Oh my god aj smith is not franchising vincent jackson

[Riverboat Ron]

Meh... I think Jackson is a very good receiver, I just don't think it's worth the chance of a suspension or big WR money. On the point of cap space, I think Hurney will work with contracts and make space. Guys like Wharton, Davis, and heck even Smith with a few extra years might take a pay cut just to make the team better.

[YoungPanthers89]

Meh... I think Jackson is a very good receiver, I just don't think it's worth the chance of a suspension or big WR money. On the point of cap space, I think Hurney will work with contracts and make space. Guys like Wharton, Davis, and heck even Smith with a few extra years might take a pay cut just to make the team better.

Dont think its worth the chance of a suspension? This guy is a monster, 6'5 240 and would make our offense almost unstoppable.

[Kevin Greene]

Vincent Jackson remains one positive drug test/alcohol arrest away from a 1 year ban in the NFL. Already a 2 time loser, no thanks.

[PantherBrew]

Hopefully we could have a contract protecting us from a 1 year ban.

[Vagrant]

We need to invest money into catching our defense up with our offense if we're being realistic. We can have the best offense in football next season but if we have the worst defense then we'll probably still be a borderline team. I understand that injuries played a major part in why our defense was so bad, but we're still incredibly thin on the defensive line and we took players out of street clothes to play linebacker for us. Not to mention the prospect of losing Dan Connor seeming all but a formality at this point.

The defensive side of the ball has to improve. We need TWO defensive tackles, a run stopping defensive end, a backup linebacker, a second starting cornerback, and backups at both safety positions. Every single bit of cap space we have should go towards meeting those needs and retaining what we have on offense already. LaFell has proven that he can handle being a starting WR in my estimation and the competition with Gettis will bring nothing but good things. Not to mention, despite the hate he gets here, Legendu is serviceable and picked up his game when the heat was away from him in the form of having success against nickel corners.

I agree with Rivera in his assessment that our offense needs a scat back to run screens through, but that would be more of a luxury perhaps than we can afford at this point without fixing the defense. I don't want to have to depend upon Captain and Butler to start opposite Gamble next season. I don't want an untested player at MLB if Beason gets hurt again. I don't want to see anybody that played S last year except Martin and Godfrey ever on the field for us again.... and even Martin strikes me as below league average at his position and could be upgraded upon.

The question here is do you try to make a great offense an elite offense at the expense of keeping a mediocre defense mediocre or upgrading that defense to league average or perhaps better if done properly? I upgrade the defense all day. Not even a question in my mind. Look at what the Denver Broncos were able to do with a damn good defense and a strong kicker. They made The Golden Calf of Bristol look like an NFL quarterback. Imagine what a good defense could do for Cam Newton.

[SOJA]

If we're going after a big name free agent I'd rather have super Mario

I wouldn't complain if we got v Jax though

[Wyank]

We need to invest money into catching our defense up with our offense if we're being realistic. We can have the best offense in football next season but if we have the worst defense then we'll probably still be a borderline team. I understand that injuries played a major part in why our defense was so bad, but we're still incredibly thin on the defensive line and we took players out of street clothes to play linebacker for us. Not to mention the prospect of losing Dan Connor seeming all but a formality at this point.

The defensive side of the ball has to improve. We need TWO defensive tackles, a run stopping defensive end, a backup linebacker, a second starting cornerback, and backups at both safety positions. Every single bit of cap space we have should go towards meeting those needs and retaining what we have on offense already. LaFell has proven that he can handle being a starting WR in my estimation and the competition with Gettis will bring nothing but good things. Not to mention, despite the hate he gets here, Legendu is serviceable and picked up his game when the heat was away from him in the form of having success against nickel corners.

I agree with Rivera in his assessment that our offense needs a scat back to run screens through, but that would be more of a luxury perhaps than we can afford at this point without fixing the defense. I don't want to have to depend upon Captain and Butler to start opposite Gamble next season. I don't want an untested player at MLB if Beason gets hurt again. I don't want to see anybody that played S last year except Martin and Godfrey ever on the field for us again.... and even Martin strikes me as below league average at his position and could be upgraded upon.

The question here is do you try to make a great offense an elite offense at the expense of keeping a mediocre defense mediocre or upgrading that defense to league average or perhaps better if done properly? I upgrade the defense all day. Not even a question in my mind. Look at what the Denver Broncos were able to do with a damn good defense and a strong kicker. They made The Golden Calf of Bristol look like an NFL quarterback. Imagine what a good defense could do for Cam Newton.

Who says you can't strengthen both in the same offseason?

And Rivera already said we are set at DT, not that I agree with him.

[g5jamz]

Scoring wasn't a Carolina problem....as much as I think we need a WR because Smitty's not getting younger I don't know if a dude that's one screw up from a 3-4 game suspension is what we need.

[Cold Cat]

I'm not sure if we need V.Jax. But having him may help us from running out of gas when it comes to the 2nd half of games. I've always been a huge defense fan but hey its an oppurtunity.

I'd love us to shore up the D but its a league run by offenses now. Look at Brady and the Patriots. They're defense is horrible. Aren't they in the playoffs? Looking to make a big push?

I wouldn't mind making our offense scary and a defense that can make plays.

[Vagrant]

Who says you can't strengthen both in the same offseason?

And Rivera already said we are set at DT, not that I agree with him.

Well in my opinion the only thing that says you can't improve both is the salary cap and the conventional wisdom that not every player you target is going to want to sign here. I do agree that you can make both stronger, but my point is that Newton's anticipated progression as a quarterback already surrounded by a TON of offensive weapons is going to mean that the offense should be right where it was if not better next season. We can go REALLY far with the offense that we had even this past year if our defense can stay off the field.

I think Rivera was sticking up for his guys when he said what he did about the tackles. We have two situational rookies with McClain and Fua, three technique and NT respectively, and a wild card in Edwards regarding how he will play coming back. I am of the opinion that you need two distinct sets of tackles for rushing downs and passing downs. I don't think we have either. If you can't get pressure up the middle, it downgrades your secondary because they have to defend that much longer and the routes have that much more time to develop. Now, I do anticipate that both McClain and Fua will improve with a full offseason of work.... but we can't pencil them into success before they've earned it on the field. Fua in particular had a terrible time with snap counts and getting pushed off the LOS.

DT is probably the most underrated position in all of football. If you can consistently make the quarterback uncomfortable in his line of vision by pushing linemen backwards into his pocket, the job of defending the pass is already half done. We don't need to be content with being decent at that position. We need to get aggressive with it and allow the rookies the time they need to put on strength and be rotational starters until they prove otherwise.

[Wyank]

Others have been pointing out that the cap space isn't as big of a deal as some of us think it is. Teams can make room. I don't know much on cap space so I'll let number guys think about that stuff.

I agree the offense shouldn't be main concern in FA or draft. The whole wisdom of not every player is going to want to play here actually works both ways though. With FA being before draft, if some of the defensive players aren't showing interest and a quality WR is available who is eager to be a part of something they think is special here in Cam, sign him and try to get the defensive spots filled in the draft. Same with if Blackmon falls to us and majority of most pressing needs on D are filled in FA before the draft, draft the man.

Also seems that people forget that there is both a FA and draft to fill these needs.

With the DT position, I'm not sure if we need 2 more DT. 1 yeah. 2, idk.

[carolinarolls]

$$

[rayzor]

i hope we can work it out. it would be sweet.

not completely necessary, but neither is having 2 elite RBs.

oh...and salary cap is not a problem. if they want him, they'll find a way.

[Wyank]

i hope we can work it out. it would be sweet.

not completely necessary, but neither is having 2 elite RBs.

oh...and salary cap is not a problem. if they want him, they'll find a way.

It would be much easier if they trade away one of those elite RBs with high dollar cap hit next year .... :D