The 33rd Team previews Panthers free agency

[Mr. Scot]

Carolina Panthers Free Agency Preview (The 33rd Team)

Key points...

Carolina’s Impending Free Agents:

CB Stephon Gilmore
C Matt Paradis
QB Cam Newton
EDGE Haason Reddick
IDL DaQuan Jones
S Juston Burris
RT Trenton Scott
CB Donte Jackson
RG John Miller
LB Julian Stanford
CB Rashaan Melvin
RB Ameer Abdullah
WR Alex Erickson
P Lachlan Edwards
K Zane Gonzalez
S Sean Chandler
WR Brandon Zylstra
TE Ian Thomas
EDGE Marquis Haynes
LB Jermaine Carter Jr.
IDL Mike Panasiuk (ERFA)

 

Potential Franchise Tag Candidates:
EDGE Haason Reddick (expected $20.186 M)

 

Top Team Needs:

Quarterback
Entire Offensive Line, except right tackle
Cornerback
WR Depth

The biggest need for the Panthers this offseason is the signal caller under center. Sam Darnold did a decent job the first few games of the year, but he quickly fell back into his old habits, while Cam Newton and P.J. Walker just could not put sustainable drives together at the latter end of the year. Carolina may be willing to work with Darnold for one more season, but it may be just as a bridge for a younger QB.

Aside from quarterback, the Panthers need help all along the offensive line, aside from right tackle Taylor Moton, with two starters as free agents this offseason and an incumbent left tackle and left guard who should not be counted on for the foreseeable future.

With both Stephon Gilmore and Donte Jackson as free agents and Jaycee Horn coming off of a season-ending foot injury, the Panthers could look to expand their cornerback depth, especially if they cannot retain Jackson and/or Gilmore.

Lastly, Carolina’s wide receiver group was inconsistent last year with D.J. Moore garnering a lot of targets, especially at the beginning of the year. Once teams started to key in on Moore, the offense stalled and did not have their star running back to bail them out in crucial downs. Look for Carolina to add more pieces in that group in order to be able to spread the ball around more this upcoming season.

[Mr. Scot]

FYI: If you're not familiar with them, The 33rd Team is a group of former coaches and personnel guys that cover the game. They're a good follow.

I'd throw in that if you're interested in OL related stuff, you might like Brandon Thorn and his "Trench Warfare" thoughts.

[Jay Roosevelt]

I saw this thread title and thought the "33rd team" was our spot in the power rankings.

[PNW_PantherMan]

That's crazy to think we need help at WR.  Beyond DJ, they extended Robbie Anderson and drafted Terrace Marshall and Shi Smith just last year.  I had pretty high hopes for Marshall and Smith this year.  But Marshall didn't do anything, and Shi Smith was barely on the field.

What duds will we draft or sign this year?

[ColumbusCounty]

11 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

Top Team Needs:
Entire Offensive Line, except right tackle

Already knew this was obvious, still its just sobering to see. Even worse is the fact that that's been glaring problem damn near the last half decade.

Just looking at the list of left tackles we've fielded since Gross left is crazy. (Save Oher and Okung)

[Mother Grabber]

5 hours ago, PNW_PantherMan said:

That's crazy to think we need help at WR.  Beyond DJ, they extended Robbie Anderson and drafted Terrace Marshall and Shi Smith just last year.  I had pretty high hopes for Marshall and Smith this year.  But Marshall didn't do anything, and Shi Smith was barely on the field.

What duds will we draft or sign this year?

kind of harsh to label someone a dud as a rookie. most skill positions need a couple of years to adjust and really contribute. Marshall had basically the same stats as 89 his first year, with a much deeper WR corps to fight through for touches.

[unicar15]

10 hours ago, PNW_PantherMan said:

That's crazy to think we need help at WR.  Beyond DJ, they extended Robbie Anderson and drafted Terrace Marshall and Shi Smith just last year.  I had pretty high hopes for Marshall and Smith this year.  But Marshall didn't do anything, and Shi Smith was barely on the field.

What duds will we draft or sign this year?

We don’t need help at WR. We need a game plan and a QB that can get them catchable balls consistently. RA, DJ and the rest have all shown they can play. Fix the QB and you fix ALOT of problems.

[PNW_PantherMan]

7 hours ago, Mother Grabber said:

kind of harsh to label someone a dud as a rookie. most skill positions need a couple of years to adjust and really contribute. Marshall had basically the same stats as 89 his first year, with a much deeper WR corps to fight through for touches.

Yea that was bad wording.  I don’t mean that Marshall and Shi are busts. I’m just pointing to the fact that we drafted 2 receivers last year that made close to no impact on the team.

I can see us taking another one this year even though we have bigger needs.

[Mr. Scot]

14 hours ago, PNW_PantherMan said:

That's crazy to think we need help at WR.  Beyond DJ, they extended Robbie Anderson and drafted Terrace Marshall and Shi Smith just last year.  I had pretty high hopes for Marshall and Smith this year.  But Marshall didn't do anything, and Shi Smith was barely on the field.

What duds will we draft or sign this year?

If we parted ways with Robby Anderson, I wouldn't exactly be upset.

I suspect I'm not alone in this.

[Mother Grabber]

3 hours ago, unicar15 said:

We don’t need help at WR. We need a game plan and a QB that can get them catchable balls consistently. RA, DJ and the rest have all shown they can play. Fix the QB and you fix ALOT of problems.

i agree, i don’t see where anyone thinks WR is on our list of needs. QB, OL, MLB top my list.

[pantherj]

Non-QB Free agent moves are sort of like rearranging chairs on the Titanic. We're dead in the water until we find a top quality QB.

[Mr. Scot]

2 minutes ago, pantherj said:

Non-QB Free agent moves are sort of like rearranging chairs on the Titanic. We're dead in the water until we find a top quality QB.

It's never a bad or useless thing to improve any spot on your team.

We have bigger issues than QB though.

As long as we have an incompetent head coach, the Titanic metaphor applies.

[pantherj]

Just now, Mr. Scot said:

It's never a bad or useless thing to improve any spot on your team.

We have bigger issues than QB though.

As long as we have an incompetent head coach, the Titanic metaphor applies.

Yes making good free agent moves is a good thing, but I can't drum up the energy to care. Just thinking about QB atm.

[BrianS]

I'm not sure what has them thinking CB is an area of concern.  We have two first round draft picks at corner already.  Those guys need to sink or swim this year before we make a call like that.  Yes, I realize there are a lot of question marks around Henderson.  Nevertheless, this is the year he needs to turn it on.

Likewise, I think it's hard to project what our WR situation might be when our QB play has been so awful.