This offseason: Groupon Gettleman, or does he go all in for big splash FAs?

[Hotsauce]

This offseason will make or break this front office.  What we do will prove to fans and the rest of the league if the Panthers are the real deal, or if we just lucked into a 2015 Super Bowl.

Im sure they plan to have a good draft which is the plan every year.  Our mentality used to be BPA (best player available), but 2016 draft we actually didn't follow that mold and grabbed positions of need (see CB).

Fortunately we have a lot of cap room this offseason. Yes we have some guys who need to get paid, which will be priority #1.  But my question comes here, what will our mentality be about bringing in/signing big name Free Agrents?

There was a thread a couple weeks about on here about the teams who went all in last offseason on big name free agents.  I believe the consensus was some of those teams were/are successful.  

I also seem to recall Jerry Richardson not being a big fan of bringing in big names (could be from his Dom Capers failed experiment)?  

Anyway, thoughts???

[Khyber53]

I hope we don't make a big splash in the free agent market by landing one of the whales that will be out there. Instead, I hope Dave does what he does best and find us some quality players with high character and motivation and brings them in for reasonable money.

This ain't Madden and the biggest paycheck free agents most often are either older and ready for the decline at the drop of a hat, or they are the current one hit wonder who was having a breakout season in just the right scheme. Osweiller, Haynesworth, Revis, anyone else come to mind?

Each of those big name stars out there is out there for a reason -- either they are too expensive, or their old team knows that while the paint looks cherry the transmission is ready to collapse, or that they cause so much drama they aren't worth the worry.

Sure, once in a while, you get a guy like Drew Brees on his way out of San Diego, or a Kurt Warner just leaving the Giants (strangely because of the same draft).

I'd rather we make some solid acquisitions and try to keep developing guys in our system, using the money to retain them and build.

[juliosantos]

We will sign practice squad players

[RoaringRiot]

2 minutes ago, juliosantos said:

We will sign practice squad players

Only took two posts to get here. 

[CRA]

There is nothing to suggest Dave would do anything except be Dollar Store Dave in FA.   

[bigdog10]

He needs to be active in free agency. We have the cap room to bring in an impact player. Just look at a couple current playoff teams as an example. Those teams added key pieces to an already decent roster and used free agency to propel themselves forward. They also already had their qb in place  

Atlanta- adding Mack has been critical to the success of that team

New York Giants:  they completely overhauled their defense and are currently playing like one of the best in the league

Oakland:. Osemele and Irvin were great additions

 

[uncfan888]

3 minutes ago, RoaringRiot said:

Only took two posts to get here. 

You know they can't resist coming in to bitch and moan instead of having an actual discussion 

[The_Rainmaker]

25 minutes ago, Khyber53 said:

I hope we don't make a big splash in the free agent market by landing one of the whales that will be out there. Instead, I hope Dave does what he does best and find us some quality players with high character and motivation and brings them in for reasonable money.

This ain't Madden and the biggest paycheck free agents most often are either older and ready for the decline at the drop of a hat, or they are the current one hit wonder who was having a breakout season in just the right scheme. Osweiller, Haynesworth, Revis, anyone else come to mind?

Each of those big name stars out there is out there for a reason -- either they are too expensive, or their old team knows that while the paint looks cherry the transmission is ready to collapse, or that they cause so much drama they aren't worth the worry.

Sure, once in a while, you get a guy like Drew Brees on his way out of San Diego, or a Kurt Warner just leaving the Giants (strangely because of the same draft).

I'd rather we make some solid acquisitions and try to keep developing guys in our system, using the money to retain them and build.

Giants are in playoff contention due to FA help on defense, same for Redskins with addition of  2nd TE & Josh Norman,  Denever with Talib etc etc. 

Oh yea league moral value is about the same as Hitlers. 

[JawnyBlaze]

Not getting my hopes up.  I expect a low end DT, a practice squad DE and Roman Harper. 

[RoaringRiot]

11 minutes ago, CRA said:

There is nothing to suggest Dave would do anything except be Dollar Store Dave in FA.   

Sure there is - tons of cap space for the first time in his Carolina tenure. 

[DelhommesTheMan]

With the cap going up again the Panthers will have a significant amount of money. More than enough to re-sign KK and Star which is what letting go of Norman was all about. Problem after that is that half the league also has significant amounts of money. So if Gettleman wants to sign guys, he needs to be aggressive because there is a ton of money out there. That being said, I don't see any big name OL talent being available (Unless Cordy Glenn hits the market), so that will have to be addressed both in the draft and with some Free Agents I'm sure we've never heard of. We may be able to sign a top WR with speed that we need badly (Djax or Pryor). There are RBs available for depth or stop gap in hopes of drafting one (Lacy). The oline doomed our offense this year. It limited our passing and running. The injury to Oher was really bad, and I don't know if he can be trusted going forward, he may retire. Throwing everything we can at the online will do wonders for us next year.

But the other problem is WR getting separation. While we have some big WRs, they need time to get open. Why does Ginn look so good in our offense? Because is speed allows him to get open quicker. It takes Fun and KB time to develop there route, which is why Cam holds onto the ball so long because his top two WRs are big slower guys. DeSean Jackson would be a huge upgrade, and is a perfect fit in this offense and would be my biggest splash signing. That would keep defenses from blitzing as much if they new Djax was streaking across the field on a slant ready to take one to the house...Right now they know nobodies getting open in that little time.


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[CRA]

9 minutes ago, RoaringRiot said:

Sure there is - tons of cap space for the first time in his Carolina tenure. 

He had cap room this past offseason and didn't even go to one of those used car shops.   So I still see nothing to suggest he is going to go buy a new Mercedes this offseason.

Even with cap space a lot of GMs believe in the thrift shop

[RoaringRiot]

2 minutes ago, CRA said:

He had cap room this past offseason and didn't even go to one of those used car shops.   So I still see nothing to suggest he is going to go buy a new Mercedes this offseason.

Even with cap space a lot of GMs believe in the thrift shop

I don't believe he's going to buy a Mercedes and I don't necessarily want him to. But his philosophy is filling holes through FA to be able to draft BPA and he's got the cash to take care of our core and fill those holes. I think the most obvious moves/needs in FA are LT and S. DE would nice too. 

[Catufb85]

Groupon Gettleman.  He will resign our players and practice squad guys.  and if he signs anything in FA it will be someones backup looking to change venues.  He is Groupon Gettleman for a reason.