What do you see going on in the draft next year?

[ed bell]

QB is not the concern that DT or even DE is.

cassell is going to be getting way too much cash and is not nearly worth what he will be getting.

focus on this....

Rep. To have gotten this far with Jake and to have the depth problems in our D how could anyone want to gamble on Cassell? He will be signed for more than Jake is making now with 15 starts on an early decade dynasty team with a Hall of Fame coach. Jake is getting it done at 33 years old.

[Delhommey]

I see a bunch of old guys gathering in a room in NYC to get a bunch of young guys on their team based on what the youths can lift and how they look in their underwear.

[Lt Pinkerton]

You have learned nothing from the last three years. It is ridiculous how you can still thing this way. Get rich quick schemes don't work, not in real life and they don't in the NFL.

First off, signing Aso won't happen

Second, signing Aso and Gross won't happen

Third, signing Aso, Gross and Cassel won't happen

Fourth, signing Cassel is stupid, he will demand too much money for too little proof that he can play and Jake will not take a back seat until he plays himself out of the starting spot. If you knew anything about Fox you would know that.

Aso won't matter much in coverage if you only have Tyler Brayton and Charles Johnson rushing the passer.

Now, lets get to what you haven't learned. You're entire offseason is based of signing big name free agents. THIS DOESNT f*ckING WORK. HOW f*ckING HARD IS IT TO SEE THIS? This isn't madden. If it worked we would see the Raiders winning and the Redskins would have 10 superbowls over the last 15 years.

The Panthers got caught up in this whole thing a few years ago. You can't just look at a team and say, well if I add this guy we are ____ much better. There are politics in a team, there was an article about Lucas, he wasn't accepted until this past year. He wasn't a showboat, he was just a loner type guy.

The Draft is the only way to build a championship. You can only gain players that play for each other if they are grown in your system. Only once you have the consistency and you know how to win can you bring in guys like the Patriots did two years ago. You must have the players and coaches that warrant immediate, undeniable respect. However, what the Patriots did was still completely different from your get rich quick scheme. They went bargain basement on Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Sammy Morris.

If you have players that are drafted by your team, developed by your team, and developed with the same guys, you will have a team that is 10x better than a bunch of high name guys. Guys bond, they grow together and they play FOR each other. Bringing in some big name guy only creates a divide, like Smith thought of Lucas for so long, and many people thought of Whale.

It's like a company buys another one. The paper always says that this is the best move and it will yield great profits, its always a good idea at the time. But the success rates of acquisitions are incredibly low, because they forget the human element. Employees ask, who are you to tell me what to do, how do I know you have my back, you replaced my friend.

You did think of a way to bring the team down completely though, bringing in another QB like Cassell would completely send the team into rage. Possibly replacing Delhomme with an outsider would piss everyone on the team off. Why not replace the defensive leader Beason too?

True, this is a business, but team chemistry is far more important than any single player will ever be.

Fox and Hurney will not sign a big money free agent other than Peppers or Gross. They may go bargain hunting and try and get lucky like they did with Brayton, what they did this past year was right. Hackett and Johnson just didn't turn out.

All valid points, and although I don't appreciate the flaming perhaps I was too gung-ho about the FA. But I think you underestimate it it's power. Look at Micheal Turner and what he did for the Falcons, what Randy Moss/Wes Welker did for the Patriots, and to a lesser degree what Farve and Pennington did for the Jets and the Dolphins respectively. I've been convinced about Cassel and the team chemistry/leadership parts of it, and I didn't take that into consideration.

However, I still say that signing Asomugha after a Ken Lucas cut would be a huge boost to our defense, at a pretty good price at that. Nnamdi is vastly underrated and he won't be a big Free Agent. I know he made his first Pro Bowl this year, but Raiders players are always willing to leave Oakland for cheap. Randy Moss got paid very little just for the opportunity to play on a winning well-coached team. Do you disagree that we should pursue Nnamdi? Our secondary needs the help badly.

[rayzor]

where in the world are you getting the idea that nnamdi is underrated and won't be a big free agent or heavily pursued?

he is unequivocally going to be the most sought after FA of the offseason, that is if the raiders don't make an absolutely boneheaded decision and let him go while he still has some value to them. i could easily see them trading him off for draft picks (which would be the smartest thing to do for them). the cost would be far too high for us to pay. no way does he end up here and no way should we go to the expense that it would take to get him here.

anyway, congrats on realizing that defense needs to be improved.

we don't need high profile FAs here. they come with too high a price tag and usually too much baggage. we can find bargains like we did with chris harris. we can build through the draft. we can build a wall on defense like we did on offense...all without shelling out big bucks for free agents.

btw.....here is what our defense should resemble:

a big ugly wall that you can't break through that will cut you to shreds if you try to go high.

[1789Cardiac Cats9020]

Well we're not getting rid of Peppers you can forget that thought. I'm almost certain Lucas is gone, and probably Marshall possibly. Gross will stay, and we'll have an O-line with the continuity that duplicates the formerly dominant Seahawks O-line (hopefully). Do we draft a CB? Of course we will, but our starting CB won't be a rookie. It will probably be someone along the lines of Devan Holley of the Browns or Kelvin Hayden of the Colts. We simply aren't a big splash in free agency kind of team. We ARE NOT going after Matt Cassel whatsoever, you can rest assured of that.

[1789Cardiac Cats9020]

One player to remember is Shaun Cody of the Lions. I have a feeling we'll take a look at him the offseason

[1789Cardiac Cats9020]

one more thing, if you think Nnamdi won't command the biggest CB payday in NFL, you are dellusional. That guy is simply ridiculous.

[rayzor]

much of the problems that we have in the secondary can be fixed by improving our front 4. it is just like the detroit lions....they could go after the best QB in the draft and find the best FA RB to compliment their stud of a WR and they still wouldn't have a winning record. you could put peyton manning as their QB and add deangelo williams or adrian peterson or brandon jacobs and then bring in chad johnson to go with calvin johnson and they would still be bad because they don't have an offensive line worth a crap. however, if you put a stud offensive line with mediocre players at QB,RB, and WR you would have a winning team.

the same thing goes for defenses as well. it doesn't matter who you get in the backfield if you don't have a good defensive line. you build yourself a stud defensive line and a very good LB corps (which we have) and you can get by with with mediocre DBs.

build the trenches. build them big. we do that and we own any teams we face.

[1789Cardiac Cats9020]

much of the problems that we have in the secondary can be fixed by improving our front 4. it is just like the detroit lions....they could go after the best QB in the draft and find the best FA RB to compliment their stud of a WR and they still wouldn't have a winning record. you could put peyton manning as their QB and add deangelo williams or adrian peterson or brandon jacobs and then bring in chad johnson to go with calvin johnson and they would still be bad because they don't have an offensive line worth a crap. however, if you put a stud offensive line with mediocre players at QB,RB, and WR you would have a winning team.

the same thing goes for defenses as well. it doesn't matter who you get in the backfield if you don't have a good defensive line. you build yourself a stud defensive line and a very good LB corps (which we have) and you can get by with with mediocre DBs.

build the trenches. build them big. we do that and we own any teams we face.

That's an excuse that works until you consider the Colts and the Packers...both bottom feeders as far as pressure on the QB, yet they allow very little through the air on a consistent basis. The problem is our secondary consists of Gamble, a rookie roamer, a hard hitting safety that couldn't catch a cold, and the kind but feeble ken Lucas. If we want to win the Super Bowl, I trust at some point in the playoffs, we're going to give Dante Wesley a shot at Lucas' spot.

Don't be surprised if Ricky Manning Jr. makes a return to Carolina next year either

[Lt Pinkerton]

One player to remember is Shaun Cody of the Lions. I have a feeling we'll take a look at him the offseason

I like Shaun Cody, and would be happy if we pursued him.

[PanthersFanNY]

I'd rather have Asomugha, and we could get him for much cheaper.

Asomugha might get tagged again, and either way I think both would cost around $10 million a year or so...

Getting pressure on the QB helps the secondary IMMENSELY; it will force bad throws and early throws. We need D-Line help more than anything and that has to be pretty clear at this point.

[Carolina•Pride]

One word

Kicker

[Cpt slay a ho]

wow,d line is the first thing that needs to be adress,either a pass rushing dt or some help for pep on the other side

[CanadianCat]

I think we can use the 64th overall pick on a good DT. The draft is VERY deep this year.

I would like to see a push for Matt Cassel or Nnamdi Asomugha but Fox/Hurney never sign big FAs. If I were Fox I would:

1. Cut: Nick Goings, Landon Johnson, Julius Peppers, Ken Lucas (This leaves a LOT of cap space)

2. Sign: Matt Cassel, Jordan Gross, Nnamdi Asomugha,

3. Restructure Jake's Contract to save Cap space.

4. Draft a good DT.

wow........ thats terrible..... im speachless....