BOLD Prediction: Defense will be Better not Worse

[rayzor]

2 hours ago, csx said:

 

we did not let him walk. We traded him

And we're making the team better because of it

[Ricky Prickles]

20 hours ago, DeAngelo Beason said:

I mean... the only guy we lost that was a consistent contributor was Luvu.  Burns was nothing special despite what this forum thinks, and Donte Jackson was inconsistent at best.

Assuming we sign any of the free agents we are bringing in, they will replace Burns' production as a pass rusher while also not being laughably terrible against the run.

Good assessment here.

[AU-panther]

We were 29th in the league in points allowed, shouldn’t be hard to improve. 
 

https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/opponent-points-per-game

Edited March 15 by AU-panther

[rayzor]

no doubt, burns was a stud. the problem was we just didn't see much evidence of it. it could be blamed on several factors, but what we saw more consistently than him being a force was him not giving a complete effort. the result of that was his production last year was below what it should have been. 

some might get caught up in the mindset that we need to replace what Burns was capable of. That would be nice and we might pull that off in the draft.

the truth is, Burns supposedly half-assing it resulted in 8 sacks.

but then you look at his career. only one year has he lived up to his supposed potential...2022 where he got 12.5 sacks. the rest of his career (in reverse) it's been 9, 9, and 7.5

Are there other contributing factors? yeah....sure. but he's never been a top 5 rusher. he's only been a top 10 rusher once, and there were 2 others with 12.5 and 7 others who had more than him.

and he's supposed to be a sack specialist. there's all kinds of excuses we can give why he didn't do more, but others who show up in the top five or ten have reasons for not showing up there as well, but they do. 

basically it boils down to this, we aren't replacing what burns is capable of. we're going to replacing an ok edge with another ok edge. 

[Shotgun]

Being as we were the worst team in the NFL last year, I would hope we wont be worse.

[Jon Snow]

12 minutes ago, Shotgun said:

Being as we were the worst team in the NFL last year, I would hope we wont be worse.

That would be some kinda bad to be worse than they were last year. I don't know it's possible other than not winning a single game. 

Edited March 15 by Jon Snow

[CRA]

35 minutes ago, rayzor said:

no doubt, burns was a stud. the problem was we just didn't see much evidence of it. it could be blamed on several factors, but what we saw more consistently than him being a force was him not giving a complete effort. the result of that was his production last year was below what it should have been. 

some might get caught up in the mindset that we need to replace what Burns was capable of. That would be nice and we might pull that off in the draft.

the truth is, Burns supposedly half-assing it resulted in 8 sacks.

but then you look at his career. only one year has he lived up to his supposed potential...2022 where he got 12.5 sacks. the rest of his career (in reverse) it's been 9, 9, and 7.5

Are there other contributing factors? yeah....sure. but he's never been a top 5 rusher. he's only been a top 10 rusher once, and there were 2 others with 12.5 and 7 others who had more than him.

and he's supposed to be a sack specialist. there's all kinds of excuses we can give why he didn't do more, but others who show up in the top five or ten have reasons for not showing up there as well, but they do. 

basically it boils down to this, we aren't replacing what burns is capable of. we're going to replacing an ok edge with another ok edge. 

I know we haven't been living in a world where pass rushers thrive.  To me, Reddick is the one who really exposed Burns as overrated.   Reddick basically has been the same dude no matter the circumstances the past several years.   And he came in here and outperformed Burns on the stat sheet and to the eye. 

[rayzor]

2 minutes ago, CRA said:

I know we haven't been living in a world where pass rushers thrive.  To me, Reddick is the one who really exposed Burns as overrated.   Reddick basically has been the same dude no matter the circumstances the past several years.   And he came in here and outperformed Burns on the stat sheet and to the eye. 

reddick was a guy that wanted it.

burns was a guy that wanted to pretend he was spiderman.

[jtm]

If Evero is helping pick the players and I suspect he is, I think our D will be improved.  He's the only coach that I have complete confidence in based on what he did last year with marginal talent.  Plus, I think our offense will be better and the D won't be on the field for the entire game.  

Edited March 15 by jtm

[Call Me James]

A lot of new guys. No chemistry. Huge gaps.

Pass rush and coverage are questionable.

Horn questionable.

[Johnstonny]

On 3/14/2024 at 10:44 AM, DeAngelo Beason said:

I mean... the only guy we lost that was a consistent contributor was Luvu.  Burns was nothing special despite what this forum thinks, and Donte Jackson was inconsistent at best.

Assuming we sign any of the free agents we are bringing in, they will replace Burns' production as a pass rusher while also not being laughably terrible against the run.

Ditching Burns was absolutely the right move...wish we could of gotten more for him but his attitude and pouting was bad for locker room chemistry.

[CanadianCat]

On 3/14/2024 at 9:15 AM, WUnderhill said:

Getting Shaq back will help. He hasn’t lived up to the expectations of typical Panthers first round LBs, but he’s a solid presence in the middle who can coordinate the D. From what I’ve read, one of Jewell’s strengths is also coordinating the D, so we should have some strong voices in the middle of the field calling the plays and getting everybody on the same page.

 

Shaq gets so much hate here its crazy....

Look at all the former 1st round players getting dumped right now. Shaq is not Luke or TD but he is a better 1st round LB than most teams have drafted. The dude is a stud. 

[strato]

I guess it’s a bold prediction. Ask me after the draft. 

I think YGM was doing better, maybe ready to contribute more. Burns was good let’s don’t lie. Not complaining that he wasn’t paid $30mil here. They are gonna miss Luvu.

I know they kept games from being out of reach or embarrassing at times. There was a lot of effort out of most of those guys.

I tend to think the staff can do the same thing with a new cast if they get them some players. There will be downgrades and upgrades and different positions will reflect that. 

It is ask me after the draft. I want a defensive playmaker drafted. 

 

Edited March 15 by strato