Oh my god aj smith is not franchising vincent jackson

[carolinanimal]

I don't know if it an indictment of those who brought them in or a realization that it rarely works that well no matter who brings them in. For example look at Philly who brought in Asomuga for all that money. He seriously underperformed. What about Haynesworth whereever he went or McNabb, Kolb, Peppers among many others. When you pay so much for a guy your expectations are very high. It is hard for someone to live up to the hype and play better than expected.

It seems clear Richardson is against the practice not indicting Hurney for trying to go that route in the past. Some of the biggest FA busts for us were actually guys brought in before Hurney took over as GM. Chuck Smith, Eric Swann, Sean Gilbert among others.

so do you think we should always just get mid to low tier free agents?

[bleys]

if you have solid drafts every year, you shouldn't have to resort to FA all that often.. maybe once or twice every other year if there happens to be an obvious hole or able to splurge on a guilty pleasure...

solid draft picks with solid coaching means solid trades in the future meaning more draft picks, so on and so forth... (theoretically)

[CRA]

I don't know if it an indictment of those who brought them in or a realization that it rarely works that well no matter who brings them in. For example look at Philly who brought in Asomuga for all that money. He seriously underperformed. What about Haynesworth whereever he went or McNabb, Kolb, Peppers among many others. When you pay so much for a guy your expectations are very high. It is hard for someone to live up to the hype and play better than expected.

It seems clear Richardson is against the practice not indicting Hurney for trying to go that route in the past. Some of the biggest FA busts for us were actually guys brought in before Hurney took over as GM. Chuck Smith, Eric Swann, Sean Gilbert among others.

well Peppers proabbly shouldn't be included with those other names.....they pretty much got exactly what he has always been.

[Urrymonster]

so do you think we should always just get mid to low tier free agents?

Personally I think free agency is perfect for picking up role players that have specific skill sets. Going for the 'final piece' of the jigsaw is a very short sighted approach as contracts are bloated and it causes other parts of the team to be restricted.

Get your veterans in free agency, get work horses, get role players. These players will not break the bank and you can cherry pick the older or flawed players that fit your team.

Classic example is Asomogha. I believe he is now playing predominantly zone coverage after excelling in man coverage with the Raiders.

[panthers55]

so do you think we should always just get mid to low tier free agents?

From a cost versus production point of view it is easily to get better value if you have less invested. Tyler Brayton comes to mind or Shockey last year. We didn't have much invested so felt we got a pretty good deal. THe bigger the expectations the more likely you will get less than you paid for. I am fine with searching for the diamond in the rough versus bringing in a big name FA. Particularly if you have lots of needs are aren't a contender. There is something that can be said for picking up the one guy you need to get over the top if you have most areas covered. I just don't think that has applied to the Panthers very often over their franchise life.

[panthers55]

well Peppers proabbly shouldn't be included with those other names.....they pretty much got exactly what he has always been.

The problem is that from a production versus cost factor they didn't get what they should have gotten. 37 tackles and 11 sacks is not that great when you look at Allen's 22 sacks.

[CRA]

The problem is that from a production versus cost factor they didn't get what they should have gotten. 37 tackles and 11 sacks is not that great when you look at Allen's 22 sacks.

Well an 11 sack season isn't standard production for elite DEs? For example Allen had 11 last year.

Pep also adds in other dimensions like blocking kicks....believe he now has the 2nd most in NFL history. Despite what the stat sheet said I would argue last season was the best of Peppers' career.

[Im-Alweys-R8]

how do you want vjax but not djack?

[Cold Cat]

I'd like stevie johnson as well as a few others. But the $$$ is the issue. It's just something that we'll have to see.

[OriginalAdmiral]

As CRA just said, Richardson just said that we were not going to sign any big name FAs and that in his opinion, none of them outside of Steven Davis, who had an incentive laden contract, ever meet or exceeded expectations.

I don't care if Jackson played at SD or not, I really doubt we will try and sign him or the other 30 guys that will get multiple threads once FA signings begin.

Despite what some folks think, JR is the ultimate decision maker about who we bring in or not and if he doesn't want it to happen, it won't.

Richardson must have forgotten about Proehl. I don't know what he was paid but it couldn't have been that much and he was definitely worth whatever we paid him.

[cheynehowell]

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.

Interesting stat for ya...The two best teams in football NE and GB have the 31st and 32nd ranked defense in the league.........................................................That is all:frown2:

[CRA]

Interesting stat for ya...The two best teams in football NE and GB have the 31st and 32nd ranked defense in the league.........................................................That is all:frown2:

Yeah, but total yards isn't the end all be all.

GB is 14th in ppg allowed

NE is 18th

GB D has the most INTs

NE D has the 2nd most

All the other teams giving up yardage don't generate the turnovers

[carolinanimal]

Yeah, but total yards isn't the end all be all.

GB is 14th in ppg allowed

NE is 18th

GB D has the most INTs

NE D has the 2nd most

All the other teams giving up yardage don't generate the turnovers

i think that is also a product of how the offenses force other offenses to catch up to them.

[CRA]

i think that is also a product of how the offenses force other offenses to catch up to them.

and then there are some defenses....who when there offense gets up by 17 or 23 and can't generate the turnovers/stops as teams attempt to comeback on them.