CardiacCats mock offseason/draft 3.0

[CardiacCats]

Fire the entire coaching staff. I would love to keep McDermott as DC, but chances are the new coach is going to want to group together his own coaching staff.

GM: MARC ROSS

Around this board he's about the only name I'm even hearing mentioned right now, and I'm perfectly fine with that. Ross is young and has done great with the New York Giants. I'm confident in who whoever we get as our next GM though, Arosi has a great track record and I was thrilled to hear he's leading the search to finding our new GM.

Head Coach:

Brett Bilelma, Head Coach from Wisconsin.

I hadn't even heard this name thrown around until just recently, but I've loved the idea ever since. Bilelma is just what I was looking for, someone with some type of head coaching experience and brings some young energy. He's built a powerhouse at Wisconsin which isn't an easy task and he is just 42. His scheme in college is exactly what I want to see here, build up a strong offensive line and just shove it down the opposing teams throat. Wisconsin has been "Offensive Line U" of sorts ever since Bilelma has gotten there and his schemes have thrived. This may not be very popular here, but I love it.

Offensice Coordinator:

Jerald Ingram, Running Backs Coach, New York Giants

Sticking with the ideals of developing a strong running game, we go with Jerald Ingram of the New York Giants for OC. He's in his 9th season with the Giants and has had a guy run for 1,000 yards in seven of those seasons. He has 28 years of coaching experience.

Defensive Coordinator:

Wayne Nunnely, Defensive Line Coach, Denver Broncos

The Broncos have a sick pass rush and Nunnely has a ton of NFL experience. Would make a very good DC.

TRADE DEANGELO FOR A 5TH ROUND PICK - we gotta get something for him, and I don't see us getting better than a fifth. You can all keep fantasizing that we'll get a second for him but there's no way in hell. We'll be lucky to get anything with that contract.

RESTRUCTURE BEASON - Beason wants to be here. I think we need him too, so as long as he'll take less money I expect him back this season. TD has been fuging awesome this year and I love that dude, but he's not reliable enough. By keeping Beason you can cut TD reps down to like 35 snaps a game so he's still effective but there isn't as great of a chance he'll get hurt. Plus Nunnely could prefer the 3-4 and bring that here with the linebacker core we already have.

Maybe sign a stop gap starter here and there. I'd love to think we may sign Bowe or Jennings but we aren't, we don't have the money right now.

Cut Jordan Gross - so sad :(. One of the greatest Panthers ever but the dude is obviously on the decline and cutting him frees up a lot of cap. You know Jordan, he'll be graceful about it and find a new home with no trouble. Mainly just freeing up cap for the future.

TRADE STEVE SMITH FOR A THIRD ROUND PICK - here's another one that'll bring tears to my eyes, THE greatest Panther ever. I think this will be a mutual thing, I know Smitty recently said "you're stuck with me till I'm done," but you can tell he's frustrated and still has some gas in the tank. He wants a shot at that ring and I think we'll find someone who will be thrilled to land Smitty.

NFL DRAFT

Let's be real, we're gonna beat Kansas City and Oakland and I expect us to beat someone like San Diego or Philadelphia to close the year. We're not picking first and I doubt we're in the top 5. I predict we'll get the 7th overall pick.

Round 1 - Luke Joeckel - OT - Texas A&M

There's two things you need to rebuild a team: a young quarterback and a franchise left tackle. We have the QB, here's our LT. Between hiring Bilelma and cutting Gross this is the only option for this pick. Joeckel isn't as elite as some of the LTs you see but he is going to be very good nonetheless. A little bit raw but he's still clearly the best OT on the board and most mocks I'm seeing show him going anywhere 6-12.

Round 2 - Tavon Austin - WR - West Virgina

Our slot man for the future, Austin is one of the most exciting players in the NCAA with blazing speed. As a senior he currently has 100 catches for 1050 yards and 11 touchdowns. He's also ranked as one of the best receivers for this upcoming draft. Here's another starter for us and hopefully one of Cam's top targets for years to come.

Round 3 (Smith Trade) - Baccari Rambo - FS - Georgia

Anything to get Naccamura out of there, Rambo has experience at FS and just like the first two picks will start from day 1. So far this year Rambo has 51 tackles and 2 sacks. He's projected to be a 3-4 round pick so this is about right for him.

Round 4 - Blaize Holtz - G - TCU

Buh buy Hangartner. 4 picks, 4 new starters. The OL now comprises of Joeckel-Amini-Kalil-Holtz-Bell. All incredibly young and that core could be set for the future.

Round 5 - Michael Williams - TE - Alabama

Olsen is an amazing receiving tight end but man he's terrible at blocking, under Bilelma that needs to be addressed. Williams is an amazing blocker for a tight end and could be decent in goal line formations as a receiver.

Round 5 (DEANGELO TRADE) - Nigel Malone - CB - Kansas State

Just depth here. Malone can be a nice backup and special teams player right off the bat and you can just hope he develops into a steal.

Round 6 goes to OAK for Murph

ROUND 7 - CALEB STURGIS - K - FLORIDA

Medlock has been horrendous lately and missed another easy kick yesterday. Meanwhile Sturgis is amazing, would love to have him.

QB: Newton

RB: Stewart

FB: Tolbert

WR: Tavon Austin

WR: Brandon LaFell

LT: Luke Joeckel

LG: Amini Silatolu

C: Ryan Kalil

RG: Blaize Holtz

RT: Byron Bell

DE: Greg Hardy

DT: Dwan Edwards

DT: Ron Edwards

DE: Charles Johnson

OLB: Davis

MLB: Kuechly

OLB: Anderson

*Beason subbing in with all of them

CB: Josh Norman

FS: Baccari Rambo

SS: Charles Godfrey

CB: Chris Gamble

[carolina-chuck]

Like the HC candidate. I really think we should go toward a college coach. These college coaches have proved they can make easy transition. And I really believe that they have a better understanding of drafting players bc they recruits throughout their lives. I.E., Harbaugh with Aldon Smith, Carroll with Carpenter and Irvin.

I like The Rambo pick.

I dnt think we'll get a 3rd for 89. More like a 4th or really a 5th. I dont think our offense would be better with a rookie WR and Lafell.

[Panthersguru14]

Not a bad mock at all my only problem is the lack of experience among the offensive and defensive coordinator.

[Ken]

Ok, props for the thorough write up but I don't like this mock. I'm meh about the HC and the DC but I do like the OC.

Also no way any team gives up a 3rd for Smith. Even a 5th for D-Will is generous. Rather restructure Gross than cut him. He hasn't been great but he's not so terrible that he should be cut.

No to Tavon Austin in this scenario. LaFell is not a #1 guy and neither is Tavon. If we trade/cut Smitty, we need a true #1 type WR, either in the draft or via FA.

I like the Rambo pick, even with the slight off field issue.

[La Pantera]

Why staight up cut Gross? A good LT should be tradable. There are a few teams out there in dire need of a starting LT.

[carolina-chuck]

Why staight up cut Gross? A good LT should be tradable. There are a few teams out there in dire need of a starting LT.

Texans cut Eric Winston.

[unicar15]

We better make some moves in FA or were gonna suck again next year...bottom line is that with the cuts were gonan make is that we will suck if we solely build through the draft.

[La Pantera]

Texans cut Eric Winston.

If you can get anything for him, its better than just cutting him.

[CardiacCats]

We better make some moves in FA or were gonna suck again next year...bottom line is that with the cuts were gonan make is that we will suck if we solely build through the draft.

It's looking like next year is going to be a rebuilding year, hate to break it to you.

I never said out WRs for the future are Austin and LaFell but we're not gonna have quality starters everywhere next year so we're just gonna have to make the best of what we'll have. Besides, without a clear #1 it will force Cam to learn to go through more progressions and spread it around better.

[SOJA]

people clamoring for Fox round two already?

[Bwood]

Steve smith will never be traded and everyone needs to realize that.

Good draft though Joeckel will turn this franchise in the right direction

[Squirrel]

Solid pick on the austin one. Dude is Smitty 2.0

[tiger7_88]

If Lutzenkirchen at Auburn is healthy, he'd be a much stronger pick at TE than Williams because he's got some of the best hands in the SEC, a proven red-zone threat, AND a solid blocker.