Bill Barnwell: Five Moves Panthers Should Make

[GoobyPls]

No guard is worth 14 mill.

[Pejorative Miscreant]

5 hours ago, Cyberjag said:

First priority in righting the ship is to get the team sold.  Hurney is under contract until June, so he's going to get paid regardless of what we do there.  No sense in hiring a new GM that may not share the new Owner's vision, so we should focus on selling the team, and then replacing Hurney.

 

I suspect a "permanent GM" will be in place prior to the new ownership group is decided upon or established.  To your point the permanent tag could be removed if the new owner doesn't agree.  

[TheSpecialJuan]

9 hours ago, The Huddler said:

It hurts me deeply but I agree on Star. 

 

KB and Star were my guys that i was stoked to get and they became my favorite players. as far as star, he simply didnt live up to the hype. Hes a good players and a great runstuffer, it makes sense to me money wise and rosterwise to let him go. We have Butler. And little money

 

sane in norwell. Dont have the money, and we have moton

 

i believe we will be a better team spending money elsewhere

It hurts you deeply?  that's dramatic !

[The Huddler]

3 minutes ago, TheSpecialJuan said:

It hurts you deeply?  that's dramatic !

Lol

 

it does though. I love star. Ive never been more pumped for a draft pick. And i really appreciate and understand what he brings to the defense. 

 

But wity the applied factors i see him walking unless its a team friendly deal

[Ace_Aladdin]

Garbage analysis

[Snake]

Is this guy a Falcons or Saints fan? How about protect Cam, sign Norwell, let Star walk, pick up a older DT to rotate, then pay for a vet WR not a unproven Funchess. 

[AU-panther]

2 hours ago, Toomers said:

  Once again, I wouldn’t call a 14.7M cap hit as “getting out from under anything”. Nothing like 8M off the top(if he’s a June 1st, then 6.7M more in 2020) to help pay those 2nd and 3rd years since we went cheap on the 1st years. 

  I said it when he was signed. Matt Kalil will keep us from re-signing a key FA of ours. 

Of course Kalil's salary will prevent us from signing someone at some point but if we really want to resign our free agents this year we can. 

We have several players that we can cut to increase our available cap space and we can also back load some contracts.  Actually Peppers might be our biggest cap hit of our free agents this year.  Norwell or Star would probably be long term contracts that can be back loaded, whereas Peppers will probably be a one year deal.

The question is as simple as what is the best use of cap space, 10-12 million a year for a guard or use that money elsewhere.  10 million a year for a DT or use that money elsewhere.

As far as compensatory picks go this could be a very good year to go in that direction if we wanted.  We could easily end up with 3-4 extra picks next year.  Two of them could possible be 3rd or 4th round.  Only problem is that it would severely limit the possible UFAs that we could sign in free agency.  Would really have to look at players that are cut or really cheap guys.  Not sure how many people would be happy with us "wasting" a year in free agency.

 

[TheSpecialJuan]

[London Loves Luke]

6 hours ago, TheSpecialJuan said:

Now that is the look of a man that i would trust when it comes to sports news. 

[Snake]

9 hours ago, AU-panther said:

Of course Kalil's salary will prevent us from signing someone at some point but if we really want to resign our free agents this year we can. 

We have several players that we can cut to increase our available cap space and we can also back load some contracts.  Actually Peppers might be our biggest cap hit of our free agents this year.  Norwell or Star would probably be long term contracts that can be back loaded, whereas Peppers will probably be a one year deal.

The question is as simple as what is the best use of cap space, 10-12 million a year for a guard or use that money elsewhere.  10 million a year for a DT or use that money elsewhere.

As far as compensatory picks go this could be a very good year to go in that direction if we wanted.  We could easily end up with 3-4 extra picks next year.  Two of them could possible be 3rd or 4th round.  Only problem is that it would severely limit the possible UFAs that we could sign in free agency.  Would really have to look at players that are cut or really cheap guys.  Not sure how many people would be happy with us "wasting" a year in free agency.

 

As you can see in the Super Bowl. Even the best DT in the league can be neutralized with scheme. No so much for really good G that can pull. They are much more rare. Matt Kalil's contract is probably not even going to be all that much in few years. I mean have you seen the LT prospects in FA and the draft. Nothing that's 100% for sure. That's why you need good G's. I much rather take a gamble at DT or WR than I would on any place on the oline. Just my. 02 though. 

[Khyber53]

A smart team develops guards and lets unwise teams overpay for them. If we can get Norwell for a team-friendly rate, great, if not then let him go and get the big-big-BIG paycheck somewhere else. Hate to see the White Buffalo go, but we need the big bucks to go toward some scoring.

Star deserves a good paycheck, but not phenomenal one. Make a decent offer but let him test the market. He's a darned good NT but we just don't have deep enough pockets to pay Star like a star. 

I'd jump at the chance to take Pep for another season at $7 million ($3.5 mil would be better... but, if we gotta). 

Funchess and Shaq are the future here, they need to be locked in for the long term. Better to negotiate that now than have to after a break out season from either.

And while I hate to see the club go through a change of ownership, this needs to go fast and uneventfully. They need a steady Freddie hire for the GM position, someone who can weather the coming storm in management changes while maintaining a business as usual demeanor for the on-field part of the organization.

Edit to add: And good luck, because we're sure going to need it.