The Future of Carolina's WR Core

[Kuech the Sneak]

Oh sweet Jesus Christ it's so much better that they were drafted and then cut

Well King wasn't cut we just took him off Denver's practice squad. They tried hard to keep him

[Carl Spackler]

Well King wasn't cut we just took him off Denver's practice squad. They tried hard to keep him

 

PRACTICE SQUAD

[Kevin Greene]

 

The Panthers now have watched their top four receivers from a year ago walk away this offseason. Smith, Brandon LaFell, Ted Ginn and Domenik Hixon all have new teams. That's a combined 156 receptions, 1,983 yards and 15 touchdowns. That represents 53.4 percent (receptions), 58.7 percent (receiving yards) and 62.5 percent (TD passes) of Cam Newton's 2013 production. Those receivers also combined for all but 55 yards and four catches of the receiving production in the playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Greg Olsen is back. He was the Panthers' leading receiver at tight end a year ago. Running backs Mike Tolbertand DeAngelo Williams combined for 53 catches and 517 yards and three TDs receiving a year ago. After that, it's scraps. Not another receiver still on the roster caught a pass last season.

Here's what's left at wideout: Marvin McNutt, Kealoha Pilares, Toney Clemons, Tavarres King, R.J. Webb, Brenton Bersin. Combined career NFL statistics of the six men: 29 games played, five catches, 83 yards, one touchdown.

Hakeem Nicks got away for one year, $3.5 million. He said the Panthers' offer didn't stack up to that.

Is GM Dave Gettleman planning on running the ball every play?

There remain some options out there:

• Free agents such as James Jones, Miles Austin, Sidney Rice, Santonio Holmes and others remain unemployed. The Panthers can be thrifty and perhaps sign one or two, hoping one of them goes for a "prove it" deal and can step in as one of Newton's first or second options. That approach landed the Panthers safetyMike Mitchell a year ago (oh yeah, he also got away this offseason ... for $5 million guaranteed, replacing him with aged Roman Harper) and might be the way they go here.

• The draft clearly will be focused on wideouts, and thankfully for them, it's one of the deeper classes in memory. There should be a good player for them at No. 28 overall, and there might be starting-caliber talent lasting into Round 4. But the Panthers also need major support in the secondary, where they lost Mitchell and Captain Munnerlyn, and on the offensive line, where three players retired, including Jordan Gross.

• The Panthers also will be on the lookout for veteran help, we assume, through the preseason. That depends on what they are able to do in the draft and how the group shapes up in training camp, but it wouldn't be a surprise if they add to this position as late as after final cutdowns.

What must Newton be thinking right now?

We believe he was fine with Smith going. Their relationship had run its course. Smith challenged Newton to be a better leader, and Newton occasionally rankled at that. But to lose so much receiving talent and blocking depth threatens to throw off the cohesion of the offense.

Gettleman tied his own hands when Hardy was tagged and immediately signed his one-year tender. That was a $13 million road block. But Gettleman also botched the Smith departure on several levels, let Mitchell walk for fairly cheap and also watched several free agents the Panthers liked (such as Nicks and offensive tackle Anthony Collins) get away for reasonable dollars. 

[Carl Spackler]

Exactly.

I have a feeling one of them will surprise people Proehl is a great coach lets not act like they don't have a mentor it was Proehl after all who mentored Smitty.

 

Muhsin Muhammad mentored Smith, he said as much in multiple interviews. Not saying Proehl didn't, because he did too, but Muhammad was the one who Smith learned from the most. Get your facts straight. i love you.

 

Edit: Nice, avoided the filter.

[methodtoll]

PRACTICE SQUAD

In which Both us and Green Bay were trying to get him on the ACTIVE roster. We got him.

Sent from my XT907 using CarolinaHuddle mobile app

[Carl Spackler]

That's incorrect Mcnutt was a sixth rounder and King was a 5th rounder how about you know what you are talking about before posting?

 

How about you know how to spell the name of our Pro Bowl middle linebacker before joining the Huddle?

 

It's K-U-E-C-H-L-Y.

[Carl Spackler]

Taken already but nice try...

I've been on the huddle a lot longer than you beastmorgan55 before the server reset then smash&dashgash and SuperMan..

What was Carolinahuddle originally called?

 

Seriously? A History lesson now?

 

Why not just use a different name rather than looking like a dumbass who can't spell the name of one of the best players on his favorite team? Kinda takes the bite out of your insults.

 

And it was Panthers Huddle before it was Carolina Huddle. Zod had to change it because the team requested it. I visited this site for quite a while before I joined. I remember the Locker Room. Happy?

[Pimpdaddy]

Bottom line is the WR Corp sucked last season and has sucked for several seasons before DG got here. If you want progress sometimes you have to blow it up and retool. Some of you are acting like we lost a top five bunch of receivers when in reality they all where average or below average. Smith was in decline and was average at this point and the rest where sub-par at best.So what the hell was lost? Guys that they will easily replace.

 

U be all over it....

[Oldmanrivera]

 

 

Holy poo, he is like the anti-lafell.

 

That catch at :27,  Lafall would have ended up poping that up and getting it intercepted.

[PantherFanOne]

Holy poo, he is like the anti-lafell.

 

That catch at :27,  Lafall would have ended up poping that up and getting it intercepted.

 

Exactly...Make no mistake,the dude can play.

[setzer2030]

Had to watch on mute....no one should ever make a highlight to Nelly.

[davos]

[DaveThePanther2008]

The ones blanantly bashing Gettleman with BS comments like "roll the dice again" and "letting Nicks go to the Colts" really need a life. To imply 2014 was luck is crazy. It was damn near genius to get just about every move right.

We all loved S. Smith, who arguably is one of the greatest Panthers ever. 600+ yards isn't lighting up the NFL. It was sadly time to move on. The way they handled it was pretty brutal but that is how it has always been. You can go back in every decade and see a superstar shown the door with little or no class.

WE GOT King and McNutt mid season with the notion that they would be on the roster but would not play. And for the most part they didnt. Why mess with our chemistry. I know 28th ranked passing attack but that group got us to 12-4. Those guys learned from S. Smith and crew. (hopefully) Hopefully the are "next man up" and we draft more help to give us a young but potent WR corps.

It cannot be to hard to see Gettleman is doing what he can to keep us competitive without piling onto what mess Hurney put us in. If it works out by 2015 or 2016 we will just continue to reload.

One final comment about DG. Any idiot that thinks Gettleman is trying to sabotage Cam really need to put the crack pipe down and see what you are implying. To do such a thing to a 2 time Pro Bowler and top ten QB with the unlimited potential of Cam's would basically be career suicide. What team would hire DG after trading a franchise QB like CAM? Except the team that he traded him to.