this year’s OL free-agent class boasts some major talent

[Jon Snow]

5 minutes ago, BlitzMonster said:

Campen is a well respected OL coach.  Some FA may be specifically interested in playing for him. 

If the contract offered is similar to other teams, having a boss that you enjoy working with makes all the difference.  

I wouldn't count on that playing much of a factor.  It's all about the Benjamins.

[RumHam]

fug it, trade the entire next draft for Garoppollo and take a corner at 6. THAT'S THE TICKET.

[Jon Snow]

1 minute ago, RumHam said:

fug it, trade the entire next draft for Garoppollo and take a corner at 6. THAT'S THE TICKET.

I know this is a joke but I would almost wager that it will end up being pretty close to your suggestion. 

[Aussie Tank]

Buy 2 solid interior lineman and draft Cross that would make me happy 

[Martin]

Would love to see Norwell at LG and Corbett at RG. I don’t buy in to the “we only have $17M” thing. You can easily manage your cap to make that work.

[Daddy_Uncle]

Gonna have to overpay big time. No good free agent is gonna want to come here.

[BrianS]

1 hour ago, Martin said:

Would love to see Norwell at LG and Corbett at RG. I don’t buy in to the “we only have $17M” thing. You can easily manage your cap to make that work.

You don't have to buy it, you can go look it up yourself.  We've backed ourselves into an awful corner with some questionable moves.  There isn't a lot of flexibility there this year because of moves we made in the past.  Last couple years we've been talking about "dead cap" for players not on the roster.  Well, most of that is gone now, but we're paying Reddick and Paradis a combined 12 million next year to not be on our team with voidable years crap.

The two biggest cap hits next year?  Darnold and Moton.  Darnold is 100% non-fixable.  His salary is guaranteed.  Moton is the one guy who might be worth what we're paying - and that number is $19 million in case you're wondering.

Shaq is the one person who we might be able to cut.  But, can you get his replacement plus anything worthwhile out of 12 million?  That's the key, right?  I dunno man.  Shaq is the only NFL LB on our roster who is actually under contract next year.  THE ONLY ONE.

The problem is not JUST that our cap is crap.  The problem is that our roster is actually paper thin.  Our top 22 players (by cap number) ends with Chuba Hubbard.  Below him are just the dregs.  We can barely even field a team.

We have probably 31 spots on our 53 man roster just completely up for grabs.  We have 17 million in cap, 5 draft picks and the UDFA market to fill those spots.  We really, really need to just take our lumps next year and regroup in 2023.  I'm terrified of the damage we could do to our future.

 

[Jared Patterson]

3 hours ago, RumHam said:

fug it, trade the entire next draft for Garoppollo and take a corner at 6. THAT'S THE TICKET.

Watch out... This is likely some people in that buildings actual opinion. 

[CPantherKing]

You can build a legit championship OL from scratch this offseason between the draft and free agency without breaking the bank.

[BlitzMonster]

1 hour ago, BrianS said:

You don't have to buy it, you can go look it up yourself.  We've backed ourselves into an awful corner with some questionable moves.  There isn't a lot of flexibility there this year because of moves we made in the past.  Last couple years we've been talking about "dead cap" for players not on the roster.  Well, most of that is gone now, but we're paying Reddick and Paradis a combined 12 million next year to not be on our team with voidable years crap.

The two biggest cap hits next year?  Darnold and Moton.  Darnold is 100% non-fixable.  His salary is guaranteed.  Moton is the one guy who might be worth what we're paying - and that number is $19 million in case you're wondering.

Shaq is the one person who we might be able to cut.  But, can you get his replacement plus anything worthwhile out of 12 million?  That's the key, right?  I dunno man.  Shaq is the only NFL LB on our roster who is actually under contract next year.  THE ONLY ONE.

The problem is not JUST that our cap is crap.  The problem is that our roster is actually paper thin.  Our top 22 players (by cap number) ends with Chuba Hubbard.  Below him are just the dregs.  We can barely even field a team.

We have probably 31 spots on our 53 man roster just completely up for grabs.  We have 17 million in cap, 5 draft picks and the UDFA market to fill those spots.  We really, really need to just take our lumps next year and regroup in 2023.  I'm terrified of the damage we could do to our future.

 

 

Wow - laying it all out there really depresses me.  The years of financial mismanagement, bad decisions and horrible contracts are all coming back to haunt the Panthers in 2022:   

• void deals (paying ghosts) 12M
• Sam Darnold guaranteed at 19M
• Robbie Anderson at 17M
• Paying a RB who can't stay on the field 14M.  Other teams pay their RB 1M or 2M and get better results.
• Sweetheart deals for career backup OL Pat Elflein (6.7M) and Cameron Erving (6.5M).  Based on performance alone in 2021 both should be cut.  So another 13M down the drain.

Grand total for all this mess is 75M.  That's for 5 lousy / injured players and 2 void deals.   Which is over 1/3 of our total cap space for 2022.

Spotrac

Edited February 16, 2022 by BlitzMonster

[BlitzMonster]

Bottom line is that when CMC gets injured next season (and he will) the Panthers will be getting productive play from less than 2/3 of their total salary cap.   So the team just throws away over 1/3 of its cap.  

It's no surprise Carolina is so bad.   What team could win with a financial handicap like that ??

[Martin]

2 hours ago, BrianS said:

You don't have to buy it, you can go look it up yourself.  We've backed ourselves into an awful corner with some questionable moves.  There isn't a lot of flexibility there this year because of moves we made in the past.  Last couple years we've been talking about "dead cap" for players not on the roster.  Well, most of that is gone now, but we're paying Reddick and Paradis a combined 12 million next year to not be on our team with voidable years crap.

The two biggest cap hits next year?  Darnold and Moton.  Darnold is 100% non-fixable.  His salary is guaranteed.  Moton is the one guy who might be worth what we're paying - and that number is $19 million in case you're wondering.

Shaq is the one person who we might be able to cut.  But, can you get his replacement plus anything worthwhile out of 12 million?  That's the key, right?  I dunno man.  Shaq is the only NFL LB on our roster who is actually under contract next year.  THE ONLY ONE.

The problem is not JUST that our cap is crap.  The problem is that our roster is actually paper thin.  Our top 22 players (by cap number) ends with Chuba Hubbard.  Below him are just the dregs.  We can barely even field a team.

We have probably 31 spots on our 53 man roster just completely up for grabs.  We have 17 million in cap, 5 draft picks and the UDFA market to fill those spots.  We really, really need to just take our lumps next year and regroup in 2023.  I'm terrified of the damage we could do to our future.

 

I hear you, but every other team in the league can make it work. So we should be able to.

[Wes21]

The Dallas kid (Connor Williams) was apparently the most penalized guy in the league and got benched at one point.  Do you know how bad you have to hold to get the most holding calls in the league when you play for a team the refs let hold more than most other teams?

I am reminded of TJ Lang when he went from Green Bay to Detroit.  The Packers are also a team that is allowed to hold at a higher rate.  TJs holding calls made a noticeable jump, to which Lang said at one point that he didn't understand it because he wasn't doing anything different than when he was in Green Bay.

Edited February 18, 2022 by Wes21

[onmyown]

On 2/16/2022 at 10:55 AM, Carolina Cajun said:

nah, coach has an eagle eye for talent, slater was only a guard, def not worth our early pick.

why do I have a feeling that even if they did take Slater, he wouldn’t have played this year