Panthers 2019 Offseason Primer - An In Depth Look at the Future of our Team

[Bronn]

end-of-season edits are in orange

[trueblade]

On 12/6/2018 at 9:10 AM, Bronn said:

I believe this offseason, we should show him we are committed to him for a few more years, despite the status of his shoulder, and sign him to a new deal that extends through 2024.

The Panthers have to know the status of his shoulder before they discuss any extension. To extend him "despite the status of his shoulder" does not seem like a wise decision.

[Bronn]

13 minutes ago, trueblade said:

The Panthers have to know the status of his shoulder before they discuss any extension. To extend him "despite the status of his shoulder" does not seem like a wise decision.

Agreed. I should have worded it more along the lines of "despite the public not knowing the status of his shoulder"

Just because we don't know doesn't mean they don't/won't when the time comes.

That's what I meant.

Even if the experts, docs, etc. say Cam has to sit a year, I feel we need to rework his deal to get money now.

[trueblade]

2 minutes ago, Bronn said:

Agreed. I should have worded it more along the lines of "despite the public not knowing the status of his shoulder"

Just because we don't know doesn't mean they don't/won't when the time comes.

That's what I meant.

Even if the experts, docs, etc. say Cam has to sit a year, I feel we need to rework his deal to get money now.

That makes sense. Even if we don't know, you gotta hope inside the building, they do. 

I know Luck is fresher in everyone's mind, but I keep coming back to Brees free agency. You had three groups of doctors (Chargers medical staff, Saints medical staff and Dolphins medical staff). Chargers doctors said his shoulder wasn't worth the risk to resign. Dolphins doctors said the shoulder wasn't worth the risk to sign. Saints doctors said it was and the rest, as they say, is history (gratz Saints).

You had three NFL medical teams examine Brees' shoulder and two of them got it wrong. I'm more than a little nervous about the Panthers medical team getting it right.

[Jon Snow]

1 hour ago, trueblade said:

That makes sense. Even if we don't know, you gotta hope inside the building, they do. 

I know Luck is fresher in everyone's mind, but I keep coming back to Brees free agency. You had three groups of doctors (Chargers medical staff, Saints medical staff and Dolphins medical staff). Chargers doctors said his shoulder wasn't worth the risk to resign. Dolphins doctors said the shoulder wasn't worth the risk to sign. Saints doctors said it was and the rest, as they say, is history (gratz Saints).

You had three NFL medical teams examine Brees' shoulder and two of them got it wrong. I'm more than a little nervous about the Panthers medical team getting it right.

The Saints gambled because they were desperately in need of a QB moreso than the others.  The Chargers, if I remember correctly, has just drafted Rivers so they could error on the side of caution.  I do not remember what the Dolphins situation was at the time but they chose not to assume risk.  

[trueblade]

1 minute ago, Jon Snow said:

The Saints gambled because they were desperately in need of a QB moreso than the others.  The Chargers, if I remember correctly, has just drafted Rivers so they could error on the side of caution.  I do not remember what the Dolphins situation was at the time but they chose not to assume risk.  

Dolphins decided Dante Culpepper was the better option for them.

[Jon Snow]

Just now, trueblade said:

Dolphins decided Dante Culpepper was the better option for them.

Thanks, I couldn't remember it but I knew they had an option.  The Saints came out like bandits in the end though.  But to say it was an easy decision is not how it was at the time.

[Lasus83.]

Great post. 

I agree with all except Collin Jones who is a great STer.

[MHS831]

Nice work, Bronn.  I see things differently in some spots, but know enough to accept other perspectives. 

I enjoy reading the comments following long, detailed posts because reading frustrates the posters who lack the ability to consider details and other opinions-the mouth breathers, if you will.  Sometimes they reach out to us by posting a comment about the length  of the post, or they respond to the first paragraph....In other words, I was not surprised to see that most of the reactions to this post were appreciative of the effort.  Thanks for sharing.

[MHS831]

On 12/6/2018 at 10:56 AM, Bronn said:

He can do it for someone else, then, because I hope we've learned our lesson from Matt Kalil.

If your insight is correct, we'll likely go Tackle earlier in the draft than I once thought.

I am one who does not think Moton will be the LT--or he would have been playing LT over Clark and Newhouse.  They think he is a RT and he showed it. 

This gives the Panthers some flexibility--first, a big man with a knee injury often does not return to form.  If we draft a rookie LT, let Williams walk (not sure how I feel about that, but how I feel is irrelevant) we could add a decent LT rookie who is likely to be an upgrade and a cost saver. 

Then we could sign a starting C and maybe a LG with the savings alone.  We improve at every position on the OL except where our All Pro RG plays. 

Thanks for the thread.

[Bronn]

Also, I meant to add a disclaimer.

A lot of the edits were because of Kyle Allen having another year on his contract. As such, some of my numbers cap wise and roster wise were slightly off, so I tried to fix everything.

The OP is almost a month old now, but I will try to update this thread as well as make new ones as we begin to make offseason changes and as the draft approaches.

Thanks for all the responses here. I appreciate you all giving honest feedback, criticism, as well as agreement and praise.

I've long been an armchair GM, and I sometimes enjoy analyzing our potential offseason and draft possibilities as much as when the Panthers are actually playing games.