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Completely baseless speculation by me - how to fix our WR issue

JawnyBlaze

By JawnyBlaze,
in Carolina Panthers

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JawnyBlaze Grand Master

JawnyBlaze

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http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000205689/article/hakeem-nicks-reportedly-not-at-otas-over-contract

 

We've discussed him at length here already, but new developments make the possibility (ever so slightly) more likely.  Nicks is holding out of OTAs because he wants a new contract.  I would LOVE it if we could swing a trade for (being reasonable here, not gonna get him as cheaply as the Bears got Marshall) our 2nd for him.

 

Factors to consider:

- Of course the top issue is the fact he wants a new contract.  I'm guess it'll be in the neighborhood of $10mil a year.  Might he give a hometown discount?  Sure, maybe.  I wouldn't bet on it.  I think $10mil a year is roughly what we'd have to count on having to come up with.  That's a BIG number.  We currently have somewhere in the neighborhood of $8.5mil.  I'm not going to calculate in the rookies' numbers or the JA June 1st cut because they'll just about cancel out and there's no way to get exact numbers since the rookies' contracts aren't all done yet.  So not only would we need to accumulate at least $1.5mil more cap space, we'd obviously want some padding in the case of an injury or something.  We'd probably want a total of at least $3.5mil more than we currently have:

      a ) First possibility, a Beason renegotiation.  The man has been paid $20mil for like 4 games of service.  I love him and all, but he couldn't realistically say he's earned what he has been paid on this contract.  For the good of the team, it's time to help out a little bit when it's needed to make such a big improvement on an area of need.

      b ) Second possibility, cut Hixon or Ginn, whoever is getting more.  Cut Clausen.  Cut Edwards.  Cut Fua.  Cut ALL the dead weight who probably won't make the team anyway.  That should get us at least $2 or 3mil all combined.  Use one of those tricksy GM moves to make Nicks' contract count less this year (though still getting him the money he demands).  This should make us able to squeak by.

 

Pros:

- All this criticism of Gettleman not doing enough to help our WR and Cam goes away.

- With Nicks being a legitimate, young #1 receiving threat, we can move Smitty to the slot and extend his career a bit.

- Next year's draft we can focus on LT or CB or whatever else is more pressing.  This gives us a lot bigger window in which we need to get another starting caliber WR.

- We win the Super Bowl.  It will already be decided.

 

Cons:

- Definitely no Hardy extension this year, not likely to happen next year.

- Harder for Cam's extension next year.

 

 

Conclusion:

I'm not saying I think it'll happen, or even that there's a semi decent chance it'll happen.  But the chance has more of a glimmer of hope now than it did before the OTA shenanigans.  It would cost us a hefty price, both in a moderately high pick (2nd round) and a pretty big contract.  But I think it'd be worth it.  Nicks is exactly the kind of WR we need for Cam, and he's already proven.  Not a gamble (and a HUGE gamble at that) like the WRs in this year's draft would have been.  He's tall, strong and has great hands.  He'll be able to snag some of those high passes Cam likes to sail every now and then.  He'll make Smitty a more effective WR.  Smitty as a slot would be straight money.  When he does drop a ball, it's more often these days a deeper pass or a sideline pass.  On the underneath crossing routes and the sort of stuff he'd be doing as a slot he's as dependable as ever based on what I've seen watching every game from last year at least 4 times now.  With a proven VERY good guy like Nicks on one side, a proven solid guy in Lafell on the other (when we go 3 WR) and Smitty in the slot I'd expect our offense to surpass that of Cam's rookie year.  Quite possibly top 5. 

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rayzor Grand Master

rayzor

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I think we should draft the next Calvin Johnson instead.....

 

agreed 100%!!!! and if he isn't there when we pick in the first round then we wait until next year. there's no point picking up a WR unless you KNOW for a fact that they will be a day one starter.

 

 

 

ha.

 

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CRA Grand Master

CRA

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Why wait around for the next Megatron....we should just hold out for the next Jerry Rice. Tired of wasting mid to late round picks on WRs. I am sure within the next 20 years he will come around and our odds he is slotted in a draft spot to actually get him are just as good as any of the other 31 other teams. Go big or go home

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rayzor Grand Master

rayzor

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tbh, i think the giants are probably more interested in keeping nicks than cruz. nicks is more of a total package type WR. cruz is a slot guy. he's produced quite a bit, but so did their version of steve smith when he was there so i think that production is kind of easily replaced, esp. with the number of WRs they have already and their ability and commitment to bringing in WRs regardless of the talent they have already there.

 

nicks would be harder to replace, imo. i think he's just more talented and they know it.

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rayzor Grand Master

rayzor

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Why wait around for the next Megatron....we should just hold out for the next Jerry Rice. Tired of wasting mid to late round picks on WRs. I am sure within the next 20 years he will come around and our odds he is slotted in a draft spot to actually get him are just as good as any of the other 31 other teams. Go big or go home

 

crap at this rate i'd just trust gettleman's eye to spot WR talent and bring in more FAs and day 2 draft picks just for competition's sake.

 

i do wish we'd be able to draft one in the first round next year. we double dipped at DT, why not WR? or at least in the first couple rounds a WR one round and a pass catching TE the other.

 

i just don't see us going after nicks or cruz.

 

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CRA Grand Master

CRA

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crap at this rate i'd just trust gettleman's eye to spot WR talent and bring in more FAs and day 2 draft picks just for competition's sake.

i do wish we'd be able to draft one in the first round next year. we double dipped at DT, why not WR? or at least in the first couple rounds a WR one round and a pass catching TE the other.

i just don't see us going after nicks or cruz.

Yeah, I agree with you...and Nicks aint leaving NY.

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rayzor Grand Master

rayzor

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What's Steve Smith's cap number?  Would you cut him to pick up Nicks?

no. best chance we have is acquiring another elite or potentially elite WR to pair up with smitty while smitty is still the gold standard. the window is really small there, but that is what will give us the best short term chance.

 

we need two guys who command double coverage, not just one. that in itself will help the team. i don't care about how many actual targets and receptions they get as long as it's enough that they force defenses to use more than one resource to cover them. it's more important that they be able to spread defenses thin.

 

i don't want to follow the same model we've been using going forward. we need two top notch WRs, not just one, for us to be completely dominant. WR corps needs to be just as scary as the RB corps....or more so.

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