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Teams that have recently rebuilt: Who should we copy?

unicar15

By unicar15,
in Carolina Panthers

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unicar15 Experienced

unicar15

Posted
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In the past 5 or so years we have seen a lot of teams that were in the crapper come back and rebuild to be legitimate superbowl and playoff contenders. Among those teams there are:

Saints - Peyton came in and the biggest weapon that he brought was Brees. Brees was a free agent QB that revolutionized that team. The Saints drafts focused on surrounding Brees with weapons. Since Peyton has been there he has found Bush, Colston, Meachem and Henderson. He also brought in Shockey and established Pierre Thomas as his feature back. Aside from Malcolm Jenkins and Vilma they really didn't make a ton of moves on defense. I think its safe to say that the Saints followed an offensive model to build.

Chiefs - Pioli was the architect for this team and like the Saints, he hired and offensive coach as his HC. On offense they made one really big move, sign Matt Cassel. However, I think its safe to say that with the picks of Glenn Dorsey, Tyson Jackson, Eric Berry, Brandon Flowers and Javier Arenas and the additions of guys like Vrabel their focus was on defense.

Falcons - After Mike Vick and before Matt Ryan the Falcons were essentially the Panthers. They had some decent pieces on both offense and defense but they had no QB. Their transformation started with QB but unlike the previous two teams they went through the draft. The first order of this rebuild was to take Ryan 3rd overall. Before the combine and pro days, Ryan was not considered a top 5 pick. I remember seeing mocks with him going in the teens (just remember that when evaluating this years crop of QBs). After adding Ryan they picked up a solid runner (Turner) and an escape option for Ryan (Gonzalez). They have made a few more additions on offense with a left tackle (Baker) but really those 3 moves are the biggest.

There are other teams that have rebuilt but these were the three that came to mind with teams in a similar situation to ours. The common factor with all of them...none had a QB and now all have a franchise guy. So I guess the simple point to be made is that we need to either find the next Matt Cassell/Drew Brees or we need to take one of the elite QBs in this draft and then go from there. Personally, I think our rebuilding job is most similar to the Falcons. Like them, we have a lot of pieces on defense and the offensive line. However, we need to find the QB to lead them. I think you have to look at the Eagles for a QB. Mike Vick for the short term or if we can have Kolb in a trade for the long-term.

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Murph Collaborator

Murph

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You can throw in Tampa and the Jets in that list. What do all of them have in common? in the 1st or 2nd year after after they drafted/acquired their starting QB they got back to winning more than they were losing. Yes, many other pieces were acquired to help but the biggest key to their success is good play from their starting QB.

Denver could be the next team. The Golden Calf of Bristol looked pretty good at the end of the season but how he fares next year is the key. Moore looked good for us at the end of 2009 but once teams had time to dissect tape, they found better ways to defend him.

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Cyberjag Newbie

Cyberjag

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The Saints did all that you mentioned, but they went 10-6, 7-9, and 8-8. Once they focused on defense, they won a Super Bowl. So yes, they brought in Brees, and then Vilma, but you left out them drafting Porter, Jenkins, and Ellis and signing Sharper. The biggest difference they made though, was hiring Gary Williams to run the defense.

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TheRealDeal Newbie

TheRealDeal

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Were Sanchez or Freeman considered elite prior to the draft? I know they were both taken in the 1st round (I think Sanchez was 5 and Freeman was around the mid-late first round) but I don't know if the two of them were super hyped up.

Sanchez was for sure. There was some controversy surrounding when he entered because Carrol said he wanted him back but he was still considered an elite prospect.

Edit: He definitely had less question marks than all the guys coming out this year.

Not so sure about Freeman. Not so sure that the reason they were decent this year was him either.

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TheRealDeal Newbie

TheRealDeal

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Winning not an option, nor is modeling ourselves around another team even possible... without a franchise QB. Start fixing things at QB and let the team evolve around him.

It's so fugging easy to say that but with the current options available to us, how do you suggest we get that done?

Take a QB just because we need one even though they are all projects?

Trade a 1st rounder for one that might be one but who knows he could be at best Jake Delhomme or Matt Moore?

Let last year's franchise QB develop with a year under his belt?

Sign an aging franchise QB that is nothing more than a stop gap now?

What do you do?

Don't give me generalizations, give me a specific plan of what YOU would do with actual names.

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rayzor Grand Master

rayzor

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The Saints did all that you mentioned, but they went 10-6, 7-9, and 8-8. Once they focused on defense, they won a Super Bowl. So yes, they brought in Brees, and then Vilma, but you left out them drafting Porter, Jenkins, and Ellis and signing Sharper. The biggest difference they made though, was hiring Gary Williams to run the defense.

they were kind of the anti-panthers. they had been spending all of their attention on improving the passing game and neglecting the defense. they added a couple players and brought in an effective, but douche DC, schematically improved/brought more attention to the run game and got things turned around.

btw...i think that it's more the relationship with payton and brees that is the reason for their success on offense. i don't know that their WR corps was all that great to begin with, but they brought in curtis johnson (probably the best WR coach in the country coached andre johnson, reggie wayne, santana moss, and roscoe parrish among others at Uof Miami) to work with the WRs and he was able to turn them into respectable WRs. add in a great QB and you you have them looking elite.

we aren't too far from having our defense elite, imo. upgrade at DT and get a solid option in to replace marshall and add rivera and mcdermott to the coaching staff along with a better and more aggressive scheme, and you have a top D.

the trick is going to be improving the passing game. once we have that then we will be up at the top.

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theyhateme45 Newbie

theyhateme45

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The problem is there isn't an elite QB in this draft. It would be nice if there was, but that's not the case.

Do we reach for one or do we go to a different need area?

I disagree with the statement there is not an elite QB in the draft. A lot of the prospects this year have Huge potential and could have a very high ceiling, they just also have a high risk factor involved with them.

In other words, High risk High reward players.... There are not any mild risk players with High rewards.

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