Hardy Update: He signs tender, long term talks continue

[TheRed]

My take on Hardy: we're paying a superstar at a position you're supposed to have superstars at.

 

Winner.

[TheNewStandard]

Once CJ, DWill, Smitty, Godfrey and Stewarts contracts run their course, there will be plenty of money to get our core their $. It's just going to take some finagling and pushed back contracts until those get cleared up. It's like chicken-little around here and everyone is screaming get riis of one of our youngest and best players. That ain't happening, so prepare to say goodbye to someone not named Hardy because that's the one guy that you just can't afford to lose on the defense, regardless of how you feel about any other player on the D. Here makes everybody else look good and yes they help him as well, but you don't see them terrorizing OLines, running backs and slinging around QBs like rag dolls...Hardy is that guy.

It just feels like panic mode around here, like the FO is gonna let go of our superstars because of past transgressions. Semi-star Players will get cut and or traded off for peanuts before that happens. The future of our franchise is in our young superstars and we'll eat dead cap $ before we forfeit any of our superstars and the future of this franchise because we have a core that can compete with marginal players while building through the draft for the next few years while the cap problems get worked out on our aging and overpaid players.

[MadHatter]

My take on Hardy: we're paying a superstar at a position you're supposed to have superstars at.

Love Hardy's play and do not doubt that he is worth $13M per season.  My only issue is that with him and CJ, that is $30M of cap space and we have huge holes.

 

Would love to keep him, but I do think we would be better off as a team to let him walk and spend that money on a starting LT (Monroe) and either a starting WR/CB.  That would shore up two huge holes and allow us to draft BPA.

 

Just my humble opinion.

[cptx]

There comes a time when fans need to sit back, STFU, and let things play out before they throw in the towel and start bitching about every little thing they can find to bitch about.

 

Best answer

[Woodie]

The trade option is pretty much dead.  Sure, technically we could trade him, but the reality is that the team was clear at the time they tagged Hardy that they were using the tag to give them more time to negotiate a long-term deal.  They want him on the team, and they have no interest in getting rid of him.  Also, the fact that Hardy signed it so quickly, before even looking to see if another team was interested, shows that he really wants to be here.  Both parties want Hardy to be a Panther for a long time, it's just a matter of working out the details. 

[BANE]

Hardy isn't going anywhere. Everyone needs to get over it. He deserves his 13m this year or whatever long term contract he gets. Good for the Panthers for realizing the talent they had and keeping him here.

[frash.exe]

Love Hardy's play and do not doubt that he is worth $13M per season. My only issue is that with him and CJ, that is $30M of cap space and we have huge holes.

Would love to keep him, but I do think we would be better off as a team to let him walk and spend that money on a starting LT (Monroe) and either a starting WR/CB. That would shore up two huge holes and allow us to draft BPA.

Just my humble opinion.

My take on positions is that the most important ones are as follows:

1. QB

2.LT

3. DE

I consider LT and DE to be very close in importance but I give the edge to LT since the QB can't do his job as well as he could if you don't have a talented one. And of course after this is CB and WR, two positions that battle each other much like LT and DE do.

Both LT and WR need to be addressed in my mind. But at the very least this tag money isn't going to like tolbert or whatever and I'd focus on cutting guys like Godfrey to open a chunk of cap I can use on a starting LT or WR than letting Hardy walk.

[Woodie]

Love Hardy's play and do not doubt that he is worth $13M per season.  My only issue is that with him and CJ, that is $30M of cap space and we have huge holes.

 

Would love to keep him, but I do think we would be better off as a team to let him walk and spend that money on a starting LT (Monroe) and either a starting WR/CB.  That would shore up two huge holes and allow us to draft BPA.

 

Just my humble opinion.

I think it is a matter of structure.  I believe the team and Hardy will eventually agree on a long-term deal that gives us a 6-9 million cap hit for the next couple of years while CJ is hitting his big numbers.  Then when Hardy's numbers get big, we will either redo CJ's deal or let him go (the delay gives us time to bring in and groom a replacement, if necessary).  Either way, I don't think their huge cap numbers will overlap much...relatively speaking.

 

[Montsta]

Personally, I love that we retained Hardy. Between him and CJ, and Star and KK improving from their rookie seasons, our D-Line will be the best in the NFL next year. With Kuechly and TD behind them with an improved Klein and an improved Lester, our entire defense will beast every team we play. If offense scores 14, we'll win 75% of our games next year.

[Woodie]

And for those that look at the cap and say that we don't have the money to bring in anyone good, lets take a look.

 

Lets assume that we get a long-term deal done with Hardy (a reasonable assumption considering both sides have shown that's what they want).  Following the numbers of most big deals, the cap number for the first year or two is fairly reasonable...say between 6-7 million in year one.  That means that we gain an additional 6-7 million in cap space this year (I'll go low and say 6 million).

 

Well, we have about 6 million in space right now, so if you add in the additional 6 million, that means we would have 12 million available to sign FA's. 

 

Now, lets make another logical assumption and say we release Godfrey as a June 1st cut, that gives us another 5 million to work with.

 

So, with just those two moves, we would have at least 17 million that we can use to fill out our roster.  That's plenty to bring in a big-time FA such as Monroe to replace Gross, sign Mitchell and Ginn, and bring in a few guys on 1 year contracts...still leaving some money for rookies, in-season moves, and possible carry over money.  And that doesn't even include any of the other moves Gettleman could make if he wants to clear more cap space.

 

Point is that we are in pretty good shape, and Gettleman has the resources to fill in any holes we have with at least comparable talent to what we had last year...and improve some. 

[therealmjl]

And for those that look at the cap and say that we don't have the money to bring in anyone good, lets take a look.

Lets assume that we get a long-term deal done with Hardy (a reasonable assumption considering both sides have shown that's what they want). Following the numbers of most big deals, the cap number for the first year or two is fairly reasonable...say between 6-7 million in year one. That means that we gain an additional 6-7 million in cap space this year (I'll go low and say 6 million).

Well, we have about 6 million in space right now, so if you add in the additional 6 million, that means we would have 12 million available to sign FA's.

Now, lets make another logical assumption and say we release Godfrey as a June 1st cut, that gives us another 5 million to work with.

So, with just those two moves, we would have at least 17 million that we can use to fill out our roster. That's plenty to bring in a big-time FA such as Monroe to replace Gross, sign Mitchell and Ginn, and bring in a few guys on 1 year contracts...still leaving some money for rookies, in-season moves, and possible carry over money. And that doesn't even include any of the other moves Gettleman could make if he wants to clear more cap space.

Point is that we are in pretty good shape, and Gettleman has the resources to fill in any holes we have with at least comparable talent to what we had last year...and improve some.

Yes. I just don't see why it is so hard for folks to understand this.

We aren't done.

[cgarsmoker]

I dont think we will have like a 3-13 season but I do think with whats happened we will see a 8-8 team in a year with a easy schedule. In other words a down year because we could have done way better. With Hardy signing we are more cash strapped than even last year, thats what concerns me.

Predicting an 8-8 record before free agency has begun AND before the draft is absolutely ridiculous to me.

[52Beast]

My thoughts exactly.  This is our big free agent signing and hopefully a long term deal can be reached in the near future.

 

Ask Atlanta, TB and NO how they feel about seeing him in a Panthers uniform again....

 

 

We did pretty good the #1 FA is now a Panther. ..

 

[MadHatter]

I think it is a matter of structure. I believe the team and Hardy will eventually agree on a long-term deal that gives us a 6-9 million cap hit for the next couple of years while CJ is hitting his big numbers. Then when Hardy's numbers get big, we will either redo CJ's deal or let him go (the delay gives us time to bring in and groom a replacement, if necessary). Either way, I don't think their huge cap numbers will overlap much...relatively speaking.

That is what I am hoping for....with that, we could sign Hardy and a LT like Monroe for about that same 13m