Who will the Panthers bring in to help on offense?

[jarhead]

why? at this moment and going forward...he's not better than sidney rice or braylon edwards. it's not like he's mike vick coming out of prison.

he's 33 and would be 34 by the time the season started. he hasn't played since '08. aside from being a dummy and shooting himself he's been in trouble a lot and has been a problem for both the steelers and the giants when he was with both teams. just a reminder of his issues...

btw...that last driving violation happened after he got in trouble for shooting himself. just dumb.

i'm all for second chances, but this guy has had a lot of them. if it was just the one issue of him shooting himself. if he was younger....maybe. but he was a locker room and team cancer before he got shot himself. coaches and teammates were annoyed with his attitude.

let some other team waste a roster spot and cap space on this guy. i'd rather work with players who have a future. i'm not big on players older than 30, but if they are, they better have been active the past few years. plax is just not worth the gamble.

Plus you can shoot yourself in a bar in NC and not go to prison.Seriously though I do not see him as an option nor do I see us paying the kind of money for VJ.I think alot will depend on how much it will cost to re-sign our existing players plus bring in a cb and DT.I see someone like MFloyd or a james Jones from GB.I you read between the lines with the decision to bring in Shockey we may be signing a placeholer if Chud feels we have the undeveloped talent already on the team.To me you should develope wrs and dont chase the high $ guys.

[rayzor]

Personally, I'll be thrilled to death if the Panthers show any inclination at all to improve through FA. Our front office has pretty well trained me to throw away my wish lists. Every fuging year, it's who we're going to dump, never who we might acquire.

aside from last year the panthers have been as active in FA as the cap allowed them to be. so why weren't they more active in FA leading up to last year? because they were maxed out on cap space. they were consistently at or close to their cap yearly, allowing barely just enough to handle mid season emergencies where they would have to bring in a FA because of injury.

last year they didn't spend money on principle. this year and going forward the team will be allowed to spend money and they will have a lot more money than they have had in many years to spend...even with re-signing players like williams, kalil, CJ, beason.

panthers have almost $72mil committed to the cap for the 2011 season. the cap floor in '09 was $112.1mil. given that the floor goes up about 1.2% each year, the floor should be close to $115 mil. that means the team would have to spend at a minimum $43mil next year.

the cap should be somewhere around $140 and with the expanded season it could be near $150. it was $123mil in '09 which i would actually consider a target for the panthers to spend this coming year. if that is the case, they would have $50mil to play around with this year. there is a lot of talent that could be bought for that amount.

i would be looking for the team to spend anywhere from $45-55 mil this year. re-signing core players should only take $25mill...maybe $30 if they decide to front load some of them (which i don't think will happen). even with that, it still will allow a lot of room to bring in a lot of talent. of course, you have to consider cam newton getting paid, but even with that we'll still have a lot of room.

the downside? say bye bye to a few players that have been sitting on the fringe or who are marginal talents. guys that we have hopes for and have been on the roster for several years that just never could quite make the game day roster will be heading out the door. the upside is we'll have a lot more talent on this team.

the upside? a more talented team.

[jarhead]

It baffled me that they signed Shockey given his age and injuries unless he feels we have guys that he can develop this year which may be the case.They signed Shockey as a one year placeholder.I guess it is possible he could make a similar move at wr taking a year to develop Gettis and company.I cant imagine the flurry of activity that will happen if this CBA gets resolved.I almost feel 100% that they will bring in someone that will be a big target for Cam that has his ego in check enough to spend extra time working with Cam on route timing.There are allot of options at wr but feel "fit " will be the deciding option.

At the cost of us having the worst team in the league we are in a unique position assuming there will be a cap.Many teams will be shedding players and contracts they can no longer afford.I see the Jets,Chargers,Packers and Cowboys to name a few having to release some good talent.I think this year may be tough for us but feel this ship can be turned around with the coaching and talent in place.

[rayzor]

we'll bring in at least one big receiver.

[TruCatzFan]

Ocho Cinco!! I just see him and Cam having similar personalities. I think he'd actually be a perfect fit for the Jets.

[jarhead]

Ocho Cinco!! I just see him and Cam having similar personalities. I think he'd actually be a perfect fit for the Jets.

Please tell me their personalities are not similar.:cryin:

[Catalyst]

I don't expect us to sign any big names offensively. I think we'll go after Cofield on defense, but on offense - particularly at WR - I think they'll bring in a guy to compete for a starting job in the event Gettis/LaFell don't continue to develop. Someone relatively inexpensive signed to a 1-2 year deal. Maybe Mark Clayton or possibly James Jones, though I have a feeling Jones will be paid a lot more than he's worth by someone.

I just feel like they think they have two starters in Gettis & LaFell and don't want to sign any big name WR who would push a potential star onto the bench. If one of them fails to impress next season then we can address the need with Alshon Jeffery or sign a top WR then. But at least we'll know by then because we really don't right now. Gettis & LaFell could potentially be the WR combo here for the next 7-8 years - or one or both could end up the next Keary Colbert/Drew Carter. It's impossible to say right now other than acknowledging that both have flashes a lot of potential.

I think two names to watch at guard are Derrick Dockery & Floyd Womack. Both fit the Keydrick Vincent mold of a solid veteran guard with a few good years left. Neither would be real expensive to sign, but would upgrade our OL quite a bit, IMO.

As far as QB goes... I really believe Cam will start game one. I also think we'll look to bring in a veteran guy to serve as a mentor of sorts. Chad Pennington is perfect, IMO. A real pro and a high character guy who could help both Cam & Clausen along.

Another position to watch for is RT. I would love to see us sign a solid veteran RT who can backup Otah and start if he gets hurt again. But I feel like Hurney & co. feel like between Schwartz & Zeimba we may already have a solution on the roster and he may be right, but I still worry about Otah going down again and how it could again have a ripple effect across our entire OL.

[jarhead]

Teams under a cap structure must be able to develop their stars.This year will be a bit different for the Panthers but I know JRs wants to develop talent and not overpay in the FA market which is based on historical performances and that was a real weakness with Fox and Friends.

Rivera and company will make decisions based on game film.They have a pretty good idea where we need help.I think signing Shockey to a one year deal is pretty telling.We have the talent but need a year to develop it.At WR it is a little different......Smith will be with us one more year at best and may not be happy about it so I think you need to take him out of the equatition.I saw the potential with both gettis and LaFell but is was relatively raw....that being said you need a number 1 and 2 receiver and a slot.We may be carrying a number 2 but we really need a number one so we may reach a bit.We may take a James Jones but I do not see us reaching up to a VJackson type of money.I think we will need a ot in the event Otahs injuries reoccur.I think we will bring in a vet qb as a place holder.We may also bring in a guard based on their evaluation of Swartz.

Assuming we can re-sign CJ,TD and james anderson on defense we will bring in a serviceable DT and cb and possibly a saftey.

[bleys]

I don't know. I haven't really been breaking down tape or anything, but fb was an important position when this offense worked and the running game took a noticeable step back with the loss of Hoover. There were obviously several other factors, but I would feel fine about it if the team tried to make an upgrade there to help out.

that had 1000X more to do with our offensive line than our FB...

[jherald]

Moss is available. There's always TO....lmao.

[jarhead]

Moss is available. There's always TO....lmao.

Come on Man

[Stroupe-a-loop]

that had 1000X more to do with our offensive line than our FB...

In 2009, Gross and Otah missed multiple games at the same time and the running game still functioned at a pretty high level. I'd say lack of a passing game had more to do with it than anything, but fullback could have been a factor.

[bleys]

In 2009, Gross and Otah missed multiple games at the same time and the running game still functioned at a pretty high level. I'd say lack of a passing game had more to do with it than anything, but fullback could have been a factor.

and we had 2 good backups to fill in.. while this past year our offensive line lost Gross, Wharton, and Otah.. we had the entire OLine filled with new guys except Kalil.. and our right side of the line was horrendous.

not a good comparison..

[Stroupe-a-loop]

and we had 2 good backups to fill in.. while this past year our offensive line lost Gross, Wharton, and Otah.. we had the entire OLine filled with new guys except Kalil.. and our right side of the line was horrendous.

not a good comparison..

The backups that saw significant time because of injury that year were Mackenzy Bernadeau and Geoff Schwartz. The same guys that got plugged in this year. I think it's a pretty apt comparison. When they were put in last year, the running game was just as good if not better. This year the whole line disappointed and actually the running game got better as a whole after Wharton was hurt. I don't think that's an indictment of Gross, Wharton, or the line as a whole. I think it reflects the necessity of a passing game and, perhaps, a decline of the play at fullback (Hoover to Fiametta). Like I said, I haven't broken down film, but I think we might look to upgrade the position.