The Carolina Panthers have gotten...

[chknwing]

the panthers have gotten......desperate.

[Nails]

Much better:  Julius Frazier Peppers ladies and gentlemen.  Even without him I'd say slightly better adding everything else up.

[top dawg]

The defense has gotten better with the signings of experienced vets in Peppers and Adams.

The offense is yet to be determined, but I don't think we've lost that much, if anything. Sign Cruz and I'll say it's better too. Of course if Kalil is at least as good as Oher, and Oher returns to the right, then the offense should be better on that point. A lot of this will depend upon play calling and execution. 

[Daddy_Uncle]

We have the potential to have a much better draft class than last year

[Nails]

12 minutes ago, Dex said:

I'm a tiny bit concerned about DE & LB depth.

Obviously we're drafting a DE in the first two days if not 8 overall.  This time last year Jeremy Cash was a projected 2nd rounder.  We have flaws, but will have the best front 7 in football by a wide margin in 2017.

[Cyberjag]

Last year at this time we had no cornerbacks of note, but that was the only real hole on our roster.  So of course this year we should consider the roster as better.

With that said, KB was not as good as we thought he was, there's no way that anyone on the roster is going to replace Ginn until they prove it, our line seems to have more talent but Oher is still in the protocol and we're relying a lot on a guy who's been terrible for most of his career, we have nothing great at FB, and a couple members of our defense are starting to get junk mail from the AARP.

I think in sum there was more cause for optimism last year, but this year we may be in better shape.  Still need the balls to bounce our way a few more times though.

[uscgamecocks]

Overall, the roster has clearly gotten better at almost every position.

The one exception is WR.  Warts and all, Ted Ginn was the best receiver on the team the past two years and he's gone.  In his place, we signed two unproven guys from the bottom of other rosters.  Shepard and Johnson clearly have talent and I'm intrigued to see what they can do - but until they prove it on the field, it's speculative to say losing Ginn isn't a downgrade to the WR corps.

It's rare for the Panthers to head into a draft feeling that we've upgraded at almost every position (I suppose backup MLB might be another downgrade, but Mayo looked okay at the end of '16).  

The draft should put us even further ahead of last year's team.

 

[top dawg]

14 minutes ago, Dex said:

I'm a tiny bit concerned about DE & LB depth.

LB depth? I would say that We are straight! Mayo is a baller! Jared Norris is in that same mold, and Cash is money with a year's experience under his belt. There are a few aging vets still out there at the position. 

DE? Maybe. There are still a few vets out there as well, like Devin Taylor and Jacquies Smith.

Trent Cole may be able to handle both fronts.

Personally, I think OT is one man too thin. That worries me more than DE and LB.

[Dex]

1 minute ago, top dawg said:

LB depth? I would say that We are straight! Mayo is a baller! Jared Norris is in that same mold, and Cash is money with a year's experience under his belt. There are a few aging vets still out there at the position. 

DE? Maybe. There are still a few vets out there as well, like Devin Taylor and Jacquies Smith.

Trent Cole may be able to handle both fronts.

Personally, I think OT is one man too thin. That worries me more than DE and LB.

The loss of Klein worries me and our best DEs are old. Mario is a bright spot but other than that we need to get younger and fast. I agree with OT though.

[top dawg]

23 minutes ago, Dex said:

The loss of Klein worries me and our best DEs are old. Mario is a bright spot but other than that we need to get younger and fast. I agree with OT though.

The loss of Klein doesn't worry me in the slightest. When Mayo got his opportunity, he markedly outplayed Klein. Markedly! And honestly, everyone should be at least a little excited to see what Jared Norris and Jeremy Cash really bring to the table.

[panthers55]

We are much improved simply by shoring up the secondary and giving our rookie corners much needed experience. Add Adams and Captain and move Coleman back to free safety and the defense went from the worse in the league back to top 10. 

On offense we improved by finding a backup center. The rest of the line while potentially better is still an unknown how they work together. Otherwise we lost Ginn which we didn't replace with Shepard or Johnson and dropped off but Benjamin being a year removed from ACL surgery may signal his improvement so it could be a wash.

Given that the offense wasn't the problem last year particularly before all the injuries, we are definitely better off and we are likely not done. Much room for optimism.

[Mr. Scot]

1 hour ago, Verge said:

QB: = 
RB: -
WR: + 
TE: = 
OL: + 

DL: + 
LB: = 
DB: + 

Yeah, I would say so, especially since we will prob draft two rotational players.

What changed at runningback?

[panther4life]

Defense is much improved.

FS Coleman> Boston

SS Adams= or > Coleman

Bradberry and Worley should be better than their rookie years

Munnerlyn = or > Bene who was the starting nickel in September

LB- Roughly the same. Only turnover was losing Klein. Shaq is more experienced but Davis is a year older

DT position should be better as Butler should be ready to take on a bigger role and Soliai is gone.

DE- Much better. Peppers even at 37 should be better than Ealy. Addison also projects to be much better than we projected for him to be last September.

Offense.

O-line. I really can't say here until we see if Oher can come back and if Kalil can improve and make it past year 1 of his contract. Daryl Williams may be an upgrade to Remmers at RT but need more  time to believe that 

WR- Biggest regression thus far. I have 0 confidence in CJ the WR being as good as Ginn. Maybe he can be a wash in replacing Brown. Also in September last year we were led to believe that Funchess was going to take the next step and he didn't. Shepard i view more of a ST upgrade 

TE- Wash. Olsen is getting a year older but I doubt it will slow him down 

RB- Stewart is a year older and Tolbert is gone. As it sits Fozzy and Cap would get more snaps. Need to add a better back in the draft for sure

QB- Cam is still Cam and that's a good thing. However his supporting cast at WR has been downgraded and would affect him if we entered the season without any upgrades here.

 

[Jangler]

19 minutes ago, top dawg said:

The loss of Klein doesn't worry me in the slightest. When Mayo got his opportunity, he markedly outplayed Klein. Markedly! And honestly, everyone should be at least a little excited to see what Jared Norris and Jeremy Cash really bring to the table.

Why does Jimmy Johns slap mayo on an italian?  O&V with some salt, pepper, and oregano should be enough. 

 

:)