5 Carolina Panthers players facing an uphill battle at training camp

[YourLastThought]

2 minutes ago, Prowler2k18 said:

That’s what I’m thinking. Little’s on a rookie contract and at least provides some depth. No financial advantage or otherwise by cutting him loose just yet. 

Yeah might as well get something out of the guy if he is partially serviceable as a backup depth piece then let him walk when it's time for a new contract.

[Prowler2k18]

1 hour ago, SBBlue said:

Panthers roster: 5 players facing an uphill battle at 2021 training camp (catcrave.com)

 

Greg Little – OT
Brandon Zylstra – WR
Myles Hartsfield – DB
Stantley Thomas-Oliver III – CB
Will Grier – QB

My gut reaction is that none these will make the roster...maybe the practice squad....

 

I think Little stays on until his rookie contact is up if only for depth. Zylstra sticks for depth and special teams. Thomas-Oliver and Hartsfield to the practice squad. I’m not confident that Grier makes the team but we do need depth @ QB and he’s also on a rookie contract so there’s a 50/50 chance he’ll stick at least until we find better options.

 

[SBBlue]

2 minutes ago, Prowler2k18 said:

I think Little stays on until his rookie contact is up if only for depth. Zylstra sticks for depth and special teams. Thomas-Oliver and Hartsfield to the practice squad. I’m not confident that Grier makes the team but we do need depth @ QB and he’s also on a rookie contract so there’s a 50/50 chance he’ll stick at least until we find better options.

 

We kept 9 last year for the 53.

72 Taylor Moton T
75 Cameron Erving T
60 Pat Elflein G
61 Matt Paradis C
70 Brady Christensen T
78 Trent Scott T
67 John Miller G
77 Deonte Brown G
68 David Moore G

-----------------

65 Dennis Daley G
74 Greg Little T

To keep Little, you  have to drop Moore or Brown.  I think that would be a mistake.  

If we keep 10, maybe Little beats Daley.

[Tinamedina]

1 hour ago, SBBlue said:

I have never seen Grier play well for us, ever....preseason, regular season...he just looks bad.

PJ looked great in the Lions game until those ints in the ez.  Then he just fell apart in the Saints game.  He has to get that under control.  

Yeah and the oline in that new Orleans game pretty much gave up. They put him in too late anyways.

[SBBlue]

1 minute ago, Tinamedina said:

Yeah and the oline in that new Orleans game pretty much gave up. They put him in too late anyways.

If that was the only data point, I'd be more supportive.  Unfortunately, he looked really bad in preseason too.  Just every time he took the field, it was bad.

[Prowler2k18]

12 minutes ago, SBBlue said:

We kept 9 last year for the 53.

72 Taylor Moton T
75 Cameron Erving T
60 Pat Elflein G
61 Matt Paradis C
70 Brady Christensen T
78 Trent Scott T
67 John Miller G
77 Deonte Brown G
68 David Moore G

-----------------

65 Dennis Daley G
74 Greg Little T

To keep Little, you  have to drop Moore or Brown.  I think that would be a mistake.  

If we keep 10, maybe Little beats Daley.

Good points SBB. And I wouldn’t want to sacrifice promising young talent for keeping Little around. There’s a possibility Brown gets moved to the practice squad if he doesn’t impress in camp. I think Moore impresses enough to stick on the roster. It would be too risky to try to add him to the PS.

[LinvilleGorge]

36 minutes ago, Prowler2k18 said:

That’s what I’m thinking. Little’s on a rookie contract and at least provides some depth. No financial advantage or otherwise by cutting him loose just yet. 

What depth? He's looked completely terrible. If he's terrible and unmotivated there's no advantage to keeping him around. He's on the outside looking in on a roster spot right now IMO. If he's on the roster, it's because he got his act together and earned it.

[Tinamedina]

15 minutes ago, SBBlue said:

If that was the only data point, I'd be more supportive.  Unfortunately, he looked really bad in preseason too.  Just every time he took the field, it was bad.

He barely played in the preseason, like I dont even remember what he did.

Went to YouTube, he only played in the bucs game for like 2 secs.

Edited July 5, 2021 by Tinamedina

[AU-panther]

19 minutes ago, SBBlue said:

We kept 9 last year for the 53.

72 Taylor Moton T
75 Cameron Erving T
60 Pat Elflein G
61 Matt Paradis C
70 Brady Christensen T
78 Trent Scott T
67 John Miller G
77 Deonte Brown G
68 David Moore G

-----------------

65 Dennis Daley G
74 Greg Little T

To keep Little, you  have to drop Moore or Brown.  I think that would be a mistake.  

If we keep 10, maybe Little beats Daley.

could happen, I could also see Moore going to PS.

Sometimes when trying to figure this out it helps to look at contracts and draft positions.  Right or wrong teams do sometimes feel invested in draft picks, especially higher ones.

Locks:

Moton (because he is good)

Erving (larger contract)

Elflein (larger contract)

Paradis (larger contract)

Christensen (higher draft pick by this staff)

Really good chance of making it:

Scott ($730k signing bonus for this year, tells me someone like him)

 

That leaves Little, Moore, Brown, Daley, and Miller for 3-4 spots.

Little - Has some measurables, I think this staff likes measurables that might help him.  He was a higher draft pick, but I think he was a Hurney pick, that might hurt him.  Sometimes new GMS and coaches like to distance themselves from other picks made by earlier people.

Moore - UDFA, seems like a PS candidate.  Would love for him to be our next Norwell, history just tells us that isn't likely.

Brown - Draft pick by current staff, could help, but it was a lower pick.  I think there is a lot of potential there, especially if he gets into shape.  If he does play well in training camp and preseason might be more afraid to put him on practice squad, might get poached.

Daley - Limited snaps last year, showed some potential.  Easy contract to cut.

Miller - Saw a lot of snaps last year.  Easy contract to cut but with all of the new guys and young guys the fact he saw a lot of action last year should help him. 

Right now if I had to guess which they keep, I would probably go with Miller, Brown, and Daley.

Moore to PS and Little cut.  Honestly though none of them have a huge commitment tied to them so it really will come down to how they play in training camp and preseason.

Also I wouldn't get to strict with the 4G and 4T split.  I could see a couple of the guys listed as either.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BudFox]

Grier should definitely go.  Nothing on the field, and his lack of experience brings nothing to the film room or practice.  I'd rather get a journeyman QB with experience to at least elevate and push the other two.

[SBBlue]

10 minutes ago, AU-panther said:

Moore to PS and Little cut. 

If Moore goes to the practice squad, he'll be gone.  He plays center too.

Great post by the way.

Edited July 5, 2021 by SBBlue

[AU-panther]

42 minutes ago, Prowler2k18 said:

Good points SBB. And I wouldn’t want to sacrifice promising young talent for keeping Little around. There’s a possibility Brown gets moved to the practice squad if he doesn’t impress in camp. I think Moore impresses enough to stick on the roster. It would be too risky to try to add him to the PS.

 

44 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

What depth? He's looked completely terrible. If he's terrible and unmotivated there's no advantage to keeping him around. He's on the outside looking in on a roster spot right now IMO. If he's on the roster, it's because he got his act together and earned it.

We save about $1.1m if we cut him this year. 

That is a decent amount, at that point he better be good depth, if not you can find cheaper bad depth.

Greg Little Contract Details, Salary Cap Charges, Bonus Money, and Contract History | Over The Cap

If he plays this year his cap hit is about $2.1m, if we cut him his dead cap hit is about $1.9m, we only save about $200k.  

This is why people think it doesn't save us much by keeping him but that is the wrong way to look at.  That dead hit of $1.9m includes next years dead money also.

If he plays this year and you cut him next, $2.1m (cap hit this year) + 900k (dead money next) = $3m.

If you cut him this year it cost $1.9m and nothing next year.

 

 

 

[LinvilleGorge]

The cap numbers aren't big enough to factor into the equation. It's loose change in the couch. 

[AU-panther]

9 minutes ago, SBBlue said:

If Moore goes to the practice squad, he'll be gone.  He plays center too.

Great post by the way.

Moore was an UDFA.  32 teams passed on him for 7 rounds.  Every year every fan bases freak out over their guys getting poached.  For another team to poach him they have to release some guy their fan base is hoping doesn't get poached.

I'm not saying it won't happen, the chances are just a lot less than a lot of people think.

Also I think there are some new rules about protecting practice squad guys that were put in place with covid.  Too lazy to look it up atm.