Dan Morgan in a single offseason

[SOJA]

by trading and not resigning Burns he was able to sign both Lewis and Hunt. able to net an extra second rounder with the Rams / get Brooks and was able to essentially get Mike Jack with that extra NYG pick AND a fifth next year

I'll admit I wanted to resign Burns but when you can turn one starter into potentially four that's good business 

[Navy_football]

1 hour ago, strato said:

Still. The reason I say that, not speaking for others, is pretty clear. The picks for Burns went where? The money we didn’t pay him, went where? 
The draft picks, even trading up to the first, went where?
They have been shorting the defense to benefit the offense. 
Clearly it has been all about giving Bryce the help he needed. 
 

I looked a while back and the out of the last I think 12 picks 3rd round and up 9 were offense, and the highest pick spent on a defensive player was the 3rd on Wallace I think   Without going back to review  

And we are ending up playing our backup QB.  Lol. 
But what is that if not totally top heavy on offense? We can’t keep that up  

 

After 2023, what side of the ball would you have said needed the most attention? Defense needed some pieces. The offense needed a complete overhaul.

[Gapanthersfan]

The o line spending is probably the most polarizing topic of conversation going. It’s loved or hated. I will go on record as an initial hater, but have come around to truly appreciate it. O line is the most important unit on the entire team, and it’s not even close. If they want to rebuild the team in to a winning franchise, it’s a good place to start. 

I don’t look at it as just signing a couple stud guards to huge contracts. We bought high level guys with the experience and ability to teach Icky, Zavala, and the rest of the group the right way to do things. 

This team had a bottom dweller o line last year that would have gotten any QB killed. Skill positions wasted. 

The team got 2 guards, but what they really bought was a top 5 o line. Thus far Icky looks nothing like last year. There is zero pressure up the middle. That’s nuts. 

Keeping Dalton AND Johnson here… don’t see that happening. If he proves to be that dude, do we trade him late in the season? Time to step up XL.

[Navy_football]

Does the team get some dead cap relief next season? Wouldn't that open up some space for Johnson, Dalton, Horn, maybe Mike Jackson?

[Martin]

Very happy with Dan so far, will it all pan out? Who knows? But I like essentially all his moves so far

[strato]

1 hour ago, Navy_football said:

After 2023, what side of the ball would you have said needed the most attention? Defense needed some pieces. The offense needed a complete 

I’m not down for a large argument. Not like the Bryce stuff - which is mostly resolved. I am happy the offense is doing what they are now doing.

I can understand something, the why, and not like it. Which kind of where I am. 

So this is about Morgan anyway and I understand we have a new offensive coach. And I can’t blame Morgan for the situation he inherited. all the assets already wasted … Bozeman, Hurst, Bell, Bryce Young.
Then Mingo in the 2nd who is only a second year guy, you have to draft on top of him that high so soon? And I like Legette. How about they make do with what they have already spent? I mean they are asking the defense to make do. And they can’t? 

I like defense and they are being shorted. 

I lost something in edit: but like Hunt and Lewis? They couldn’t have held themselves to 100 million? Maybe Hunt and a draft pick? Or Two Lewises at 50 each? Something left over for a pass rush? 

 

Edited September 25 by strato

[DaveThePanther2008]

13 hours ago, Frank9999 said:

-Fixed the offensive line Have to have a stout offensive line in this league. I believe it is worth every penny. 

-got a borderline number 1 WR for Donte Jackson. Now that we have a QB that can get him the ball. This was a good move. 

- then replaced Donte with arguably a better CB or at the least equal for a 6th round draft pick. This is one of my favorite players on defense. Even in the first 2 games, he stood out. 

- drafted XL who looks likes hes gonna be a stud. Probably my biggest concern of all our moves this past offseason. Especially since the WR Buffalo took in replacing him is balling out. 

- drafted a stud LB ( trevin wallace) another favorite but needs more experience to be a staple in our defense. 

- drafted our future at RB looking forward to seeing him team up with Chuba. We'll be able to have fresh RBs all season once he comes back. 

people act like Dan and Canales were building for Bryce, but the reality is they are building for any QB to be successful. this has never been about Bryce, its been about building a winning football franchise again and if Bryce was gonna work then cool but if not then they find someone who will. Andy is that dude now.

have to give Dan Morgan and Canales their props I think they are off to a great start 

I also think Coker and Raym making the team as UDFAs gives us hope Morgan is doing this right. 

I agree they are building a team and not just for Young. 

Great Post 

[jfra78]

12 hours ago, kungfoodude said:

I think it is going to likely boil down to him not wanting to be here so we might have to make a big overpay again.

If Dalton gives him his best season why would he go to some other team to be a number 2? If it's money sure, but you can't say he wouldn't want to be here

[Gapanthersfan]

5 hours ago, jfra78 said:

If Dalton gives him his best season why would he go to some other team to be a number 2? If it's money sure, but you can't say he wouldn't want to be here

Week 10 trade to a team that’s right there in contention, but needs a WR for a SB run. A desperate enough team would dish a late second round pick if Johnson is 700 yards and 8 TDs at that point. 

[strato]

27 minutes ago, Gapanthersfan said:

Week 10 trade to a team that’s right there in contention, but needs a WR for a SB run. A desperate enough team would dish a late second round pick if Johnson is 700 yards and 8 TDs at that point. 

Depending on where the team is, but yeah. They do this stuff in baseball, and sometimes can re-sign the guy after the season. 

Win win. 

[kungfoodude]

6 hours ago, jfra78 said:

If Dalton gives him his best season why would he go to some other team to be a number 2? If it's money sure, but you can't say he wouldn't want to be here

Well Dalton's contract runs out at the end of this season. Even if we do resign him, there is no guarantee he will be there more than a couple of more seasons.

I think some of it will just boil down to what Johnson thinks of this scenario and the money we offer. If he is looking to win, this isn't the spot. If he is looking to get paid, it might be.

[grimesgoat]

17 hours ago, t96 said:

The absolutely incredible thing is you would think a big reason for our cap issues is dead money from some of the big names we've traded away recently. While that is partially true this season, it is not even remotely a factor next year, where if Dalton plays well the rest of this year and we want to keep him we barely have enough money to sign him and our draft class lol.

Can't agree here.  We're showing 42m in cap space in 2025.  Cutting Sanders clears 5m more.  horn extension clears another 6-8.  Cutting Wonnum gets us another 7.5.  The cap will probably go up another 10-20 like it always does.  And this is without any major restructures. 

It is a fallacy that it costs a lot of money to sign your draft class.  7 draftees come onto the roster to count against the cap and 7 guys leave that will no longer count against the cap.  Its usually close to a wash.

We have a full complement of draft picks for the first time in a while.  We have very little dead money in 2025.  We have our answer on BY (he sux), so we don't have that hanging over our head.  Maybe we can convert that into a pick or two.  And everyone's favorite whipping boy, Ian Thomas, will probably not be re-signed.

I think the future is the brightest its been in 4-5 years.  I am optimistic.

[TheMaulClaw]

20 hours ago, jayboogieman said:

Is that because he's actually good or just better than the mostly bottom tier WRs the Panthers have been trotting out since Smith?

All I know is that he played great the first time we actually put a decent QB on the field. He played like a number 1 Sunday. It may be just a good game, but he looked dynamic and there is nothing about his performance Sunday that proves he can't be. 

[kungfoodude]

1 hour ago, grimesgoat said:

Can't agree here.  We're showing 42m in cap space in 2025.  Cutting Sanders clears 5m more.  horn extension clears another 6-8.  Cutting Wonnum gets us another 7.5.  The cap will probably go up another 10-20 like it always does.  And this is without any major restructures. 

It is a fallacy that it costs a lot of money to sign your draft class.  7 draftees come onto the roster to count against the cap and 7 guys leave that will no longer count against the cap.  Its usually close to a wash.

We have a full complement of draft picks for the first time in a while.  We have very little dead money in 2025.  We have our answer on BY (he sux), so we don't have that hanging over our head.  Maybe we can convert that into a pick or two.  And everyone's favorite whipping boy, Ian Thomas, will probably not be re-signed.

I think the future is the brightest its been in 4-5 years.  I am optimistic.

Some of the moves you are talking about would also reduce the roster to under 40 players(the amount we currently have under contract with that ~$42 mil in cap space per OTC). That isn't including a QB salary(Dalton isn't on there) and when you are looking at maybe $55-60 mil in cap(if we do everything you say), it's going to be tighter than you think to sign almost 20 players, including a starting QB. 

The point being is that to have as little overall roster talent as we have, we should be looking more like the Pats, who have a projected $138 mil in cap space for 2025 with 39 players under contract. 

That's what a talent deficient roster amount of free cap SHOULD look like.