We need to get younger

[juliosantos]

The Panthers need a youth movement. Since 2013, they’ve fielded one of the oldest rosters in the NFL:

2013: 26th youngest
2014: 26th
2015: 31st
2016: 30th
2017: 31st
2018: 29th

In 2015, we got away with it. We got great production from key veteran players on cheap contracts: Peanut Tillman, Michael Oher, Jericho Cotchery, Roman Harper, Kurt Coleman, Jared Allen, etc. We also saw Ryan Kalil, Jonathan Stewart, Charles Johnson and other players have their last great seasons. Dave Gettleman did a great job of finding productive vets at cap friendly contracts.

But this model is not sustainable. We saw these veteran players retire, slow down from Father Time, sustain injuries all while occupying a significant amount of cap space. Going into next year, we only have 36 players under contract with $28 million in cap room.

So this might be the most important offseason in the Cam Newton era. We have to be able to fill needs on the offensive and defensive lines and at safety through the draft and do what we can in free agency to retain our own guys (Reid and Daryl Williams) and add depth at other positions.

It’s time to start the new era of Panthers football led by Christian McCaffery, DJ Moore, Curtis Samuel, Donte Jackson, Taylor Moton, Ian Thomas, etc.

[juliosantos]

Youth moment will help us 

[juliosantos]

 They need a more uptempo offense Curtis , cmac , Moore are a good start 

[Puddinhead]

Yes, you do. We (the Saints) went through our roster overhaul in 2015 and 2016 and to Payton' and Loomis' credit we didn't drop any further off the cliff than the previous season's 7-9, which had triggered the youth movement in the first place.  The average age dropped essentially a full year (27.2 to 26.3) from 2014 to 2018. That's more of a change than it might seem.

Of course, a lot of skill and luck is needed to get the rebuild right; you ideally want to get better at the same time as you're getting younger. It helps if you have a HOF-caliber QB willing to stick around through the rebuild rather than chase a ring elsewhere.

[Puddinhead]

And yes, you may already have begun the task this season without even knowing it.

[Lumps]

This is a result of a few things, Rivera refusing to explore young talent, poor drafting and rediculous contacts that tied the team to underperforming players.

All of it needs to change.

[Inimicus]

11 minutes ago, Humbled-Carolina-Chuck said:

Bye Greg. Bye Pep. Bye both Kalils. Bye, TD. Bye Adams. 

The only one in that list I would have reservations about seeing them leave is TD.  If he is willing to do it in a team friendly way Id give him another year.

[AU-panther]

The ironic point is that some of the people around here saying we need to get younger are the same ones that will be advocated for trading half of our picks in next years draft to move up a few spots.