The reason why the Panthers are not good and have not been for 4 years.

[beastson]

We also since 95 had only one WR in the 1st round

Can't believe we didn't have first round picks in 2 years straight

[TruCatzFan]

peppers sabotaged the entire process from the start by mouthing off to the press about how he had a list of teams he would play for and how he wanted to play a position he had next to zero experience at. then he wouldn't sign his tender after he was franchised which made it so he couldn't be traded. when he finally did, it was near the start of training camp and every other team in the league had made all of the big moves they were going to make.

the only way a trade for a halfway decent pick would have happened would have been if he was mum about whether or not he wanted to sign back with carolina or had even indicated it was a possibility (iirc him and his agent actually hinted at it after 2009 but franchising him again wouldn't have been feasible). that uncertainty would have created leverage for the panthers in negotiations and we may have been able to wrestle a first round pick out of someone.

maybe hurney is at fault in the big picture for being a cog in a shitcan organization but to act like he singlehandedly screwed the pooch in that situation is revisionism.

For all the reasons you mentioned that's EXACTLY why it's Hurneys fault!! As a GM, you bring in him and his agent and you explain that you drafted him High in the draft, have paid him WAY over his on field output, and you ask him to return a favor so that the Panthers can get something from him In return. He owed this franchise and his teammates at least that little but of loyalty!

[Chimera]

I think so in 03-04 but ever since it's been Smith or bust.

I was talking about when we signed Moose as a FA in 2008.

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

For all the reasons you mentioned that's EXACTLY why it's Hurneys fault!! As a GM, you bring in him and his agent and you explain that you drafted him High in the draft, have paid him WAY over his on field output, and you ask him to return a favor so that the Panthers can get something from him In return. He owed this franchise and his teammates at least that little but of loyalty!

short of putting duct tape over his mouth hurney has no control over what one of his players says to the media.

they could have very well had a meeting like that and peppers could have said "no and fug you" and done whatever he wanted anyway.

[rayzor]

I don't agree with the premise but I will say this - we had the same wide receivers coach for 15 years from 1995 to 2010. Williamson can cite Moose and Smitty as successes. That's it.

i forgot about that. i'm sure he was a nice guy...good grandfather figure or whatever...but we should have moved on from him LONG before we did. before the cleaning of the house a couple years ago, there was almost a deathgrip on holding onto the past and extreme loyalty to people well liked in the organization. it conintued for far too long and that made the turnover so painful. changes and evolutions that should have been made gradually as the organization went along ended up being made all at the same point in time.

but yeah...we were hopelessly stuck in the past and while the game was obviously changing to a passing league, we were sticking to our guns. the passing game was an afterthought and it showed by the amount of draft picks used and FAs picked up. it showed in the QB we stuck with for a couple years too long and the lack of preparation for the post-jake era. it was also shown in us keeping williamson around forever.

[NanuqoftheNorth]

short of putting duct tape over his mouth Hurney has no control over what one of his players says to the media.

they could have very well had a meeting like that and peppers could have said "no and fug you" and done whatever he wanted anyway.

Negotiations between Peppers and this organization deteriorated to the point where each side was contradicting the other in public statements.

After reading reports of JRs involvement with the NFL players negotiations and the referee lockout, I am less puzzled at Peppers behavior.