"Building through the Draft" is the motto of losers

[Jangler]

just turn the trade deadline off.

[rainwater]

You win by both. You don't maintain success unless you draft quality players and pick up impact free agents.

[Ruff]

Have the Patriots, during the Belichick era, ever signed a "big name" free agent? Drew Bledsoe?

[SZ James (banned)]

It can be both

[smitty_89]

this is not the fuging NBA. Try telling the Detroit Lions you can't build through the draft...Suh, Stafford, Johnson, Best, Fairley, etc. Yea they had to stink for so many years to get those picks, but they built and improved their team through the draft. It can be a mix of both free agency and drafting but teams can definitely build through the draft if they want to.

[ckad79]

Ask the Redskins how they feel about spending big money on big-time free agents every year?

You win through the draft? No doubt about it. The problem I have is, you have to be GOOD at drafting the right guys who can pick up on your system and properly executive it. I question the ability of Carolina's front office to do just that!!! Granted, we have made some stellar picks over the years, but we usually struggle later in the draft. Teams like Pittsburg and Green Bay... don't. That's the difference. I think the chances of getting lucky in the 1st and 2nd rounds are about 80-85% (confidence on those picks is there). It gets much harder to get lucky as the draft goes on, especially after the 4th. Carolina and Hurney needs a lot of help there.

I still feel that you build winners through the draft! Football is really all about executing plays and it helps when you take a guy and train him from day one to learn your system, your focus, etc. If you get a guy later in the draft who you can afford to sit and train and roll out later on, you can constantly roll out competitive squads year-after-year like Green Bay and Pittsburg and New England.

Granted, free agents work when they compliment the system. Meaning they understand the system through similar coaching experiences and can fit in somehow. Though, just throwing money at a great player with great stats, just doesn't work (in most cases).

I really respect New England, simply because they'll take chance at veteran players here and there, but they don't risk much. Chad Johnson and Haynesworth-less this offseason, where tiny risks. The team's real success is because they focus so much on making quality draft picks and breeding them into their system for a constantly good product. More than that, they draft well LATE!

Also, look at the Eagles. THey were constantly a strong team beating out the Skins year after year who blew big money on crap!! This year, they go out and spend like Dan Synder and what do they have to show for it? mmm Meanwhile, the teams in the East who were cheap this year, focusing on the draft - Dallas and New York - have the edge. Go figure...

Thing is, we need to learn to DRAFT much better. That is our biggest issue. I don't think Hurney is good at that. Balancing the books? Sure. BUT drafting players into a system? Not so much. Maybe that has more to do with coaching and the front office being on one page about who they want and what type of guys work? I don't know. BUT it is our biggest weakness.

[Zithers]

eagles & redskins >>> steelers, packers, ravens

[KillerKat]

People can not fuging read. He's not saying we should say "screw the draft we're going to build through FA!". He's saying you dont have to rely on your team's success for the year JUST through the draft every year. Which is correct. You have your own team's vets as starters as well as FA along with a few rookies, if they are good enough, and rely on the draft for depth and MAYBE 1 or 2 starters for that particular year. Then through the years those guys you just drafted will become starters hopefully and the cycle continues. FA and the draft need to work together.

[Herbert The Love Bug]

All of the best players in Panther's history have been drafted by the Panthers. Very few free agents that have been that great for us.

[bleys]

one of the most ignorant threads of the year...

[Dpantherman]

Some people just shouldn't talk about football.