Mr. Witherspoon

[BF91]

We can say that not signing 'Spoon was a bad decision, but to be honest we don't know if TD would have developed the way he has, or if we would have ended up with Beason if we still had Spoony. Things like Spony signing elsewhere can make a big difference down the road and affects team's needs. Maybe TD never develops to the stud that he is today and gets cut or is a back-up. Maybe we miss out on drafting Beason because our record isn't the same that year.

Either way, while I love Spoony, we're not in a bad situation now as far as linebackers go.

[pantherclaw]

lol at all the misinformation in here.

[g5jamz]

http://www.examiner.com/x-38360-Carolina-Panthers-Examiner~y2010m2d15-Will-the-Panthers-trade-one-of-their-running-backs

Yeah...no clue where anyone would get such misinformation.

The team had a similar situation with linebackers Dan Morgan and Will Witherspoon. They couldn't afford to pay two top-shelf linebackers, so they paid Morgan and let Witherspoon walk.

[pantherclaw]

No disrespect to brad thomas, but he is leaving out facts that blow up his fan opinion.

I realize that no fan wants to believe their favorite player would turn down a good contract to remain with their team, but it happens all the time.

I remember the whole thing.

Morgan was our mlb. Spoon was our wlb that could backup mlb, but was far from a difference maker at the mlb position. The panthers offered spoon a contract that was very much in line with starting olb at the time. The rams offered him a larger contract to be their mlb. He followed the money. I don't blame him. He was never the mlb the rams thought he could be. These are all facts. Sorry your memory has failed you, and has you relying on the belief that the player turned down a contract from the Panthers. If you still doubt me, shoot gantt an email.

[pantherfan49]

so you are linking to a writer that has no clue. That's great.

I remember the whole thing.

Morgan was our mlb. Spoon was our wlb that could backup mlb, but was far from a difference maker at the mlb position. The panthers offered spoon a contract that was very much in line with starting olb at the time. The rams offered him a larger contract to be their mlb. He followed the money. I don't blame him. He was never the mlb the rams thought he could be. These are all facts. Sorry your memory has you relying on a writer that doesn't even cover the panthers. If you still doubt me, shoot gantt an email.

qft

[Peppers90 NC]

Morgan had already signed in either 04 or 05, and after the 05 season, we had no starting RB's on the team and the organization made Foster a priority over Spoon. That did not work out, or maybe it did. We ended up getting Beason later on anyway and was able to give Davis a shot. And Pantherclaw is correct, the Rams wanted and paid him as a MLB, which is higher paid in a 4-3 system than an OLB.

[Woodie]

pretty much that.

IIRC back then the front office basically had to decide whether to extend dan morgan or witherspoon - they decided to re-sign morgan. thus, spoon then moved on and signed a big deal with the rams, who wanted him to start at the MLB spot; that didn't work out, so he was shipped out of town a couple of seasons later...

Nope. They left the offer to Witherspoon on the table even after Morgan re-signed. In fact, they even upped the offer a bit when he was being courted by the Rams, but were not willing to overspend for him.

So despite the misinformed opinion some have, it was never an either/or situation between them.