally be so slow.

I thought Captain being gone exposed us but Bene seemed to be a good choice. Can't do anything about injury

[rayzor]

This thread is really reinforcing my disdain for this fanbase. Rayzor is making good points, as are some others, but no one is accepting the fact that Hardy is already tagged, and then no one is giving me specific better alternatives to what we did.

it all starts with hardy. what happened was pretty much inevitable. very little that could have happened afterwards would have helped much unless you are talking the draft.

since you want names....i'll just say write all the names of available FA OTs on slips of paper, throw them in a hat and grab a handful and then bring them in AS COMPETITION to bell and chandler, which about all we could realistically have asked for or expected considering the small amount of money left after the tag. we needed to at least bring in experienced competition for the job with the understanding that we only had to pay for them if they stuck then we wpuld find a way to make it work. but we didn't do that. we didn't bring in any competition and i think it all comes back to one word...pride. stubborn bullheaded pride. gettleman and rivera were so confident in their ability to spot talent that they refused to bring in anyone just to prove they were right about bell and chandler. that's not a fact....that's just my perception.

the big picture is, though, that tagging hardy really handicapped this team and kept us from doing things that would have helped. that one mistake cost this team much more than letting him walk would have.

losing gross was probably the hardest loss for this team to absorb, but that was beyond our control because he had wanted to retire for a couple years and juat wanted to stop while he was still healthy and his kids were still young. it was foolish and blind for us to not see that coming and anticipate it. but there wasn't anything we could have done to stop it.

the hardy tag was something, though, that we could have not done. that was completely in our control. it was the snowball we created at the top of the hill and rolled down the hill that grew into the giant boulder of snow we see now. asking what could have been done to stop the snowball heading downhill so it didn't get too big is an interesting thing to ask, but the best answer will always be to not have created the snowball and roll it downhill to begin with. if you are going to look at solutions to a problem, look at the underlying problem and see what you could have done differently rather than the after effects of that initial mistake.