I’m sorry Huddle

[Smithers]

I posted something the other night while drunk that I regret.  Tonight I take that back.  Below is what I posted on Facebook while sharing the Panthers Facebook post quoting CMC about Cam making the game fun:

 

This...I know there are a ton of Cam haters out there.  But every single player who has taken the field with him comments on how genuinely nice he is and how his passion for the game is infectious.  His rookie season several players even said that when he walked in the room everyone just gravitated toward him.

Cam has been surrounded by horrible offensive coordinators and terrible offensive lineman.  He’s had few weapons and has spent the majority of his career sacrificing his body for the team.  He dives head first for first downs instead of sliding.  He throws off his back foot often because he’s being hammered by defensive players on nearly every play.  In 2016 he played 4 games with a torn rotator cuff because the coaching staff rode him like a mule and wouldn’t sit him to save their own jobs.  This year....the last 6 games...he’s Played through tremendous pain because he refused to take himself out.  He refused to sit down while his teammates played hard.  He let the coaching staff make that call.  And they failed him.  They trotted him out there with the hope of saving their own jobs...to the point that he couldn’t throw a 10 yard pass by the time the 4th quarter rolled around.

Sure he has been cocky.  Yes he has celebrated first downs.  But the man has fed tens of thousands.  He’s provided hope to tens of thousands.  He’s put a smile on the face of tens of thousands.Hes sacrificed his body for his Teammates.  And he’s matured to the point where he no longer makes excuses.  He’s inspired his teammates.  He’s fought for an entire city.  Thank you Cam.  If only others protecting you showed as much Heart.

[OneBadCat]

Until we give Cam a fair chance to get healthy and return to form with practice that dude is still my QB. He will dab on the league again.

[Snake]

People may find this hard to swallow but we are going to have rebuild the next two years and after it may be with or without Newton. The biggest factor may be that Cam will have to sit a significant amount of time next year.

[LinvilleGorge]

I honestly don't see a huge rebuild as necessary. We have a lot of good young pieces. Moton and (hopefully) Williams at OT, CMC at RB, Thomas at TE, Moore and Samuel at WR. On the other side of the ball, Luke is still only 27, two good young CBs in Jackson and Bradberry (despite what a lot of fans want to say about Bradberry). No team has All-Pros at every position and we have some good players at some key positions. Honestly, if you put an elite pass rusher, a healthy Cam, and a DC with a functioning frontal lobe on this team this year I truly think we would've been a contender. Sure, we have some notable holes, but we aren't THAT far off.

[MHS831]

1 hour ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I honestly don't see a huge rebuild as necessary. We have a lot of good young pieces. Moton and (hopefully) Williams at OT, CMC at RB, Thomas at TE, Moore and Samuel at WR. On the other side of the ball, Luke is still only 27, two good young CBs in Jackson and Bradberry (despite what a lot of fans want to say about Bradberry). No team has All-Pros at every position and we have some good players at some key positions. Honestly, if you put an elite pass rusher, a healthy Cam, and a DC with a functioning frontal lobe on this team this year I truly think we would've been a contender. Sure, we have some notable holes, but we aren't THAT far off.

Getting younger is not rebuilding--what you describe is exactly right.  I think we will re-sign Reid--leaving Gaulden holding the reins at FS (Reid to SS).  I also think we will get a stud in the draft to play beside Addison.  Luke and a few DTs (I have not given up on KK--he could be banged up).  We have some young players ready to step up--Van Roten, Larsen should compete, but I hope they are beat out.

We will have a lot of cap room.  We will have 4 draft picks on days 1 and 2.

We will be fine.

Of course, so much depends on one right shoulder.

[pantherj]

For years I wanted a great o-line in front of Cam. We could have built one, but it wasn't a priority. I predicted that Cam would be injured if we didn't address the o-line. Now he's injured. Even now fans want to draft defensive players high. When a player smashes his helmet into Cam's shoulder while he's throwing it doesn't matter who we have at DE. The season is fuged. Your franchise is fuged. Your defense is irrelevant. Wow what good tackling from our LBs! QBs shoulder is ruined, but look at that tackling! Slightly better than most teams tackling, but only once in a blue moon! Wonderful!

Cam's career might be over, or it might not. Build a great o-line regardless. Don't ruin our next $100M QB to draft LBs and DTs who don't decide the game. You loose your $100M QB and it doesn't matter at all who is on the d-line. You're looking at multi-season rebuilding. Brutal. But hey we've got Vernon Butler and KK! Look at them go! We're headed to 0-16 if Cam doesn't recover.