David Newton's latest mailbag provides some tidbits for thought, and reaffirmation that the draft is king for G-man in regards to WR.

[top dawg]

Maybe some already know these things, but I am sure everyone doesn't.  These are just a few things that I found interesting from his responses.

 

1. It appears that David Newton has some underlying disdain for Steve Smith (like some others, I might add). He said that he would have enjoyed seeing Torrey Smith signed, and one of the reasons (albeit, not a primary one) that he gave was "it would have been something else to get under the skin of former Panthers receiver Steve Smith seeing another Smith that was his teammate at Baltimore in a Carolina uniform."  I don't think that he wants Smitty to be rankled just for the story.

 

2. D.J. Humphries had dinner with John Matsko this past week.  This is the first I've heard of this, and I'm not going to make that much of it as different team representatives will likely have more than one dinner this off season with a potential recruit, but the hometown kid is definitely in the mix.

 

3. Newton believes that the only reason that Greg Hardy is not a Panther is due to Jerry Richardson. He says, " Were it left up to head coach Ron Rivera and Gettleman I'm convinced Hardy would have been re-signed."  Now some of you may want to argue the point, but I believe Newton, and this makes me just a little bit more secure with the fact that our GM is not the purveyor of an all-choir-boy football team like we may have assumed from his "ticking time bomb" statement.  Of course, the buck stops with Richardson (for now), but at least we know the coach AND the GM won't willingly let talent walk due to public peer pressure based on nebulous facts.

 

Other than that, he basically reaffirms his belief that the Panthers probably won't be making any more "big' moves in free agency because of limited cap space, and that the Panthers probably are looking more positively at the draft regarding receivers than what's available on their practice squad and in free agency (particularly from a value standpoint).

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/carolina-panthers/post/_/id/12681/panthers-mailbag-what-fa-would-you-go-after-if-money-was-no-object

 

[ThPantherFan]

I'm not convencied that it is Richardson's fault Greg isn't coming back.  I could be wrong.

[CelibatePimp]

I'm not convencied that it is Richardson's fault Greg isn't coming back.  I could be wrong.

 

I think it is. There is a reason there were reports sometime ago saying the leaders on the team were putting in a word for Greg to JR.

[TylerVagyler]

Signing a player to make a former player mad.

Sounds legit.

[clark kent]

I'm not convencied that it is Richardson's fault Greg isn't coming back. I could be wrong.

its possible , I could see it being JR voice behind Greg Hardy's release.

[The Huddler]

G Damnit Jerry

[Sean Payton's Vicodin]

Jerry does it again!! Great owner!

[Mr. Scot]

Not buying.

Voth has long said that Gettleman never planned to keep Hardy past this season anyway, but the incident just made that decision even easier.

Between Voth and Newton, Voth is the far more reliable of the two.

[Billy Love]

We should re-sign Hardy...no doubt about it.

[KissMyConverse]

David Newton is ESPN through and through towing the company line. This dude tries (and fails) to stir the pot constantly. He wrote 4+ articles on the night club shooting that Cam was at and sent many tweets that could be taken the wrong way easily. 

 

Basically screw that guy. 

[Jeremy Igo]

Not buying.

Voth has long said that Gettleman never planned to keep Hardy past this season anyway, but the incident just made that decision even easier.

Between Voth and Newton, Voth is the far more reliable of the two.

Pure speculation on Newton's part.

[top dawg]

Not buying.

Voth has long said that Gettleman never planned to keep Hardy past this season anyway, but the incident just made that decision even easier.

Between Voth and Newton, Voth is the far more reliable of the two.

 

And I am not buying that Gettleman was stupid enough to effectively bankrupt the season in order to rent Greg Hardy for a year.  THe belief that we were legitimate Super Bowl contenders and a compensatory pick are not enough to risk your injured QB being pummeled and having a vastly sub par receiving group.

 

No one is going to make me believe that.  Gettleman is smarter and more football savvy than that.

[Mr. Scot]

Pure speculation on Newton's part.

 

What I find especially funny about that is nobody seems to remember what Richardson said to Jeremy Shockey when we picked him up.

 

"I'm not a choirboy. I've never said I was. And I don't want a roster of 53 choirboys," he told the newspaper in April. "I told Jeremy Shockey, 'Don't change your personality. It'll be good for the team. I could do without the tattoos, though."

 

(link)

 

So while Richardson isn't a big fan of tattoos (or long hair for that matter) he doesn't demand it as a condition to be on the team.  And he certainly doesn't demand that anyone refrain from enjoying themselves.

 

This is why I laugh every time someone goes off screaming that we want a roster full of choirboys because of Richardson.

[top dawg]

Pure speculation on Newton's part.

 

Everything other than what Bill Voth says is "pure speculation".  It just can't be speculation based upon his intimate knowledge of the parties involved, it has to be "pure speculation".  

 

Speculation is a part of the business.