I thought I would just set up a quick post with the current roster of the Carolina Panthers that have contracts up as of this year.
- M.Moore
- D.Williams
- J.King
- D.Rosario
- R.Kalil
- C.Johnson
- E.Johnson
- N.Hayden
- T.Davis
- J.Anderson
- J.Williams
- R.Marshall
- CJ Wilson
Lets see what happens!!!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
What If?
I remember when I was growing up I would constantly ask my father "what if" questions. They were always the most "off the wall" questions. What if a tornado came through town and took out our house? What if you ran for President of the United States and won? He would always answer with the same response, "it is not going to happen, so don't worry about it." And I would always respond with, "yah, but what if?"
Well what if I was the President or Owner of the Carolina Panthers? I know it is not going to happen, but what if?
THE DRAFT:
I would absolutely, under no circumstances, not take Cam Newton as the number one draft pick. Cam Newton is obviously a talented athlete, however if we are going to take a QB with the first pick, we need to make sure that this QB is going to be the next Matt Ryan or Joe Flacco, a rookie that can come right out of the gate swinging and lead us to the playoffs. Watching Cam Newton, do you believe that he has that ability? Honestly? Sorry, but I do not. So why take him with the first overall pick. We do not get another one until the 3rd round. We need to make this one count.
I would also never take AJ Green. Yes, I think he is a great talent and I think he would do great offsetting Steve Smith. However, what good is a great WR if you do not have a great QB that can get him the ball. I think we have all witnessed the talent of Steve Smith and we have all witnessed the frustration in his performance because we are unable to get him the ball in games. Why would be do this to an up and coming rookie. Until we can solve the QB issue with our team, we should not worry about positions relying solely on the QB for performance. (I will discuss the QB situation later in this post)
So this brings me to what I would do with the draft picks that we have. I would work on getting our Defense built up, our Defensive Line, and our Offensive Line. We have a great O-Line, however it has been riddled with injuries, and we need some solid depth in this position, especially with a young QB at the helm. We also have one of the best Defenses in the league, but when they are spending 75% of the game on the field, we again need to get some solid depth. Each game in this last season had a strong start to our defense; however come the 4th quarter, our defense was worn out and were unable to keep up the production they had at the beginning of the game. These are the players I would love to see in a Panthers uniform next year and I would be delighted to see with that #1 jersey.
- Patrick Peterson
- Nick Fairley
- D'Quan Bowers
- Prince Amukamara
- Marcell Dareus
THE QB ISSUE:
There is the common expression, "the elephant in the room", well with the Carolina Panthers that elephant is the quarterback saga. At the end of the 2009 season we had Matt Moore as our starter. And you can read some of my old blogs, I was ecstatic about this move. I have been a Matt Moore supporter for years and always thought he was better than what most people gave him credit for. I still think he is a good quarterback, but obviously not that starter we were all hoping for. We drafter Jimmy Clausen the following year in hopes that this new star of the NFL would make the difference; however after a number of starts he has not shown the great promise we were all hoping for. So lets toss him to the curb right? WRONG!!
Jimmy Clausen is a good quarterback, but is he the next great quarterback, is he the next franchise quarterback? It is way to early to tell. Sadly, Jimmy Clausen was thrown into the fire very early and has not had the opportunity to learn the position at the professional level the way most rookies do. It was also difficult in the fact that Jimmy Clausen practiced with the other rookies and practice squads all off-season, while Matt Moore practiced with the starters. He does not have the connection with Steve Smith that he does with D.Gettis or B.LaFell.
With this being said, what should we do. Well obviously we can not do much without the CBA. However, once the CBA has been put into place, I say we go after a veteran with a one/two year deal in order to have Jimmy Clausen, sit, learn, and understand the game a little better. There are a couple of veterans that I think would do good with this short term deal. Carson Palmer and Vince Young. (you could also probably make the argument for Donovan McNabb).
I think that Carson Palmer would be the best fit in this position. He wants out of Cincy and would be willing to take a two year deal that would allow him to continue to play. I think being in a new city, with a new team, and new leaders, he would increase his production (not quite to his early years, but close). I think it would help develop our young wide-outs and would give Jimmy Clausen some guidance he has not had since being in the NFL.
OTHER MOVES:
Now I will probably get the most slack for this idea, but I think it could really work out. I think we should put Jonathan Stewart out on the market. Jonathan Stewart is still a great RB and because of this, I believe that we could get a great WR to offset Steve Smith. I also think that with the emergence of Tyrell Sutton and Mike Goodson, we have great depth at this position to make this move possible.
-------
I think we can all agree that Carolina is in the midst of their rebuilding phase, which means we must all be patient, we can not expect to go from 2-14 to Super Bowl Champions. We have to be confident in the management's decisions, loyal to the players, and always show the enthusiasm and team spirit on Sundays when our team needs it the most.
Only three more days to the draft, lets hope that we continue the strong tradition of making smart decisions and taking quality players.
GO PANTHERS!
Well what if I was the President or Owner of the Carolina Panthers? I know it is not going to happen, but what if?
THE DRAFT:
I would absolutely, under no circumstances, not take Cam Newton as the number one draft pick. Cam Newton is obviously a talented athlete, however if we are going to take a QB with the first pick, we need to make sure that this QB is going to be the next Matt Ryan or Joe Flacco, a rookie that can come right out of the gate swinging and lead us to the playoffs. Watching Cam Newton, do you believe that he has that ability? Honestly? Sorry, but I do not. So why take him with the first overall pick. We do not get another one until the 3rd round. We need to make this one count.
I would also never take AJ Green. Yes, I think he is a great talent and I think he would do great offsetting Steve Smith. However, what good is a great WR if you do not have a great QB that can get him the ball. I think we have all witnessed the talent of Steve Smith and we have all witnessed the frustration in his performance because we are unable to get him the ball in games. Why would be do this to an up and coming rookie. Until we can solve the QB issue with our team, we should not worry about positions relying solely on the QB for performance. (I will discuss the QB situation later in this post)
So this brings me to what I would do with the draft picks that we have. I would work on getting our Defense built up, our Defensive Line, and our Offensive Line. We have a great O-Line, however it has been riddled with injuries, and we need some solid depth in this position, especially with a young QB at the helm. We also have one of the best Defenses in the league, but when they are spending 75% of the game on the field, we again need to get some solid depth. Each game in this last season had a strong start to our defense; however come the 4th quarter, our defense was worn out and were unable to keep up the production they had at the beginning of the game. These are the players I would love to see in a Panthers uniform next year and I would be delighted to see with that #1 jersey.
- Patrick Peterson
- Nick Fairley
- D'Quan Bowers
- Prince Amukamara
- Marcell Dareus
THE QB ISSUE:
There is the common expression, "the elephant in the room", well with the Carolina Panthers that elephant is the quarterback saga. At the end of the 2009 season we had Matt Moore as our starter. And you can read some of my old blogs, I was ecstatic about this move. I have been a Matt Moore supporter for years and always thought he was better than what most people gave him credit for. I still think he is a good quarterback, but obviously not that starter we were all hoping for. We drafter Jimmy Clausen the following year in hopes that this new star of the NFL would make the difference; however after a number of starts he has not shown the great promise we were all hoping for. So lets toss him to the curb right? WRONG!!
Jimmy Clausen is a good quarterback, but is he the next great quarterback, is he the next franchise quarterback? It is way to early to tell. Sadly, Jimmy Clausen was thrown into the fire very early and has not had the opportunity to learn the position at the professional level the way most rookies do. It was also difficult in the fact that Jimmy Clausen practiced with the other rookies and practice squads all off-season, while Matt Moore practiced with the starters. He does not have the connection with Steve Smith that he does with D.Gettis or B.LaFell.
With this being said, what should we do. Well obviously we can not do much without the CBA. However, once the CBA has been put into place, I say we go after a veteran with a one/two year deal in order to have Jimmy Clausen, sit, learn, and understand the game a little better. There are a couple of veterans that I think would do good with this short term deal. Carson Palmer and Vince Young. (you could also probably make the argument for Donovan McNabb).
I think that Carson Palmer would be the best fit in this position. He wants out of Cincy and would be willing to take a two year deal that would allow him to continue to play. I think being in a new city, with a new team, and new leaders, he would increase his production (not quite to his early years, but close). I think it would help develop our young wide-outs and would give Jimmy Clausen some guidance he has not had since being in the NFL.
OTHER MOVES:
Now I will probably get the most slack for this idea, but I think it could really work out. I think we should put Jonathan Stewart out on the market. Jonathan Stewart is still a great RB and because of this, I believe that we could get a great WR to offset Steve Smith. I also think that with the emergence of Tyrell Sutton and Mike Goodson, we have great depth at this position to make this move possible.
-------
I think we can all agree that Carolina is in the midst of their rebuilding phase, which means we must all be patient, we can not expect to go from 2-14 to Super Bowl Champions. We have to be confident in the management's decisions, loyal to the players, and always show the enthusiasm and team spirit on Sundays when our team needs it the most.
Only three more days to the draft, lets hope that we continue the strong tradition of making smart decisions and taking quality players.
GO PANTHERS!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Schedule Release
At 7:00 PM yesterday (April 19th) we found out the when and where the Carolina Panthers will be playing for the 2011 season (well that is if there is a 2011 season). There has been a large response to the fact that the Carolina Panthers have the #1 hardest schedule out of all 32 teams (ranked by NFL.com) even though the team was the worst team in the league.
I think the thing that I am most shocked about at this point is the fact that this is considered "new" news to so many. The schedule was released yesterday, but the opponents have been set for some time now. We knew we were going to be playing the NFC North, the AFC South, and obviously the NFC South we just didn't know what Sunday we were playing each team.
Regardless, we know that this upcoming year is going to be a tough one. Without the CBA in place the draft has limited options and is hurting the free agency markets, not to mention we have a new coaching staff with not a lot of time to "get on the same page". At this point the thing that will help the Carolina Panthers the most is getting a new CBA agreement in place as soon as possible!
For those of you that have not seen the schedule for the upcoming year, here it is:
** I have listed the 2010 record in the () after each team, all teams that made the playoffs last year are in RED , and I have put the teams in BLUE that were under .500 last season.
Sunday, September 11th 4:15 EST @ Arizona Cardinals (5-11)
Sunday, September 18th 1:00 EST vs Green Bay Packers (Super Bowl Champions)
Sunday, September 25th 1:00 EST vs Jacksonville Jaguars (8-8)
Sunday, October 2nd 1:00 EST @ Chicago Bears (11-5)
Sunday, October 9th 1:00 EST vs New Orleans Saints (11-5)
Sunday, October 16th 1:00 EST @ Atlanta Falcons (13-3)
Sunday, October 23rd 1:00 EST vs Washington Redskins (6-10)
Sunday, October 30th 1:00 EST vs Minnesota Vikings (6-10)
Week 9: BYE
Sunday, November 13th 1:00 EST vs Tennessee Titans (6-10)
Sunday, November 20th 1:00 EST @ Detroit Lions (6-10)
Sunday, November 27th 1:00 EST @ Indianapolis Colts (10-6)
Sunday, December 4th 1:00 EST @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-6)
Sunday, December 11th 1:00 EST vs Atlanta Falcons
Sunday, December 18th 1:00 EST @ Houston Texans (6-10)
Saturday, December 24th (CHRISTMAS EVE) 1:00 EST vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Sunday, January 1st 1:00 EST @ New Orleans
As you can see we have 7 games total against teams under .500 and 7 games against last season playoff teams (4 of which are divisional games). I have been known to be a optimist, but I do not see this as being the hardest schedule in the NFL. I see it as an opportunity to prove the doubters.
Here is to hoping that we do not make a stupid decision with the first pick (aka picking a QB). See you in a couple weeks.
GO PANTHERS!
I think the thing that I am most shocked about at this point is the fact that this is considered "new" news to so many. The schedule was released yesterday, but the opponents have been set for some time now. We knew we were going to be playing the NFC North, the AFC South, and obviously the NFC South we just didn't know what Sunday we were playing each team.
Regardless, we know that this upcoming year is going to be a tough one. Without the CBA in place the draft has limited options and is hurting the free agency markets, not to mention we have a new coaching staff with not a lot of time to "get on the same page". At this point the thing that will help the Carolina Panthers the most is getting a new CBA agreement in place as soon as possible!
For those of you that have not seen the schedule for the upcoming year, here it is:
** I have listed the 2010 record in the () after each team, all teams that made the playoffs last year are in RED , and I have put the teams in BLUE that were under .500 last season.
Sunday, September 11th 4:15 EST @ Arizona Cardinals (5-11)
Sunday, September 18th 1:00 EST vs Green Bay Packers (Super Bowl Champions)
Sunday, September 25th 1:00 EST vs Jacksonville Jaguars (8-8)
Sunday, October 2nd 1:00 EST @ Chicago Bears (11-5)
Sunday, October 9th 1:00 EST vs New Orleans Saints (11-5)
Sunday, October 16th 1:00 EST @ Atlanta Falcons (13-3)
Sunday, October 23rd 1:00 EST vs Washington Redskins (6-10)
Sunday, October 30th 1:00 EST vs Minnesota Vikings (6-10)
Week 9: BYE
Sunday, November 13th 1:00 EST vs Tennessee Titans (6-10)
Sunday, November 20th 1:00 EST @ Detroit Lions (6-10)
Sunday, November 27th 1:00 EST @ Indianapolis Colts (10-6)
Sunday, December 4th 1:00 EST @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-6)
Sunday, December 11th 1:00 EST vs Atlanta Falcons
Sunday, December 18th 1:00 EST @ Houston Texans (6-10)
Saturday, December 24th (CHRISTMAS EVE) 1:00 EST vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Sunday, January 1st 1:00 EST @ New Orleans
As you can see we have 7 games total against teams under .500 and 7 games against last season playoff teams (4 of which are divisional games). I have been known to be a optimist, but I do not see this as being the hardest schedule in the NFL. I see it as an opportunity to prove the doubters.
Here is to hoping that we do not make a stupid decision with the first pick (aka picking a QB). See you in a couple weeks.
GO PANTHERS!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Franchise Tag
The first question that came to mind when the Carolina Panthers started discussing the use of a franchise tag on Ryan Kalil, DeAngelo Williams, or Charles Johnson, was do we really need to?
The franchise tag is normally something that is used when a player is wanting an 'out', wanting to leave the team. This can usually prevent them from doing so or at least gives the team a chance at getting good compensation for their departure. But when it comes to these three paticular players, all of which we would like to see in Carolina blue again next year, is there a desire to leave Charlotte? Is there a hidden animosity that the fans are unaware of?
Let's face the facts...
Ryan Kalil is a great center. He earned his second pro-bowl spot this last season and has a proven track record with the team, showing great ability in helping our rush game. By using the franchise tag on Ryan Kalil, it locks him up for an additional year for $10.5 million.
DeAngleo Williams has been with the Panthers since 2006 and has become the teams leading rusher as well as breaking an NFL record in the 2009 season along with second running back Jonathan Stewart as being the first duo to both rush over 1,000 yards in a single season. By putting the franchise tag on DeAngelo, it would have committed $10 million and could have possibly saved him from walking cleanly away from the team. On the other side, DeAngleo is now 28 years old and has been injured off an on for the last couple seasons. Is this enough to let him go? Will Jonathan Stewart (also injured off and on in the last couple seasons) be able to maintain the rushing abilities that the Panthers are known for?
Charles Johnson has become a household name in Carolina and pretty soon around the league. This year, in his first full 16 game start, he had 11.5 sacks (7th in the league) 51 solo tackles and 1 forced fumble. [just an FYI, Julius Peppers was ranked 29th overall with only 8 sacks and 54 tackles, Johnson was also only 3 sacks away from out performing Peppers in his best year of 2008] I am assuming by not using the franchise tag on Johnson, means that a large long term contract is to follow. If the Panthers do end up drafting Nick Fairley, this combo will soon become one of the top in the NFL and you know what they say, "Defense wins Championships".
Overall, I think placing the franchise tag on Kahlil was not a good move nor was it a bad one. I think Carolina will sign each of these guys to long term contract once the CBA is reached, which hopefully will be sooner rather than later.
My biggest prediction for possible off-season moves, the Carolina Panthers trade DeAngelo Williams or Jonathan Stewart and sign a veteran quarterback to a 1-2 year deal, such as Vince Young, Carson Palmer, or Donovan McNabb. This would allow Carolina to possibly add some additional draft picks in this years draft (since we currently have 0 picks in the second round) while also maintaining a strong running game with the emergence of Mike Goodson and T.Sutt. And this allows Jimmy Clausen to sit on the sidelines and develop into the quarterback that we need him to be in the future. And let's not forget Jerry's message to the fans this year, that once the CBA has been reached, we will see the team start spending money again on bringing talent and a championship to Carolina. Time will tell!
Until then, everyone keep your fingers crossed that the CBA gets reached in a timely fashion, that we have football in 2011 with a good free agency market, and remember to start saving your money for a Charles Johnson and Nick Fairley jersey because they are going to be tearing it up whenever football returns.
As always, GO PANTHERS!
The franchise tag is normally something that is used when a player is wanting an 'out', wanting to leave the team. This can usually prevent them from doing so or at least gives the team a chance at getting good compensation for their departure. But when it comes to these three paticular players, all of which we would like to see in Carolina blue again next year, is there a desire to leave Charlotte? Is there a hidden animosity that the fans are unaware of?
Let's face the facts...
Ryan Kalil is a great center. He earned his second pro-bowl spot this last season and has a proven track record with the team, showing great ability in helping our rush game. By using the franchise tag on Ryan Kalil, it locks him up for an additional year for $10.5 million.
DeAngleo Williams has been with the Panthers since 2006 and has become the teams leading rusher as well as breaking an NFL record in the 2009 season along with second running back Jonathan Stewart as being the first duo to both rush over 1,000 yards in a single season. By putting the franchise tag on DeAngelo, it would have committed $10 million and could have possibly saved him from walking cleanly away from the team. On the other side, DeAngleo is now 28 years old and has been injured off an on for the last couple seasons. Is this enough to let him go? Will Jonathan Stewart (also injured off and on in the last couple seasons) be able to maintain the rushing abilities that the Panthers are known for?
Charles Johnson has become a household name in Carolina and pretty soon around the league. This year, in his first full 16 game start, he had 11.5 sacks (7th in the league) 51 solo tackles and 1 forced fumble. [just an FYI, Julius Peppers was ranked 29th overall with only 8 sacks and 54 tackles, Johnson was also only 3 sacks away from out performing Peppers in his best year of 2008] I am assuming by not using the franchise tag on Johnson, means that a large long term contract is to follow. If the Panthers do end up drafting Nick Fairley, this combo will soon become one of the top in the NFL and you know what they say, "Defense wins Championships".
Overall, I think placing the franchise tag on Kahlil was not a good move nor was it a bad one. I think Carolina will sign each of these guys to long term contract once the CBA is reached, which hopefully will be sooner rather than later.
My biggest prediction for possible off-season moves, the Carolina Panthers trade DeAngelo Williams or Jonathan Stewart and sign a veteran quarterback to a 1-2 year deal, such as Vince Young, Carson Palmer, or Donovan McNabb. This would allow Carolina to possibly add some additional draft picks in this years draft (since we currently have 0 picks in the second round) while also maintaining a strong running game with the emergence of Mike Goodson and T.Sutt. And this allows Jimmy Clausen to sit on the sidelines and develop into the quarterback that we need him to be in the future. And let's not forget Jerry's message to the fans this year, that once the CBA has been reached, we will see the team start spending money again on bringing talent and a championship to Carolina. Time will tell!
Until then, everyone keep your fingers crossed that the CBA gets reached in a timely fashion, that we have football in 2011 with a good free agency market, and remember to start saving your money for a Charles Johnson and Nick Fairley jersey because they are going to be tearing it up whenever football returns.
As always, GO PANTHERS!
Friday, January 21, 2011
the FRANCHISE qb
The Carolina Panthers announced another coach that had been added to the staff, Offensive Line Coach John Matsko. Since Ron Rivera has stepped into the Head Coach position, it has not taken him long to start filling in the staff. Currently, it looks a little like this.
Ron Rivera - HC
Rob Chudzinski - OC
Sean McDermott - DC
Brian Murphy - STC
Ron Meeks - Defensive Backfield
Sam Mills III - Defensive Quality Control/Asst. Defensive Line
and most recently added ...
John Matsko - OL Coach
I have been very impressed by the organizations hires in the last few weeks. It seems as if we have a group that could really turn this team around. However one looming questions continues to be brought up about the Carolina Panthers, who is our qb going forward?
I am not posting this to defend or object to Jimmy Clausen as our starting quarterback, but instead posting because out of all the names being thrown around, one seems to be missing over and over and over again.
If you look at a list of the current free agents or quarterbacks that will be free agents this year, you find the same list every where.
Marc Bulger (UFA) - Baltimore
David Carr (UFA) - San Francisco
Kellen Clemens (UFA) - NY Jets
Kerry Collins (UFA) - Tennessee
Todd Collins (UFA) - Chicago
Brodie Croyle (UFA) - Kansas City
Dennis Dixon (RFA) - Pittsburgh
Trent Edwards (UFA) - Jacksonville
Brett Favre (UFA) - Minnesota
Charlie Frye (UFA) - Oakland
Bruce Gradkowski (UFA) - Oakland
Chris Greisen (UFA) - Dallas
Rex Grossman (UFA) - Washington
Caleb Hanie (RFA) - Chicago
Matt Hasselbeck (UFA) - Seattle
Tarvaris Jackson (UFA) - Minnesota
Matt Leinart (UFA) - Houston
J.P. Losman (UFA) - Seattle
Peyton Manning (UFA) - Indianapolis
Luke McCown (UFA) - Jacksonville
Matt Moore (UFA) - Carolina
J.T. O'Sullivan (UFA) - Oakland
Jordan Palmer (RFA) - Cincinnati
Chad Pennington (UFA) - Miami
Patrick Ramsey (UFA) - Minnesota
Chris Simms (UFA) - Tennessee
Alex Smith (UFA) - San Francisco
Troy Smith (RFA) - San Francisco
Jim Sorgi (UFA) - NY Giants
Brian St. Pierre (UFA) - Carolina
Drew Stanton (UFA) - Detroit
Tyler Thigpen (UFA) - Miami
Michael Vick (UFA) - Philadelphia
Billy Volek (UFA) - San Diego
Seneca Wallace (UFA) - Cleveland
Seems like a pretty long list right? Now obviously there are only a few quarterbacks on this list that have been mentioned in the media as being possabilities in Carolina. (I have bolded some of them, as well as placing those quarterbacks that are retiring or will not be let go in italics) However there is one guy that is not on this list that I think could make an impact on the team, bring in some experience, and allow us to let Jimmy Clausen develop. Vince Young.
Vince Young has played 54 games in the NFL (-) has a 57.9% completion rate throughout his career, has 54 TD (42 passing, 12 rushing), 42 INT, and just over 8,000 passing yards. He has a career passer rating of 75.7; however he is coming off of his best season thus far. This year alone he had 10 TD, 3 INT, 1255 yards, and a passer rating of 98.6% in just 10 of the 16 games.
Why is this guy not showing up on the radar for the Carolina Panthers?
I am interested to see what happens once the coaching positions are filled and the CBA has been agreed too... hopefully Mr. Richardson will be writing checks.
GO PANTHERS!
Ron Rivera - HC
Rob Chudzinski - OC
Sean McDermott - DC
Brian Murphy - STC
Ron Meeks - Defensive Backfield
Sam Mills III - Defensive Quality Control/Asst. Defensive Line
and most recently added ...
John Matsko - OL Coach
I have been very impressed by the organizations hires in the last few weeks. It seems as if we have a group that could really turn this team around. However one looming questions continues to be brought up about the Carolina Panthers, who is our qb going forward?
I am not posting this to defend or object to Jimmy Clausen as our starting quarterback, but instead posting because out of all the names being thrown around, one seems to be missing over and over and over again.
If you look at a list of the current free agents or quarterbacks that will be free agents this year, you find the same list every where.
Marc Bulger (UFA) - Baltimore
David Carr (UFA) - San Francisco
Kellen Clemens (UFA) - NY Jets
Kerry Collins (UFA) - Tennessee
Todd Collins (UFA) - Chicago
Brodie Croyle (UFA) - Kansas City
Dennis Dixon (RFA) - Pittsburgh
Trent Edwards (UFA) - Jacksonville
Brett Favre (UFA) - Minnesota
Charlie Frye (UFA) - Oakland
Bruce Gradkowski (UFA) - Oakland
Chris Greisen (UFA) - Dallas
Rex Grossman (UFA) - Washington
Caleb Hanie (RFA) - Chicago
Matt Hasselbeck (UFA) - Seattle
Tarvaris Jackson (UFA) - Minnesota
Matt Leinart (UFA) - Houston
J.P. Losman (UFA) - Seattle
Peyton Manning (UFA) - Indianapolis
Luke McCown (UFA) - Jacksonville
Matt Moore (UFA) - Carolina
J.T. O'Sullivan (UFA) - Oakland
Jordan Palmer (RFA) - Cincinnati
Chad Pennington (UFA) - Miami
Patrick Ramsey (UFA) - Minnesota
Chris Simms (UFA) - Tennessee
Alex Smith (UFA) - San Francisco
Troy Smith (RFA) - San Francisco
Jim Sorgi (UFA) - NY Giants
Brian St. Pierre (UFA) - Carolina
Drew Stanton (UFA) - Detroit
Tyler Thigpen (UFA) - Miami
Michael Vick (UFA) - Philadelphia
Billy Volek (UFA) - San Diego
Seneca Wallace (UFA) - Cleveland
Seems like a pretty long list right? Now obviously there are only a few quarterbacks on this list that have been mentioned in the media as being possabilities in Carolina. (I have bolded some of them, as well as placing those quarterbacks that are retiring or will not be let go in italics) However there is one guy that is not on this list that I think could make an impact on the team, bring in some experience, and allow us to let Jimmy Clausen develop. Vince Young.
Vince Young has played 54 games in the NFL (-) has a 57.9% completion rate throughout his career, has 54 TD (42 passing, 12 rushing), 42 INT, and just over 8,000 passing yards. He has a career passer rating of 75.7; however he is coming off of his best season thus far. This year alone he had 10 TD, 3 INT, 1255 yards, and a passer rating of 98.6% in just 10 of the 16 games.
Why is this guy not showing up on the radar for the Carolina Panthers?
I am interested to see what happens once the coaching positions are filled and the CBA has been agreed too... hopefully Mr. Richardson will be writing checks.
GO PANTHERS!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Face of the Panthers
Just wanted to send a quick 'Welcome' and 'Congratulations' to the new head coach of the Carolina Panthers; former San Diego Chargers Defence Coordinator and former Super Bowl Linebacker, Ron Rivera. Welcome to Carolina Country!
Monday, January 10, 2011
In The News
I have been a Carolina Panthers faithful for as long as I can remember; however it has always been a struggle, not because of the ups and downs of each season (which were struggles) but because I have never lived in a close proximity to North Carolina. Therefore I have always had to rely on the internet to really stay up to date on what is going on with the Carolina Panthers. With the regular season coming to a close, there are very few teams that are making headlines these days, one of them is Carolina.
Who will be the next head coach? Who will the Panthers take as the number 1 pick? What players are getting re-signed? Which players will they trade? What are they going to do on the Free Agency Market? What picks will they trade up for or down for? What is Jerry Richardson having for breakfast?
Okay, so they may not be talking about that last one, but I love all the coverage. So what should the Panthers do with their Number 1 pick? Andrew Luck is out, is AJ Green the best option at this point? I know that AJ Green is a great athlete but I feel like that adding an additional rookie into the mix with our current young receiving core, would not help our situation at this time. I believe that Jimmy Clausen has a pretty good connection with B.LaFell and D.Gettis, and by adding Green, it would not benefit the team as much as working on our lines.
Well from my previous post you can see that I believe our biggest hole on the team is the Offensive Line. However that being said there are a few players that I believe we should take a took at for the first overall pick.
CB - Patrick Peterson
DT - Marcell Dareus
DE - Da'Quan Bowers
CB - Prince Amukamara
DE - Robert Quinn
DT - Nick Fairley
OG - Rodney Hudson
I would also like them to look into:
OG - Orlando Franklin
C - Stefan Wisniewski
C - Kristofer O'Dowd
The nice thing about the Offensive Line, is I think you could get a couple good/key players in some of the later rounds. Currently Carolina has Round 1: Pick 1, NO Round 2 Picks, Round 3: Pick 65, Round 4: Pick 97, Round 5: Pick 129, Round 6: Pick 161, Round 7: Pick 193. This does not take into consideration of any kind of compensation picks that we will receive. I believe that you will see some trades take place in order to receive a few more picks. That being said, it should be interesting to see what happens once the CBA is signed. According to Jerry Richardson, the checks will be flowing after this happens to bring key personnel to Carolina. Let's hope so.
In the mean time, GO PANTHERS!
Who will be the next head coach? Who will the Panthers take as the number 1 pick? What players are getting re-signed? Which players will they trade? What are they going to do on the Free Agency Market? What picks will they trade up for or down for? What is Jerry Richardson having for breakfast?
Okay, so they may not be talking about that last one, but I love all the coverage. So what should the Panthers do with their Number 1 pick? Andrew Luck is out, is AJ Green the best option at this point? I know that AJ Green is a great athlete but I feel like that adding an additional rookie into the mix with our current young receiving core, would not help our situation at this time. I believe that Jimmy Clausen has a pretty good connection with B.LaFell and D.Gettis, and by adding Green, it would not benefit the team as much as working on our lines.
Well from my previous post you can see that I believe our biggest hole on the team is the Offensive Line. However that being said there are a few players that I believe we should take a took at for the first overall pick.
CB - Patrick Peterson
DT - Marcell Dareus
DE - Da'Quan Bowers
CB - Prince Amukamara
DE - Robert Quinn
DT - Nick Fairley
OG - Rodney Hudson
I would also like them to look into:
OG - Orlando Franklin
C - Stefan Wisniewski
C - Kristofer O'Dowd
The nice thing about the Offensive Line, is I think you could get a couple good/key players in some of the later rounds. Currently Carolina has Round 1: Pick 1, NO Round 2 Picks, Round 3: Pick 65, Round 4: Pick 97, Round 5: Pick 129, Round 6: Pick 161, Round 7: Pick 193. This does not take into consideration of any kind of compensation picks that we will receive. I believe that you will see some trades take place in order to receive a few more picks. That being said, it should be interesting to see what happens once the CBA is signed. According to Jerry Richardson, the checks will be flowing after this happens to bring key personnel to Carolina. Let's hope so.
In the mean time, GO PANTHERS!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
No Such Luck
2011 has not started with much luck for Carolina and today the realization of getting Andrew Luck the projected Number 1 pick out of the upcoming draft crushed the Carolina Organization and fans by announcing that he will not be entering the draft this year. He will be returning to Stanford to finish out his architectual design degree. Which leaves the Carolina Panthers with a big "?", what do we do with the first pick of the 2011 draft?
Andrew Luck 2009 Stats:
So before we get to deep into the subject, lets really look at Andrew Luck versus our current rookie quarterback, Jimmy Clausen.
Andrew Luck 2009 Stats: - 162/288 CMP/ATT (56.3% CMP %)
- 2575 YDS
- 8.94 YPA
- 13 TD - 4 INT - 6 SACK
- 143.47 Rating
Andrew Luck 2010 Stats:
- 263/372 CMP/ATT (70.7% CMP %)
- 3338 YDS
- 8.97 YPA
-32 TD - 8 INT - 6 SACK
-170.16 Rating
Now obvious improvements from 09 to 10, but what lets take a look at the stats for our own Jimmy Clausen. We will look at the two years of stats prior to Jimmy Clausen getting drafted, as Carolina would have only had two years of stats to look at for Andrew Luck if they would have selected him.
Jimmy Clausen 2008 Stats:
- 268/440 CMP/ATT (60.9 % CMP %)
- 3172 YDS
- 7.21 YPA
- 25 TD - 17 INT - 21 SACK
- 132.49 Rating
Jimmy Clausen 2009 Stats:
- 289/425 CMP/ATT (68.0 % CMP %)
-3722 YDS
- 8.76 YPA
- 28 TD - 4 INT - 24 SACK
- 161.43 Rating
In comparison side by side the last years of their college careers (as of yet) Jimmy Clausen had approximately the same CMP % and YPA. He also had less INT, more total yards, and was obvioulsy rushed a lot more as Jimmy Clausen was sacked 24 times compared to Luck's 6.
There is more to this than just the numbers, but before Carolina fans really get down in regards to not getting Andrew Luck this year, if we build a good enough Offensive Line to protect the rookie quarterback that we have. I think we have the potential to return Jimmy Clausen to his college level stats.
So who do we take? Where are our areas of weakness?
I believe our number one area of weakness is our offensive line. Now I think Ryan Kalil is a great player, but how many times did we have a fumble exchange between Center and Quarterback this season. This is something that is practiced approximately 80 times a day, there should not be an issue with this. The other big issue is the protection of the quarterback. The Carolina Panthers as of week 13 of this season had allowed 36 sacks and 78 hits to the quarterback, that is third and second highest totals in the league.
These stats and the performance of our quarterback(s) leave me to believe that if we do not fix our offensive line quickly, we will continue to have problems with our quarterback, which leads to problems with our passing game, which ultimately leads to problems with our running game. (which was only averaging 4.0 yards per carry, ranked 20th in the league, with two RB's that broke NFL records just a season ago)
Looking forward to hearing what happens in the next few days, weeks, and months, but mainly looking forward to the upcoming Fall in hopes that Carolina will have turned this around like we did in 2003.
As always, GO PANTHERS!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
