6 Dts And 5 (I'm Guessing) Spots:

[Zod]

Da fug you say?

I lol'd

[panthers55]

Who is to say we don't pick up more before final cuts in August. Shouldn't we at least wait to see how they play in training camp and the preseason before writing anyone off. Rivera got rid of Brown who was a first rounder so he has shown he has no loyalty to players, no matter how high they were picked, if they don't produce.

[carolina-chuck]

Fua or McClain will be the odd man out.

Mark my word

[Hairless Cat]

With our track record, at least one of them will be hurt and either cut or put on IR before the end of the preseason games.

[DaCityKats]

I hate to be redundant, but DT's are not interchangeable. If we kept McClain and cut Neblett, we would have 1 three-technique on the roster. That won't work.

If we have to cut one of our DT's, it will come from the grouping of Edwards, Fua, Shirley or Kearse. It will not be Neblett or McClain.

DT's are no different than offensive linemen. Yes, they all play on the offensive line, but guards and tackles are not interchangeable. Neither are UT's and NT's. So please, stop talking about all the DT's as if they all played the same position.

i agree but i think Shirley can play some 3 tech as well as NT.with that being said im going out on a limb and saying odd man out is Edwards. flame away.

[jarhead]

They won't cut Fua (a 3rd round pick) in his 2nd year.

I think it is to early to tell.I think Rivera will evaluate and it will come down to the final cuts.I would hope they would keep the best players regardless of where they were drafted.

[SCP]

Hopefully they practice squad

Fuggin

Useless

A-gapper

[Lout]

Who is to say we don't pick up more before final cuts in August. Shouldn't we at least wait to see how they play in training camp and the preseason before writing anyone off. Rivera got rid of Brown who was a first rounder so he has shown he has no loyalty to players, no matter how high they were picked, if they don't produce.

Brown was a 2nd round pick. Also, Brown was not a player drafted by Rivera. So of course he would have no loyalty to him. RR could tell immediately that Brown was a finesse player and did not want him on the team.

Rivera did however cut his own guy last season, that LB from UConn, his name escapes me. But he was a lower round pick. We have yet to see if RR has loyalty to his own drafted players whom are high round picks.

[Dingo_ate_Babies]

Won't surprise me if its Edwards, but probably won't happen. Will be 33 before the season and coming off a big injury.

[CarolinaPanthers8789]

I wouldn't be surprised if we carried all six of those defensive tackles since that position was decimated by injury and cut some of the offensive line depth and possibly a combination of quarterbacks, receivers, running backs, full backs, tight ends, etc...

Maybe Clausen and Brockel might go to make room for an extra defensive tackle.

Or they may just carry four safety's in Godfrey, Martin, Smith, and Nakamura to make room for an extra defensive tackle.

I personally believe the future is bright for the young five defensive tackles on the roster and to release any one of them would be foolish because I think they will be the group that the Panthers develop into a solid defensive tackle corp (Edwards is just a stop gap until the young guys can't play at high level week in and week out.

[panthers55]

Brown was a 2nd round pick. Also, Brown was not a player drafted by Rivera. So of course he would have no loyalty to him. RR could tell immediately that Brown was a finesse player and did not want him on the team.

Rivera did however cut his own guy last season, that LB from UConn, his name escapes me. But he was a lower round pick. We have yet to see if RR has loyalty to his own drafted players whom are high round picks.

You are right I think about Brown as a first rounder because that is his relative worth to us because it cost us a first rounder when we drafted him but technically we drafted him in the second round.

Brown was cut because he didn't fit into what we were doing and while Rivera may not have drafted him, Hurney did and he was involved in the decision as well so I think the fact that guys will be cut if they don't produce is a valid one no matter where you were picked. To say we haven't seen Rivera cut any of his guys assumes that he is the primary decision maker and from everything I have read or seen since he was hired would suggest that he is not the only one. Plus it is not the norm for any team to cut their top draft picks after 1 season especially without a training camp or off-season. But I clearly can sense that Rivera is less loyal to vets than Fox and has more urgency to win now.

[jarhead]

With our luck we will have someone get injured and it will be a non issue

[panthers55]

I do doubt that he gets rid of McClain or Fua this year. The fact that he didn't draft a DT high suggests he is fine with who we have. What will be interesting is to see how many he carries on the squad this year. Many times coaches who have significant injuries at one position tend to overcompensate in subsequent years because it was such a problem last year. On the other hand given that we will have to have extra backups at linebacker in the event Beason or Davis struggle, it may be a numbers game and we won't keep more than 5. Should make for a pretty big camp battle this year.

[Swaggasaurus]

And that is the likely solution (no, I am not rooting for one of them to actually get hurt). They have a history of putting players on IR just to protect their rights to the player.

Neblett was our best 3 technique DT last year and it wasn't even close between him and McClain. So we should cut Andre just because he wasn't a third round pick? Additionally, that would leave us with Edwards, Fua, Shirley, and Kearse who all play over the center, and McClain as our only UT. Doesn't sound like a viable plan to me.

Our 3 techs cannot rush the passer WORTH A DAMN, meaning since they cannot there is no reason to put a smaller guy out there. If we had a pash rusher there you would be correct, if you think that Neblett or McClain have shown anything to prove that they can rush the passer effectively you would be incorrect.