Mr. Scot

After, if they fill them. The Panthers currently list Sean Padden as "Vice President of Football Operations", so Bryan Porter's position may have become redundant. Despite the title, my understanding is that "Director of Football Operations" wasn't really a "football" position per se. It was a logistics position, planning travel to road games and stuff like that. Mark Carrier's Executive Director of Football Staff position was probably redundant too. Marty was looking to get Carrier into the football side of Panthers front office so it's possible the title was created specifically for him, but Rhule and Fitterer didn't share that particular interest, so... That leaves the Assistant GM spot, something we haven't had for a while but which I think we could actually use (and Tepper seems to agree). I've seen lots of speculation that the Panthers could go after Dan Morgan for that job, and it makes sense not only because of Morgan's connection to the team but because he and Scott Fitterer have a mutual respect for each other. Morgan credits Fitterer for teaching him how to do personnel work. I know a lot of us would love to see that happen.

Pretty good read (subscription required) A realistic look at 18 possible free agent targets (of all flavors) Don’t look for the Panthers to kick off free agency this week with a big spending spree, as Matt Rhule and Scott Fitterer have tempered expectations for a team that remains in a rebuild. Acquiring the Texans’ Deshaun Watson would certainly speed the process. But the Panthers have needs besides a franchise quarterback. “We’re not just one player away,” Rhule said last week. “We’re in a situation where we have to keep building our team. … We have to be really targeted.” With Christian McCaffrey and Shaq Thompson restructuring their contracts last week, the Panthers have about $30 million in cap space, although Rhule said it’s effectively $13 million after accounting for rookie contracts and the $7 million the team will set aside for in-season moves. The Panthers made a $13.75 million commitment to right tackle Taylor Moton last week, and there will be teams that come out of the gates with wallets open this week. But with the salary cap shrinking to $182.5 million, expect to see a number of players take one-year contracts so they can hit the market again after the new TV money kicks in. It sounds like this is where the Panthers plan to do a lot of their shopping, beginning with Monday’s start to the legal tampering window. “We’ll talk to a lot of agents starting on Monday and see where the market is,” Fitterer said. “However, this might be one of those years where if you just wait and are patient, you might be able to get quite a few players in that middle class who get pinched by the cap. Even though we’ve created a lot of cap room, this is not a year we’re going to go wild spending money. We’re going to be very judicious in how we go about this.” The Panthers will home in on specific position groups and figure to be most active during the second wave of free agency.

Shaq Lawson got traded to the Texans. Carl Lawson is a free agent, though he's stated he'd prefer to return to the Bengals.

A little bit of free agent related news this morning. Former Panther Andrew Norwell took a pay cut to stay with the Jaguars. He won't be a free agent. The Ravens agreed to terms with guard Kevin Zeitler who'd been released by the Giants.

This one might take a while. Mind you, there could be surprises, or we could bring back one of our own.

You sure about that?

Granted it's David Newton, but he's probably right. Well, partially right since the legal tampering period doesn't officially begin until Noon.

Well understood Mentioned to somebody else that with the news I got a while back, I didn't know if I would be around this year, but I am and we're trying to get a house. Hence why I get a chuckle out of people thinking I'm grumpy

Lady Cowboy Fan and I have a busy couple of months ahead, but I'll still be following the football news pretty closely.

From Albert Breer's latest MMQB... The Cam Newton news is not worth Patriots fans freaking out over. Contracts will always tell you what a team—and to some degree, the league—thinks of a player. And if you dig into the details on Newton’s deal to return to New England, it’s not hard to read this one. Newton gets $2 million to sign, a $1.5 million base for 2021 that’s fully guaranteed, $1.5 million in per-game roster bonuses, $8.5 million in incentives and a $100,000 workout bonus. And going through the incentives, here’s the rough translation: • He’ll get $3.6 million if he doesn’t make the team. • He’ll likely get at least $5.1 million if he does, and stays healthy (they won’t put him on the roster to make him a gameday inactive). • More realistically, he’ll probably earn either $5.6 million or $6.1 million (based on playing time triggers), if he makes the roster, because I can’t imagine they’ll keep him as a backup. • If he hits any of the remaining $7.5 million in playoff and awards incentives, then the decision to bring him back will have been a success. Now, here’s the thing—when the cap was set last week, the Patriots had about $68.2 million to work with. That’ll come down a little with the Trent Brown trade, but the bottom line is that allotting $6 million of that space to give yourself a placeholder at the position (and maybe he’ll be more than that, we’ll see) is a worthy use of that resource. And if he’s really good, it’ll be worth it to dump a few million in incentives into next year’s cap. Fact is, Newton had a horrific situation around him in 2020, with a skill group worse than Alabama’s or Ohio State’s (no exaggeration), had barely played any football in a year and a half going in, was coming off significant shoulder and foot surgeries, and got COVID-19 after a promising start. So I have no issue with the Patriots taking another flier on Cam, so long as they make him compete for the job with another vet and/or a rookie coming in.

Nope. He's agreed to terms with the Ravens.

To those hoping for an Andrew Norwell return, bad news. He agreed to a pay cut in order to stay with the Jaguars.

From Albert Breer's latest MMQB column, comments from two general managers and an offensive coach regarding Lance's workout, including a comparison to Justin fields... General Manager 1: “He was really impressive. You look at him, you can feel his presence when you talk to him, and that’s a big thing for quarterbacks. And the ball just jumps off his hand. His deep ball was awesome, he has tremendous arm strength. His accuracy was a little hit-and-miss. But once you saw him get in a rhythm, he started hitting guys more consistently. He’s just a really talented guy. … This was a big day for him, and he handled it really well. He’s an impressive guy, he did a really nice job today. People might b---- that he threw high to this guy, or behind that guy, but you saw everything you needed to see physically.” General Manager 2: “He looks the part. He’s a big, long athlete, has a good look in his eye. I like the poise he showed in the workout, when he missed a throw it didn’t faze him. The ball jumped off his hand. I think he helped himself. The arm looked strong on tape, and that checked out. He has a really good arm, not a Josh Allen arm, but really good. The workout was efficiently run. He missed some throws—his accuracy’s not elite for a high first-round guy, but neither was Josh Allen’s or Lamar Jackson’s. He’s gotta clean up some fundamentals. But he’s a really smart kid, he played in a pro offense, he can do that. He does lock on to his primary [receiver] at times. But the upside and makeup are there. He might have to modify something, but he’s got a chance to be really good.” Offensive coach: “He threw it better than I expected. He didn’t show signs of the big loop you saw on tape. He tightened that up and it wasn’t forced, just watching him throw. He threw it really well. He’s got some stiffness, because he’s a big, muscular guy, but showed what he needed to. He misses throws, and there’s some of that because of the stiffness. I just think he gets tight in how he throws. But he, to me, looks like a more natural passer than Josh Allen did coming out. I was more worried more about Josh’s accuracy—and I was wrong on that. In comparison, a guy like [Justin] Fields is a more fluid athlete. This is more an overpowering athlete, not as smooth, just a big, strong, fast, physical guy.”

Because Norwell wasn't a free agent. He was a potential cut. As of this morning though, he's not anymore. Norwell accepted a lowered salary to stay with the Jags.

Someone pointed out it matches what Russell Wilson signed a few years back. I don't get the point either.

It's valid. Just an extremely weird ass structure.

I got the gist but it's still insane.

The hell?

Texans also traded the Patriots for tackle Marcus Cannon.

Nobody played a home Super Bowl until last year either. It's far from impossible, especially not at a time when everything is a little off-kilter.

Seasonal honors? He barely played half the season last year Norwell was overpaid on his last contract but if anybody's "disappeared", it's Turner.

Full breakdown...

Honestly, no. Norwell? Yeah. Turner? Nope.

I'm not looking so much at what that says about Brady as what it does about Wilson.

Not a bad chunk of change either...