2017 Post-Draft UDFA Thread

[ichigo1057]

1 minute ago, Dilla said:

6 minutes ago, ichigo1057 said:

Man looking at what is left I'd like to get one of those TE's to work with. Maybe Hayden Plinke or the Canadian Antony Auclair. 

Auclair went to Tampa, I believe

Yeah, you're right. I was going off of Gil Brandt's list and they hadn't updated his status yet. Oh well, I'd still like to get somebody since who else to learn the TE position from other than Olsen ^_^.

[Mr. Scot]

Checking various sources, here's where I think we stand thus far...

Confirmed UDFAs

LB Benjamin Boulware, Clemson

WR Fred Ross, Mississippi State

NOTE: Boulware and Ross are the only two players the Panthers have officially acknowledged as having signed. All other reports are coming from outside sources (listed below).

Likely UDFAs

WR Austin Duke, Charlotte (Charlotte 49ers Twitter and Kevin Donnalley)

WR Robert Wheelwright, Wisconsin (his Twitter; kinda up in the air whether he's a UDFA or a tryout but seems to be UDFA)

C Austin Stephens, Utah State (Utah State Twitter)

G Dylan Colucci, Youngstown State (Youngstown State Twitter and his Twitter)

DT Robert Barber, Washington State (Washington State reporter Stephanie Loh)

DE Bryan Cox Jr, Florida (his Twitter)

CB Cole Luke, Notre Dame (Notre Dame Football Twitter)

Invited to Tryouts

WR Cameron Posey, Purdue (his Twitter and Instagram)

DT Drew Iddings, South Dakota (reported by Jourdan Rodrigue prior to the Draft)

LS Danny Dillon, Campbell (Joe Person)

NOTE: Iddings and Dillon are one year players, not rookies. They previously had shots to land with the Raiders and Cardinals, respectively.

[Mr. Scot]

And to answer a prior question, as I understand it the draft picks do not count against the roster limit until they're under contract, so the team has some flexibility right now.

Mind you, that doesn't mean the 'camp body' guys should assume their spots are safe.

[KB_fan]

5 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

Checking various sources, here's where I think we stand thus far...

Bryan Cox?  I've seen his name linked to the Panthers on a number of sites.

[panther4life]

6 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

And to answer a prior question, as I understand it the draft picks do not count against the roster limit until they're under contract, so the team has some flexibility right now.

Mind you, that doesn't mean the 'camp body' guys should assume their spots are safe.

I just read up on it. Draft choices do count against the 90 even before signed. So we have some cuts to make.

[KB_fan]

3 minutes ago, panther4life said:

I just read up on it. Draft choices do count against the 90 even before signed. So we have some cuts to make.

Draft choices count for sure.  But do UDFAs?  That's the question.  There are priority UDFAs, UDFAs and tryouts.  Not sure when the UDFAs count towards the roster?  Do we have to sign UDFAs prior to rookie camp?  My guess is yes. I'll look back at the Panthers.com transaction page to see when UDFAs were signed last year in relation to rookie camp.

[Mr. Scot]

2 hours ago, KB_fan said:

Bryan Cox?  I've seen his name linked to the Panthers on a number of sites.

Weird. I swear he was on my list when I posted, but my phone's been acting up.

I'll edit him back in.

[Mr. Scot]

1 hour ago, KB_fan said:

Draft choices count for sure.  But do UDFAs?  That's the question.  There are priority UDFAs, UDFAs and tryouts.  Not sure when the UDFAs count towards the roster?  Do we have to sign UDFAs prior to rookie camp?  My guess is yes. I'll look back at the Panthers.com transaction page to see when UDFAs were signed last year in relation to rookie camp.

Only two UDFA signings are confirmed at this point. The rest are probably pending so they don't count yet, but will as of Monday.

If draft choices do count immediately, then I'd expect they'll be cutting some camp bodies. And that could easily be on a "last one in, first one out" basis.

[KB_fan]

Here are the Panthers 2016 transactions during and immediately after the draft.  It seems to suggest that UDFAs, even though we sign as priority UDFAs (like Cash & Key Garrett last year) aren't counted as transactions until after rookie mini camp...  So, we may have another 10 days - 2 weeks before cuts are made?  Just guessing...

(found here: http://www.panthers.com/news/transactions.html )

05/16/2016	Undrafted rookie signing LB Jared Barber
05/16/2016	Released CB Brandon Boykin
05/16/2016	Undrafted rookie signing TE Braxton Deaver
05/16/2016	Waived S Ras-I Dowling
05/16/2016	Free agent signing CB Shaq Richardson
05/16/2016	Undrafted rookie signing T Jordan Rigsbee
05/16/2016	Undrafted rookie signing WR Miles Shuler
05/16/2016	Undrafted rookie signing RB Jalen Simmons
05/16/2016	Waived WR Jenson Stoshak
05/13/2016	Undrafted rookie signing TE Andrew Bonnet
05/13/2016	Undrafted rookie signing LB Jeremy Cash
05/13/2016	Undrafted rookie signing WR Keyarris Garrett
05/13/2016	Undrafted rookie signing FB Devon Johnson
05/13/2016	Undrafted rookie signing TE Jake McGee
05/13/2016	Undrafted rookie signing LB Jared Norris
05/13/2016	Undrafted rookie signing WR Jenson Stoshak
04/30/2016	Drafted TE Beau Sandland (7)
04/30/2016	Drafted CB Zack Sanchez (5)
04/29/2016	Drafted CB Daryl Worley (3)
04/29/2016	Drafted CB James Bradberry (2)
04/29/2016	Waiver claim DT Robert Thomas
04/28/2016	Drafted DT Vernon Butler (1)

[KB_fan]

I just discovered that I saved the roster as it was immediately post-draft last year on May 1.  We had 39 on Defense, 35 on Offense (74 total) and brought in 7 UDFAs (plus other try outs).

It's DRAMATIC to see some of the changes in terms of relative numbers by offense & defense, and at a few position groups - notably OT (huge increase); 

Here are the images:

Offense:  May 1, 2016

 

Defense May 1 2016:

 

Special Teams May 1 2016

 

Position break down May 1, 2016:

 

I'll post a side-by-side comparison of the 2016 and 2017 roster by position totals in just a minute (obviously we don't know all the UDFAs for sure yet.)

[KB_fan]

Correction to above:

The post-draft roster total (not counting UDFAs) last year was 78 (not 74):  39 Defense, 35 Offense, 4 ST.

This year we're at 87.   As Dave mentioned in his post-draft presser, they brought in a lot of Reserve/Futures guys at the end of the season this year.  Also, as we all know, we were much more active in free agency.

[DaveThePanther2008]

12 hours ago, Dilla said:

 

These are the guys I really like to see.  Super small school and who knows with some real coaching what can happen.

[Mr. Scot]

You're inspiring me to fire up the old spreadsheet again, KB.

[TheSpecialJuan]

13 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

Checking various sources, here's where I think we stand thus far...

Confirmed UDFAs

LB Benjamin Boulware, Clemson

WR Fred Ross, Mississippi State

NOTE: Boulware and Ross are the only two players the Panthers have officially acknowledged as having signed. All other reports are coming from outside sources (listed below).

Likely UDFAs

WR Austin Duke, Charlotte (Charlotte 49ers Twitter and Kevin Donnalley)

WR Robert Wheelwright, Wisconsin (his Twitter; kinda up in the air whether he's a UDFA or a tryout but seems to be UDFA)

C Austin Stephens, Utah State (Utah State Twitter)

G Dylan Colucci, Youngstown State (Youngstown State Twitter and his Twitter)

DT Robert Barber, Washington State (Washington State reporter Stephanie Loh)

DE Bryan Cox Jr, Florida (his Twitter)

CB Cole Luke, Notre Dame (Notre Dame Football Twitter)

Invited to Tryouts

WR Cameron Posey, Purdue (his Twitter and Instagram)

DT Drew Iddings, South Dakota (reported by Jourdan Rodrigue prior to the Draft)

LS Danny Dillon, Campbell (Joe Person)

NOTE: Iddings and Dillon are one year players, not rookies. They previously had shots to land with the Raiders and Cardinals, respectively.

- We had 80 players on the roster prior to the draft.

- We drafted 7 players

- Bringing our total to 87

- According to this list, we are going to sign 7 UDFA's

- This would bring our total to 94 players