What the future holds and how can we replace what we lost?

[toldozer]

im trying to figure out which part of your post is utterly ridiculous and i can't quite pick it out

So what is more necessary Greg Hardy or a decent right and left tackle? I love Greg but with our current roster he's a luxury we can't afford. So explain to me why it's ridiculous to think that 13 million could have been better spent? Overpaying positions where we already have depth is why we're in this situation that everyone is bitching about. I love when people comment like you do but offer no reasoning for their statement. "that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, yet I'm not going to tell you why"

[TheNewStandard]

You don't drop one of your best and brightest stars just because you may have hole to fill. You just don't do it!

Every year we are gonna have holes to fill and if we drop our super stars to fill a hole, before you know it, we suck again.

One super star can be the difference between being an elite team and a mediocre one. We have players that can fill in and we have the draft. You definitely don't let a super star walk just because it frees up some money that you could use to find a starter or two and no free agents this year look like guys that could come in and be that cornerstone guy that would put us over the top.

Quit talking about trading or releasing Hardy. Just stop. If that's what you really want, go play Madden, but please! For the sake of all us Panther fans that don't want to become the laughing stock of every other team in the league, please stop with this ridiculous get rid of the Kraken horse poo.

[solorca]

All good points and I agree with you. The Offensive line is the biggest concern, but the truth about an offensive line is that it takes a while to gel anyway.  The way you build a quality line is by putting together players who can work together and learning each other.  If this is what it takes to rebuild the line, the so be it...but linemen, especially tackles are extremely expensive. We are going to need to pull in multiple starters from the draft most likely.

 

Wide receiver looks terrible now, and while I'm definitely worried, it's not an extremely difficult position to improve upon.  To improve upon an aging and less effective Smitty, Brandon Lafell, and Ted Ginn, it's not going to take much work. Nicks would obviously be a great start, but so would James Jones if we can pull him in.  Outside of those two, the other WR options don't interest me that much (other than as role players).   I should add however, that coming out of college, I was a fan of both McNutt and King.  Who knows if they will produce, but I really liked their talent. I'm hopeful one can step up to at least be our WR3.

 

Personally, I'm not worried about the secondary at all.  I really like the young players that we have and I think that some of them are ready to step up.  Sign a few Drayton Florence kind of vets as a temporary stopgap/competition, and I think we'll be good.

 

If it's up to me, we'll draft two linemen and a two receivers in the first four rounds of the draft.  My fear is that Gettleman will refuse to draft for need and will focus on BPA.  That's a good idea in theory, but when you have two massive needs and a deep draft at the very positions you need, sometimes you just have to go with it.

 

Breaking it down, Gross is really the only loss that is a huge concern to me...and that was because of a retirement.  Smith, as much as I love him, was purely for sentimental reasons. Be honest, if Smith was gone last year and was replaced with a random player who played exactly the same, would we be upset they were gone?  Mitchell hurt, but mainly for leadership reasons...I feel pretty confident another safety can take him place behind our front 7.

 

I'll admit, I've been super frustrated the past few days...but I've had a chance to settle down a bit.  We've pretty much lost everyone we can at this point, so now it's time for the rebuilding portion.  Let's see if Gettleman can work his magic again.

 

[UpstatePanther]

im trying to figure out which part of your post is utterly ridiculous and i can't quite pick it out

 

i thought the whole thing was ridiculous but the part about resigning Pep is probably the most ridiculous. i dont want that greedy SOB anywhere near our team. signing and trading hardy is only ridiculous because of how valuable he is to our team. if we were sure there was equal talent and/or compensation for what we'd lose, i'd say release the Kraken. but im not convinced there is replacement talent for hardy, nor is there equal compensation for giving him away. sign him and try to work out a long-term deal that is more friendly to the team's checkbook

[DelhommesTheMan]

Its funny for the hell of it 2 days ago i made a list of realistic options that i think would help us going into next season.  That list had 20 players on it.  When i woke up this morning none of those players had been signed yet and are still ours to sign.  When that list starts drying up and we still haven't signed anyone that ill start worrying.  Just to give an idea this is my list of short term stop gaps and role players:

 

OT: Wharton,Oher, Winston, Strief :  If we don't sign one of these 3 than its Byron Bell and Draft picks, plus these guys are mostly RT not LT except Wharton

.

WR: Nicks, Jones, Sanders, Burelson, Rice, Moore, Britt

 

KR/PR: Jacoby Ford ( would be a very logical signing here and could be an interesting slot WR option and Ginn replacement) or Hester

 

CB: Samuel, Tillman, Cromartie, Finnegan, Rodgers, DRC (pipe dream but still available plus hes thnking of retiring)

 

There are still plenty of veteran guys to fill our roster up with.  Obviously the draft will be our key additions as it should be, but any of these guys could no doubt fill a hole for a year or two.  Tackle is the only position where the draft will have to be our only real option as the talent will be better and the money will be more inline with what we can afford right now.  We have to go all in with OT in the draft the writings on the wall...Thats why signing Nicks or Jones is critical.

 

 

[PhillyB]

So what is more necessary Greg Hardy or a decent right and left tackle? I love Greg but with our current roster he's a luxury we can't afford. So explain to me why it's ridiculous to think that 13 million could have been better spent? Overpaying positions where we already have depth is why we're in this situation that everyone is bitching about. I love when people comment like you do but offer no reasoning for their statement. "that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, yet I'm not going to tell you why"

 

"brought back pep"

[toldozer]

"brought back pep"

That was a joke. Thinking 13 million is killing our Cap is not.

[toldozer]

You don't drop one of your best and brightest stars just because you may have hole to fill. You just don't do it!

Every year we are gonna have holes to fill and if we drop our super stars to fill a hole, before you know it, we suck again.

One super star can be the difference between being an elite team and a mediocre one. We have players that can fill in and we have the draft. You definitely don't let a super star walk just because it frees up some money that you could use to find a starter or two and no free agents this year look like guys that could come in and be that cornerstone guy that would put us over the top.

Quit talking about trading or releasing Hardy. Just stop. If that's what you really want, go play Madden, but please! For the sake of all us Panther fans that don't want to become the laughing stock of every other team in the league, please stop with this ridiculous get rid of the Kraken horse poo.

Lt, rt, one guard, two wrs, the entire back end of our defense, kick returner. If we are talking two or three glaring weaknesses then fine pay Hardy. If we are talking 10 outta 25 positions need to be improved you can't sacrifice all that for one player that isn't your qb.

[TheNewStandard]

Dropping Hardy basically cuts our pressure in half. That means that our DBs would have to be twice as good as they were last season. munnerlyn's pick 6 came off a tipped ball. Saw the play this morning. He was in zone coverage, basically playing right field. No one else was within 10 yards of him.

We are gonna get WR out if the draft and in the cheap. and I think they will be upgrades and good for the team in the long haul.

There's no reason to think we can't get equal production out of Similar contracts with DBs in draft and FA. Wo knows, maybe they will be upgrades. No reason to think the play from our front 7wont continue to improve given another offseason to develop. So its likely that the DB gets even less critical because of that.

Our OL is returning 4/5 starters before the injuries hit last season. We have guys to step up and we have the draft.

7-picks. 2 WR 3 DB 2 OL

I hope we get 4 starters out of this draft. 2 WR 1 OL and 1 DB.

Losing half of our pass rush, in my opinion, is a luxury we can't afford to lose...because it puts too much pressure on our DBs to perform at a higher level.

[carolina-chuck]

But, no money

[jarhead]

With only 6 million dollars in cap ....do the numbers.Unless we get Hardy under contract we have very little wiggle room. We will have 8 million in June and could cut Godfrey but as with Smitty we have to replace him.