Jump to content

  • Welcome!

    Register and log in easily with Twitter or Google accounts!

    Or simply create a new Huddle account. 

    Members receive fewer ads , access our dark theme, and the ability to join the discussion!

     

Josh Thomas...Carolina's Dark Horse Rising.

TheMaulClaw

By TheMaulClaw,
in Carolina Panthers

Recommended Posts

Beast_3000 Proficient

Beast_3000

Posted
Posted

Everyone has been downing our secondary, but this guy's a player. He's extremely physical and he's a great tackler. It's only natural I suppose from our perspective to get a little worried when a big name player goes away. (Chris Gamble) But Josh's statistical projections from last year are more impressive then Gamble's. Josh Thomas did play in all 16 games last year but mainly as a light rotational player, so most of his year statistics comes from the 4 games he started at the end of the year. Either way he's a CB that in his limited role last year had 35 tackles, 27 solo, with 7 passes defensed, and a fumble recovery. To put that in perspective, in the 2011-12 season Chris Gamble played in 15 games those being starts and he was only able to finish with a total of 45 tackles with 8 assist, and only 3 picks.

Anyway if Josh Thomas is able to recreate his play throughout the course of the whole season he's destined to probably be our best secondary player, and more picks will come his way.

It is actually a pretty good dark horse pick. For the panthers to be a playoff team we are going to need a few surprises in the secondary. Norman or Thomas have to live up to our expectations and exceed the critics expectations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
PantherFeez Newbie

PantherFeez

Posted
Posted

Last year we carried 4 CB's and 5 Safeties. I'd be interested to know who you think will make the 9 DB cut? (note: Naka has a 2014 void if he's on the roster this year)

 

Corners: J. Thomas, J. Norman, C. Munnerlyn, D. Florence, D.J. Moore, J. Dockery, M. White

 

Safeties: C. Godfrey, H. Naka, M. Mitchell, C. Jones, D.J. Campbell, R. Lester, A. Russell, N. Hixon

 

Bonus: Who do we end up stashing away to the practice squad?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TheMaulClaw Mentor

TheMaulClaw

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yeah Naka needs to go.   I don't think Lester makes the 53, but I do like him on the practice squad.   Problem we might have though, since he was a rapid fire UDFA, we may not be able to sneak him there.   Not sure what we do in that situation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
PantherFeez Newbie

PantherFeez

Posted
Posted

Yeah Naka needs to go.   I don't think Lester makes the 53, but I do like him on the practice squad.   Problem we might have though, since he was a rapid fire UDFA, we may not be able to sneak him there.   Not sure what we do in that situation.

 

I tend to agree on Lester. The second someone is in need of a SS, I think they will be picking Lester up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MHS831 Grand Master

MHS831

Posted
Posted

Last year we carried 4 CB's and 5 Safeties. I'd be interested to know who you think will make the 9 DB cut? (note: Naka has a 2014 void if he's on the roster this year)

 

Corners: J. Thomas, J. Norman, C. Munnerlyn, D. Florence, D.J. Moore, J. Dockery, M. White

 

Safeties: C. Godfrey, H. Naka, M. Mitchell, C. Jones, D.J. Campbell, R. Lester, A. Russell, N. Hixon

 

Bonus: Who do we end up stashing away to the practice squad?

Good question.  Most of the answers fail to take special teams into consideration, however, as well as contract status.

 

I really do not know all of the PS requirements, but I will go forward ignorantly for the sake of learning and discussion:

 

FS:  Godfrey, Jones (I know several of you like CB Melvin White, but I am guessing he becomes a FS--on the PS for now)

SS: Lester, M.Mitchell (Campbell to PS if eligible---I think Lester could be the day 1 starter, which is why he chose the Panthers)

CB: Thomas, Norman, Florence, Munnerlyn, Moore

 

CUT: Nakamura (Jones is a better special teamer), Dockery (hard to cut a tall, young CB), Hixon, Russell.

 

Practice Squad:  Melvin White, FS/CB; DJ Campbell, SS (if elibigible)

 

Key Battles: 

  • Jones vs. Nakamura (if Nakamura is not starting, the best special teamer gets the backup FS job)
  • Mitchell vs. Campbell (based on the fact that I think Lester is better than both, this is for the backup role)
  • I think any combination of the CBs could form the starting tandem. 
Link to comment
Share on other sites
PantherFeez Newbie

PantherFeez

Posted
Posted

 

Good question.  Most of the answers fail to take special teams into consideration, however, as well as contract status.

 

I really do not know all of the PS requirements, but I will go forward ignorantly for the sake of learning and discussion:

 

FS:  Godfrey, Jones (I know several of you like CB Melvin White, but I am guessing he becomes a FS--on the PS for now)

SS: Lester, M.Mitchell (Campbell to PS if eligible---I think Lester could be the day 1 starter, which is why he chose the Panthers)

CB: Thomas, Norman, Florence, Munnerlyn, Moore

 

CUT: Nakamura (Jones is a better special teamer), Dockery (hard to cut a tall, young CB), Hixon, Russell.

 

Practice Squad:  Melvin White, FS/CB; DJ Campbell, SS (if elibigible)

 

Key Battles: 

  • Jones vs. Nakamura (if Nakamura is not starting, the best special teamer gets the backup FS job)
  • Mitchell vs. Campbell (based on the fact that I think Lester is better than both, this is for the backup role)
  • I think any combination of the CBs could form the starting tandem. 

 

 

I want to move on from Naka, but i'm just confused that if we were going to cut him.. why did we restructure his contract and give him $65k more in bonus and a $35k workout bonus?

 

Naka's cap hit is $1.1Mil but $731k ($666k before restructure) of it would count against the cap if he's cut. That's chump change on the increase (I know) but why would you add on ANY dead money to a contract if you didn't want to keep him around?

 

Just my .02

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MHS831 Grand Master

MHS831

Posted
Posted

He has special teams value.  We are a bit hard on him because his screw ups were huge, but the problems that Matty Ice exposed were technique.  NEVER face an incoming pass and backpeddle. High Schoolers know better. However, his deal was to reduce the ridiculous amount Marty gave him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...