Everybody always yearns for the '03 Panthers, look at the key players from '03

[Sam Mills Fan]

Dickolaus and Cyberjag just posted supposedly mighty lists of free agents on the team, the vast majority of which have arrived in the past 365 days. That argument is supposed to prove just how active we've actually been right?

[Cyberjag]

Leonard and Baker arrived through trades. Moore and Landri were waiver claims. Tyler Brayton is the ONLY true free agent signee that will be starting for us this season.

Jamar Williams came here through trade, Sutton was claimed off waivers. That leaves us with THE Marcus Hudson and Ed Johnson.

Tyler Brayton

Marcus Hudson

Ed Johnson

^ That's your real list. One starter, one guy that we hope can contribute on special teams, and a backup. My, my, what a mix.

OMG, you're right. We shouldn't discuss ANY players who came from other teams unless they were free agents. Because it's all about free agency, right? Just free agency. The only way a team should be built.

Free Agency. Even the name sounds cool!

[Cyberjag]

Dickolaus and Cyberjag just posted supposedly mighty lists of free agents on the team, the vast majority of which have arrived in the past 365 days. That argument is supposed to prove just how active we've actually been right?

Actually, I posted a list of the players we drafted who were considered key players on the 2003 team. Looks like we've gotten better there, BTW, because more of our key players now were drafted instead of picked off other teams rosters.

[Sam Mills Fan]

This year we've got FA starters at several positions

Tyler Brayton is indeed a big dude, but he's not so big that he counts as "FA starters at several positions."

Read the Charlie Dayton tweet I posted again. He freely admits that the Panthers are in the Top 3 in the league with the most draft picks on the roster. He's proud of that fact. You can share in his pride and try to argue how it's actually better to just have as many draft picks as possible on the roster, free agents be damned, or you can try this asinine argument for whatever reason where we've supposedly been secretly active players in free agency and have a great mix of draftees/free agents on the team. You can make a logical case for the former, the latter is just BS.

[Cyberjag]

Tyler Brayton is indeed a big dude, but he's not so big that he counts as "FA starters at several positions."

Read the Charlie Dayton tweet I posted again. He freely admits that the Panthers are in the Top 3 in the league with the most draft picks on the roster. He's proud of that fact. You can share in his pride and try to argue how it's actually better to just have as many draft picks as possible on the roster, free agents be damned, or you can try this asinine argument for whatever reason where we've supposedly been secretly active players in free agency and have a great mix of draftees/free agents on the team. You can make a logical case for the former, the latter is just BS.

Ok then, please educate us.

What is the optimal mix of draft choices, free agents, and players acquired by trade that a team needs to have in order to make a Super Bowl run?

You might just want to PM it to us in case other teams coaches lurk the board. We wouldn't want that sort of information to get out, you know.

[Sam Mills Fan]

OMG, you're right. We shouldn't discuss ANY players who came from other teams unless they were free agents. Because it's all about free agency, right? Just free agency. The only way a team should be built.

Free Agency. Even the name sounds cool!

I never argued anything like that and, again, I clearly mentioned that in the opening post.

Stop posting this scarecrow garbage and read up on how to argue effectively. I'm starting to feel embarrassed for you.

[Cyberjag]

As a follow-on, I'm interested in knowing which of our drafted starters you think we should dump in favor of a free agent. I'm assuming there's more than one, or you would just give us another "Sign a FA WR" thread (because trades don't count).

Who do you want to dump?

[Sam Mills Fan]

Actually, I posted a list of the players we drafted who were considered key players on the 2003 team. Looks like we've gotten better there, BTW, because more of our key players now were drafted instead of picked off other teams rosters.

What difference does it make if we have more of our team composed of draftees than in '03 if we don't make a deep playoff run? If we're sitting at 5-11 at the end of the season, am I supposed to feel better because we went 5-11 with our own draft picks rather than free agents?

[Sam Mills Fan]

I'm still curious as to who these FA starters we have at several positions are.

[Cyberjag]

I never argued anything like that and, again, I clearly mentioned that in the opening post.

Stop posting this scarecrow garbage and read up on how to argue effectively. I'm starting to feel embarrassed for you.

I'm no longer arguing, I'm trying to understand the point you think you're making.

Originally I thought you were saying we should be bigger players in Free Agency because we were in 2003. But somewhere along the way I got the feeling you were just mad because we haven't signed a big name this year. So help me out, I'm not smart enough to follow you and you aren't answering my questions.

[Sam Mills Fan]

As a follow-on, I'm interested in knowing which of our drafted starters you think we should dump in favor of a free agent. I'm assuming there's more than one, or you would just give us another "Sign a FA WR" thread (because trades don't count).

Who do you want to dump?

Good question. Here's one we could have done this week but apparently had no interest in: Dumping Dwayne Jarrett (assuming he's the #2 like signs are pointing to) for TJ Houshmanzadeh.

[Cyberjag]

What difference does it make if we have more of our team composed of draftees than in '03 if we don't make a deep playoff run? If we're sitting at 5-11 at the end of the season, am I supposed to feel better because we went 5-11 with our own draft picks rather than free agents?

Well, that brings us back to the percentage question.

Frankly, I could care less whether you get a good player through the draft, through free agency, off the street, or via a trade. As long as you get a good player, I'm happy.

I'm not sure you feel that way, but I don't really remember any of your posting "body of work" so I'm basing all that strictly on what's been posted in this thread. Feel free to clarify.

[Cyberjag]

Good question. Here's one we could have done this week but apparently had no interest in: Dumping Dwayne Jarrett (assuming he's the #2 like signs are pointing to) for TJ Houshmanzadeh.

So why didn't you just make a thread about how we should have dumped DJ and signed TJ? There's room on the front page for one of those.

[Davidson Deac II]

All of this is irrelevant until we actually start playing the games. The object is to build a good team, it doesn't matter how. And we really don't know what we have yet, but I do think that overall we could be better than last year.