What is really behind all these cuts????

[nationsford]

this years draft is extremely deep on the defensive side.... we can get play makers in the 3rd and beyond.

[MrBubba]

Sorry, but it appears they are going cheap. Yes cutting Jake and taking his salary hit this year was a good move. Kemo appears also to be a good move, but guys our entire d-line from last year is gone. Peppers is gone, Lewis is cut (why not try and bring him back) Thomas isn't going to be resigned, Brayton hasn't been resigned. Marshall could be gone for a 2nd round pick. Diggs getting cut is a big mistake, another starter gone who plays well and on ST.

We have few draft picks to replace guys, and that doesn't include spots like WR, which were already weak, now we need LB help. The front office indicated we won't be a player in Free Agency; which appears true given our lack of connection/interest to any of the current FRee agents. And I'm unaware of anyone other than Michael Bolton showing a interest to coming to town.

Call it getting younger, but its also getting cheaper. It might work, but I imagine Jon Beason isn't thrilled right now.

[SCP]

Yout movement?

[Jackofalltrades]

The Danny Morrison effect.

[Sloth]

The Danny Morrison effect.

You think this has his fingerprints on it?

[carpanfan96]

The Danny Morrison effect.

yea, it seems to be a combination of that and JR's spot as a league leader for the Owners... Proving he's not about spending money for the uncapped season and try to lead the other owners by example.

[Lt Pinkerton]

the better question is what players are we going to get that will make us better than last year? you dont cut people with no idea of how to get better. we better hope they have plan. the fa market looks real weak for our positions of need.

so agian how do we get better? did we have breakout players (realistically) in the wings? aging vet who were awful holding great rookies back? no, we didnt. in fact our defense wasnt the reason we were 8-8 last year yet we completely over hauled it.

The better players are all on our roster. (with the exception of peppers of course)

1. Matt Moore > Jake

2. James Anderson/Dan Conner > Nail Diggs/Landon Johnson

3. Louis Leonard > Damione Lewis

4. Tank Tyler (or anyone) > Kemo

[beastson]

[ncbobcat]

89 Smith, Steve WR 5-9 185 30 10 Utah

96 Brayton, Tyler DE 6-6 280 30 8 Colorado

90 Peppers, Julius DE 6-7 283 30 9 North Carolina

21 Wesley, Dante CB 6-1 210 30 9 Arkansas-Pine Bluff

12 McCown, Josh QB 6-4 215 30 9 Sam Houston State

68 Vincent, Keydrick G 6-5 325 31 10 Mississippi

7 Baker, Jason P 6-2 205 31 10 Iowa *kickers--age isn't a great factor*

11 Feeley, A.J. QB 6-3 220 32 10 Oregon

45 Hoover, Brad FB 6-0 245 33 11 Western Carolina

75 Thomas, Hollis DT 6-0 340 36 15 Northern Illinois

87 Muhammad, Muhsin WR 6-2 215 36 15 Michigan State

4 Kasay, John K 5-10 210 40 20 Georgia *kickers--age isn't a great factor*

These are our 30 and older players--we look REALLY young now. With the FAs likely NOT comming back and others likely cut, we just got very young being able to lock down key rising talent for another stretch run over the next several years. We failed between 2003-2009 to get were we needed to get and in the mean time, got fairly old...not Tampa Bay old before having to do a total revamp. However, by recognizing that the older guys talent was waning, they decided to do the youth movement now. I totally agree with it, BUT it my take us back a step this year in young guys learning and building cohesion, although it will most likely pay off in 2011 and beyond.

[riddel]

To me the core is Beason, Davis, Gamble, Otah, Gross, Kalil, Smith, Williams and Stewart...and it was the same last year

I concur....sounds like you're heads on right.....riddle me this...

will the Panthers bring in a QB to challenge Moore for the job?

[MadHatter]

Sorry, but it appears they are going cheap. Yes cutting Jake and taking his salary hit this year was a good move. Kemo appears also to be a good move, but guys our entire d-line from last year is gone. Peppers is gone, Lewis is cut (why not try and bring him back) Thomas isn't going to be resigned, Brayton hasn't been resigned. Marshall could be gone for a 2nd round pick. Diggs getting cut is a big mistake, another starter gone who plays well and on ST.

We have few draft picks to replace guys, and that doesn't include spots like WR, which were already weak, now we need LB help. The front office indicated we won't be a player in Free Agency; which appears true given our lack of connection/interest to any of the current FRee agents. And I'm unaware of anyone other than Michael Bolton showing a interest to coming to town.

Call it getting younger, but its also getting cheaper. It might work, but I imagine Jon Beason isn't thrilled right now.

they are not going cheap. They are taking this as an opportunity to release mediocre players with overpriced salaries.

There is a BIG difference.

[Khyber53]

Yeah, this isn't rebuilding, but it looks an awful lot like the moves Fox made before 2002 and 2003. My bet is that it is a reload and he's shooting to go to the Super Bowl like in 2003.

He's getting rid of some of the oldest ones who are injury prone, expensive or disenchanted, and letting some marginal starters find new homes on the market (Kemo, Johnson, Peppers and Delhomme respectively). He's keeping a number of the younger 4-5 year vets along with some of the heart and soul players.

He's also making an effort to keep the three best strengths of the team right now: the linebacking corps, the running game and the offensive line. I'm betting they'll keep Smitty and Moose, along with Kasay (there just aren't any better kickers out there looking for work) and Brayton. The secondary looks strong enough, too.

But back in the day, he picked up Steven Davis off of the cast-offs and made him a star here. I wonder if he's got a WR picked out... there are some good ones available.

Still hate to see those guys go, though.

[KatsAzz]

It appears to me that they are trying to get the salary cap manageable for the years to come. The Panthers were constantly "restructuring" contracts, by paying the player a bonus and reducing his salary and spreading the cap hit. It came back to bite with Peppers and Fourney realizes they don't want to get in that situation again. They've watched teams who are good at managing the cap and are following that accounting method.

[panthers55]

I don't think this is the Panthers going cheap. They are taking this opportunity to dump large contracts held by aging players.

This is a young man's game...and we needed to get younger and more athletic.

Several of the contracts they are dumping though aren't expensive. This reminds me of New England. The sense was that they could keep dumping veterans and replace them with younger less experienced guys with no consequence. It worked for a while but bit them on the butt when they emptied their locker room of experienced veterans and replaced them with guys with little to no leadership qualities. I fear we are in the process of doing the same thing.