Joe Thomas is on the trading block, Matt Miller says we should make a call

[Bartin]

21 minutes ago, Promethean Forerunner said:

And yet, G-Man won't because Norman is an impact player. In addition, Oher has been serviceable and Daryl could be groomed to be our LT of the future.

Again, he's 31 and the potential for destroying the chemistry and trust our boys have developed with each other is very real.

Getting Thomas in no way precludes us from re-signing Norman and Short. 

If you're going to cite his age as such a negative then you can ignore Normans. Josh is closer to the end of his career than Thomas is NFL age-wise.

Oher has been decent, but Thomas is a HoF LT with no real injury history. The OL is a bunch of professionals and he's not a diva. He's not going to disrupt any chemistry.

The primary reason we won't trade for him is that it would cost a 1st or 2nd round pick. Not money, chemistry or age.

[Toomers]

1 minute ago, ItsNotGonnaBeAlright said:

Don't draft o-line with high picks? Stick to late round/udfa to groom over time as we have been doing?

Ok.

No. That you're taking a huge risk putting any rookie out there to protect Cam's backside. No matter where they are chosen. Which is why a sure thing like Thomas would be so valuable.

[Mr. Scot]

9 minutes ago, ctrcat said:

Almost adds to my point.  Thomas is not a bust, whoever we would eventually have to draft may VERY likely be.

He's no spring chicken either, and given that he's a guy who doesn't get hung up on fame and such, who knows if he's all that interested in playing much longer.

The Panthers have chosen to build through the draft.  A team that's gone the "sign and trade for older veterans" as their starters: The Colts. And those two teams are headed in different directions.

I don't wanna reverse that trend.

 

[csx]

I am more interested in drafting a guy who can play LT for many years and be affordable. I trust this team to find a guy in the draft.

[Mr. Scot]

17 minutes ago, Toomers said:

  You are pretty much making my point for me with these posts. 

Maybe if Thomas were 25, it'd fit your point.

At 31, not so much.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

5 minutes ago, Toomers said:

No. That you're taking a huge risk putting any rookie out there to protect Cam's backside. No matter where they are chosen. Which is why a sure thing like Thomas would be so valuable.

Nah, let's stick to the same formula that has gotten us Turner, Remmers, and Norwell. We'll be looking for replacements for Kalil and Oher this offseason, not this week.

[TheRed]

21 minutes ago, Toomers said:

   No, but it's your logic. Pay a guy almost twice as much money because we might need a pass rush better than the one we already have. How many sacks have we had the last two weeks. There's a reason we took Ealy last year. And it starting to pay off. Rotating situational guys is working very well. 

Where did I argue that we should pay him twice as much money? My statement above should tell you that I am rather torn on the subject. But the fact of the matter is, we have yet to play one of the best teams in the league yet, when the chips are down against the top tier talent in the league, getting to the QB via talented pass rushers is huge.

Did you miss that game where we had to sit Ealy because he was literally about to lose the game for us with boneheaded penalties? He's shown promise, but he's also shown clearly that he obviously still has a good ways to go before we can depend on him like we have CJ over the years.

Sounds like you have your mind made up on this, so I'm not going to bother much anymore attempting to sway your opinion.

[Toomers]

3 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

He's no spring chicken either, and given that he's a guy who doesn't get hung up on fame and such, who knows if he's all that interested in playing much longer.

The Panthers have chosen to build through the draft.  A team that's gone the "sign and trade for older veterans" as their starters: The Colts. And those two teams are headed in different directions.

I don't wanna reverse that trend.

 

   I'm usually 100% with you on this. Until I heard this, I didn't want us making any trades. Don't like spending on FAs in the off-season either. But a HOF LT, still playing at a high level, at a very reasonable price(and no dead money) is something this team should absolutely explore. Oher is average on his best day. The Colts signed skill players already showing decline. Not even close to same thing. And "he might wanna retire" is not a reason any more than me saying he would be re-born in a winning environment. Complete speculation with no basis for either statement. 

[Toomers]

17 minutes ago, chris999 said:

Why pay big money for an expensive position when our guy is doing good for 1/4 of the price (or less).

Gettlemagic. We can use the savings to sign someone like Norman.

   Well. Next year it's less than 1/2 the price. And if you think Oher is playing "good", we have nothing to discuss. Better than the awful we saw last year isn't automatically good.

[Toomers]

16 minutes ago, TheRed said:

Where did I argue that we should pay him twice as much money? My statement above should tell you that I am rather torn on the subject. But the fact of the matter is, we have yet to play one of the best teams in the league yet, when the chips are down against the top tier talent in the league, getting to the QB via talented pass rushers is huge.

Did you miss that game where we had to sit Ealy because he was literally about to lose the game for us with boneheaded penalties? He's shown promise, but he's also shown clearly that he obviously still has a good ways to go before we can depend on him like we have CJ over the years.

Sounds like you have your mind made up on this, so I'm not going to bother much anymore attempting to sway your opinion.

  You are arguing keeping CJ at a 15M cap hit as opposed to a Thomas at 8.3M. Are you not?

[OneBadCat]

Oher isn't perfect but he's doing his job right now. We can afford to pass on Thomas.

[ctrcat]

26 minutes ago, csx said:

I am more interested in drafting a guy who can play LT for many years and be affordable. I trust this team to find a guy in the draft.

 

We won't be drafting high enough.  Not to mention high school and college offenses are breeding a different caliber of LT these days.  RISKY

[RJK]

Didn't realize he was that old. Pass

[ctrcat]

By the way, imho the LT FA market next year may actually have some studs, which would help give us leverage in a trade if GMan does entertain the idea, which I obviously hope he does.