Since Everyone Is Making Roster Projections

[mrknowitall]

Because I'm so amped up for the season to start, I did a 53 Man Roster Projection. First, I started off by eliminating guys who I think have no chance in hell of making the roster (guys like Kyle Allen and Cam Serigne). Then I plugged in the guys that have no chance in hell of NOT making the roster (like Newton, Luke, and McCaffrey). That left me with 25 guys fighting for like 14 or 15 spots.

This is what I came up with:

	Quarterbacks		Defensive Line		Special Teams
1	Cam Newton	26	Mario Addison	51	Graham Gano
2	Taylor Heinicke	27	Vernon Butler	52	JJ Jansen
		28	Marquis Haynes	53	M. Palardy
	Running Backs	29	Wes Horton
3	CJ Anderson	30	Kyle Love
4	Christian McCaffrey	31	Julius Peppers
5	Cameron Artis-Payne	32	Dontari Poe
		33	Kawann Short
	Fullbacks	34	Bryan Cox Jr
6	Alex Armah	35	Daeshon Hall
	Wide Receivers		Linebackers
7	Devin Funchess	36	Jermaine Carter Jr
8	DJ Moore	37	Luke Kuechly
9	Curtis Samuel	38	David Mayo
10	Torrey Smith	39	Shaq Thompson
11	Jarius Wright	40	Jared Norris
12	Damiere Byrd
			Defensive Backs
	Tight Ends	41	Mike Adams
13	Greg Olsen	42	James Bradberry
14	Ian Thomas	43	Corn Elder
		44	Rashaan Gaulden
	Offensive Line	45	Donte Jackson
15	Matt Kalil*	46	Captain Munnerlyn
16	Ryan Kalil	47	Lorenzo Doss
17	Tyler Larsen	48	Colin Jones
18	Taylor Moton	49	Da'Norris Searcy
19	Brendan Mahon	50	Kevon Seymour
20	Trai Turner
21	Greg Van Roten
22	Daryl Williams*
23	Blaine Clausell
24	Amini Silatolu*
25	Jeremiah Sirles*

Quick Notes:

1) To me Gilbert has looked to have the better arm and I think he's made the better decisions, but Heinicke appears to be in the driver's seat. 2) Barner looks more versatile, but Artis-Payne has gotten much more of the work load during the preseason, so I think the staff rolls with him. 2) Many don't think Byrd makes it, but Byrd is one of only two wide outs currently on our roster who've scored a touchdown for the Panthers. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, but I feel he's too talented to let walk. 3) I think Manhertz makes the roster, but I think he starts the season on PUP. 4) I put asterisks by the names of the offensive linemen who are currently banged up; I don't know if four injured players from the same position group make the 53 man roster cut. I think one of them gets IR'd BEFORE the season if none of the four are projected to be ready to go by Dallas. 5) In the past we've kept nine ends and Bryan Cox Jr has probably outshone Hall so far, but Hall is 6'6", 275, and just turned 23 two months ago. I think his upside is too high to cut and hope he makes it through the wire. 6) Obada ends up on the practice squad, though he's probably done enough to warrant a roster spot. 7) Obviously, TD is on the team, but he can't make the opening day roster via the suspension, and I don't think the Panthers keep an extra body at linebacker just to replace him. If they want another linebacker body type for special teams, that'll go to Haynes. Ben Jacobs is the guy that everyone projects to make it at linebacker, but he's 30 and has accounted for only 30 tackles since 2011 (I could potentially see Jacobs being signed to the team after the team puts Daryl Williams on IR, but I don't see him making the initial cut). 8) I could see Seymour losing his spot to Demetrious Cox (I like Demetrious's physicality at safety).

Thoughts? Discussion?

[Jimmy]

Just so the spreadsheet looks accurate...need to make Parlardy #53.  Just having the #54 makes it look like he won't be on the team according to your predictions...we all know there isn't any competition at his spot.  The ADD is kicking in big time.

Basically, you're going to cut someone else.

[MadHatter]

8 minutes ago, mrknowitall said:

Because I'm so amped up for the season to start, I did a 53 Man Roster Projection. First, I started off by eliminating guys who I think have no chance in hell of making the roster (guys like Kyle Allen and Cam Serigne). Then I plugged in the guys that have no chance in hell of NOT making the roster (like Newton, Luke, and McCaffrey). That left me with 25 guys fighting for like 14 or 15 spots.

This is what I came up with:

	Quarterbacks		Defensive Line		Special Teams
1	Cam Newton	26	Mario Addison	52	Graham Gano
2	Taylor Heinicke	27	Vernon Butler	53	JJ Jansen
		28	Marquis Haynes	54	M. Palardy
	Running Backs	29	Wes Horton
3	CJ Anderson	30	Kyle Love
4	Christian McCaffrey	31	Julius Peppers
5	Cameron Artis-Payne	32	Dontari Poe
		33	Kawann Short
	Fullbacks	34	Bryan Cox Jr
6	Alex Armah	35	Daeshon Hall
	Wide Receivers		Linebackers
7	Devin Funchess	36	Jermaine Carter Jr
8	DJ Moore	37	Luke Kuechly
9	Curtis Samuel	38	David Mayo
10	Torrey Smith	39	Shaq Thompson
11	Jarius Wright	40	Jared Norris
12	Damiere Byrd
			Defensive Backs
	Tight Ends	41	Mike Adams
13	Greg Olsen	42	James Bradberry
14	Ian Thomas	43	Corn Elder
		44	Rashaan Gaulden
	Offensive Line	45	Donte Jackson
15	Matt Kalil*	46	Captain Munnerlyn
16	Ryan Kalil	47	Lorenzo Doss
17	Tyler Larsen	48	Colin Jones
18	Taylor Moton	49	Da'Norris Searcy
19	Brendan Mahon	50	Kevon Seymour
20	Trai Turner
21	Greg Van Roten
22	Daryl Williams*
23	Blaine Clausell
24	Amini Silatolu*
25	Jeremiah Sirles*

Quick Notes:

1) To me Gilbert has looked to have the better arm and I think he's made the better decisions, but Heinicke appears to be in the driver's seat. 2) Barner looks more versatile, but Artis-Payne has gotten much more of the work load during the preseason, so I think the staff rolls with him. 2) Many don't think Byrd makes it, but Byrd is one of only two wide outs currently on our roster who've scored a touchdown for the Panthers. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, but I feel he's too talented to let walk. 3) I think Manhertz makes the roster, but I think he starts the season on PUP. 4) I put asterisks by the names of the offensive linemen who are currently banged up; I don't know if four injured players from the same position group make the 53 man roster cut. I think one of them gets IR'd BEFORE the season if none of the four are projected to be ready to go by Dallas. 5) In the past we've kept nine ends and Bryan Cox Jr has probably outshone Hall so far, but Hall is 6'6", 275, and just turned 23 two months ago. I think his upside is too high to cut and hope he makes it through the wire. 6) Obada ends up on the practice squad, though he's probably done enough to warrant a roster spot. 7) Obviously, TD is on the team, but he can't make the opening day roster via the suspension, and I don't think the Panthers keep an extra body at linebacker just to replace him. If they want another linebacker body type for special teams, that'll go to Haynes. Ben Jacobs is the guy that everyone projects to make it at linebacker, but he's 30 and has accounted for only 30 tackles since 2011 (I could potentially see Jacobs being signed to the team after the team puts Daryl Williams on IR, but I don't see him making the initial cut). 8) I could see Seymour losing his spot to Demetrious Cox (I like Demetrious's physicality at safety).

Thoughts? Discussion?

Respect for the work.

however, I don’t see 10 DL and only 5 LB being kept.

[KB_fan]

You make a good case for this roster. 

I think my one quibble would be at LB. Given that we often have kept 7, it seems really light to keep only 5 while TD is out. I guess we roll with 6.  Ron keeps talking about how deep that position is and how hard it will be to cut any of the 10.

Ultimately some of these number splits at different positions / choices on the final 5-7 guys are likely to come down to 3 things (in addition to the unpredictable situation at Oline):

1. Special teams

2. Versatility ( beginning to hear some chatter about Alex Carter who can play CB and S, for instance)

3. Risk assessment of who among the guys we really like is at greater risk of being claimed off waivers. IE Andre Smith, Daeshon Hall, Efe Obada, Kendrick Norton, Mose Frazier.  I bet we want all of these guys on our PS. The question is which of these guys will be safe there.

I imagine Carolina's cuts are going to receive GREATER than normal scrutiny from other teams who realize our Oline situation is forcing us to make unwanted cuts. UGH.

One last thought, I'd guess we'll see quite a few roster transactions the first week like we did last year when we did that trade with Buffalo and temporarily kept 2 kickers.  So hopefully none of us will get too worked up over the initial 53 because it probably will change a few times in the days following cuts.

[mrknowitall]

8 minutes ago, MadHatter said:

Respect for the work.

however, I don’t see 10 DL and only 5 LB being kept.

You may be right. I actually think it’s likely we see six backers on gameday, I just think it’ll be because we sign someone after we’ve moved Williams to IR. 

You're also probably right about the DL; I just really don’t want to lose Hall (especially if Pep retires after this season). Lol. And it seems like he might be the odd man out. 

[mrknowitall]

8 minutes ago, KB_fan said:

3. Risk assessment of who among the guys we really like is at greater risk of being claimed off waivers. IE Andre Smith, Daeshon Hall, Efe Obada, Kendrick Norton, Mose Frazier.  I bet we want all of these guys on our PS. The question is which of these guys will be safe there.

 

I could potentially see Hurney placing Smith on IR before the season starts. Though I think the injury throughout the preseason has kept him from putting enough film on tape to get scooped on the waiver wire. But I love his potential. 

I don’t think Frazier makes it to the PS. But he’s come along way since taking a swing at Kuechly. Haha. 

[KB_fan]

5 minutes ago, mrknowitall said:

I could potentially see Hurney placing Smith on IR before the season starts. Though I think the injury throughout the preseason has kept him from putting enough film on tape to get scooped on the waiver wire. But I love his potential. 

I don’t think Frazier makes it to the PS. But he’s come along way since taking a swing at Kuechly. Haha. 

Agree on both players.

Frankly I was very surprised Smith came back to practice this week. I'm sure we want to see him play on Thursday, but I was beginning to suspect a redshirt year on the IR. That still could happen, but looks like he'll play Thursday. 

[DaveThePanther2008]

What an amazing position to be in.  We have so much extra talent.  There will be a number of our players picked up.  I don't see us giving up on Haynes since he was a 5th round pick and has been out for most of the preseason.  

This forum is going to explode when we cut a members favorite player for someone they think is less talented.

[Raleigh PF]

I don't think CAP, Daeshon Hall and Kevon Seymour. I can see them replaced with Barner, Manhertz and Andre Smith. 

 

[La Pantera]

1 hour ago, MadHatter said:

Respect for the work.

however, I don’t see 10 DL and only 5 LB being kept.

The team could potentially see Haynes as an option for LB depth. 

[Adb6368]

10 minutes ago, Raleigh PF said:

I don't think CAP, Daeshon Hall and Kevon Seymour. I can see them replaced with Barner, Manhertz and Andre Smith. 

 

Very odd considering his showing this preseason but doesn't look like Seymour is going anywhere. 

[shaqattaq]

1 hour ago, MadHatter said:

Respect for the work.

however, I don’t see 10 DL and only 5 LB being kept.

When TD comes back, we cut a DE if needed. I could see that. it basically extends the Hall vs Haynes vs Cox contest another month. 

Overall, this roster seems believable with our current guys. O-line is up in the air, I think one of the injured goes to IR, which opens up a spot somewhere. Also, a cast off OT or CB could still be in our future.

[Leeroy Jenkins Ph.D.]

Did I miss something, or is Thomas Davis not making the team?

[KB_fan]

6 minutes ago, La Pantera said:

The team could potentially see Haynes as an option for LB depth. 

Good point. Apparently we've played a little 3-4 D in preseason? I didn't notice but Mick and Eugene mentioned it last night on Panther talk.