Hurney offered an extension

[thefuzz]

I would love to see the day when fans come to realize that the Jake extension was more about being able to actually sign some free agents and not about the loyalty to Jake.

With the franchising of Peppers, the Panthers had NO money to sign any free agents. Extending Jake's contract freed up some funds for the Panthers to sign free agents last year. Had there been a salary cap this year, Jake would still be a Panther and more than likely, the starter.

Considering most everyone believed 2010 would be an uncapped year, doing Jake's extension, in which he could be cut this year with little consequences, and allowed us to sign free agents last year, was a smart move to make last year.

Those of you who continue to bash Hurney for signing Jake to an extension are showing how little you know about the salary cap situation the Panthers were in last year.

Again, the extension was more about being able to sign free agents and draft picks last year than it was about Jake.

I disagree with this 100%.

The Jake deal was all about Fox and Hurney not trusting Moore, and trying to build Jakes ego back to where it was before the AZ game. And to make matters worse, much of the reason for us being in the situation in the first place was not attempting to ever address the QB position, nor the Gross/Pep contract year situation.

Please look at how much cap room that move freed up, and who we signed with said free room.

[AceMan]

But the thing is this.

Had Jake played lights out all season and taken us deep in the playoffs or even to the promised land then Hurney's decision looks brilliant. As it turned up Jake played like crap and we got to cut him at a time that his salary presented no burden on our ability to sign other players. So now Hurney's decision looks pretty damned smart to me.

You should be mad at Fox for not benching Jake, not Hurney for signing him. The signing didn't hurt anywhere near as much as the INTs did.

Unless you're JR of course. And it's both Hurney and Fox's fault. Hurney let a player, Peppers, dictate the franchise. That's on Hurney. Hurney already admitted he messed up numerous times. You can't blame Peppers because Hurney has already stated he used the tag on Peppers to attempt to re-sign him even though he knew Peppers didn't want to be here. And I don't care WHAT the reason, Jake just finished playing his worse game ever and looked like crap half the season. You don't extend a guy like that to save money. There was no way in hell Jake was going to play "lights out". That extension had "loyalty" written all over it.

If you look at it from a different angle, Fox's hands were tied because with that extension...Jake is FORCED to be a starter. But we all know loyalty played a big part in that decision.

This is sorta why I'm glad JR has finally took control out of Hurney and Fox's hands during the offseason for the most part.

[pantherj]

But the thing is this.

Had Jake played lights out all season and taken us deep in the playoffs or even to the promised land then Hurney's decision looks brilliant. As it turned up Jake played like crap and we got to cut him at a time that his salary presented no burden on our ability to sign other players. So now Hurney's decision looks pretty damned smart to me.

You should be mad at Fox for not benching Jake, not Hurney for signing him. The signing didn't hurt anywhere near as much as the INTs did.

I had no confidence in Jake after the Arizona game. His skills were clearly on the decline, and if not for Smith bailing him out, he would have been even worse. As for Hurney, he wildly overrated Jake's ability as a QB, and gave him a sweet deal. Fox is to blame as well, and also the Panther staff members who thought Jake was a good QB. He wasn't at that point, and he recieved a contract as though he was. Big mistake. You need to free up money for other players? Don't sign Peppers. Pick a different option. But again, it's not my money going to Jake, so no big deal.