Seltzer

Teddy should own what he said... he knew it was going to be controversial when he said it... if he thought it could have been "taken out of context," he should have kept silent or phrased it another way... Joe Brady was his guy, and he threw him (and Rhule) completely under a semi rolling down I-85... you can't just walk something like that back once it gets out...

Iron sharpens iron

Great post OP... nice to have some quality threads this time of year

His niece goes to the charter school my sister-in-law teaches at in the Lake Norman area. He came to speak to the class 3 years ago when she was in 3rd grade... the kids were super impressed that his job was to "protect Cam Newton." Class act and he will be a great addition to this area on top of being the anchor of the offensive line.

Nah, super nice and smart kid... don't know what happened to him post high school but wouldn't be surprised if he changed his name

I went to school with a kid named Harry Annas.... pronounced "Anne-nuss" Obviously, the poor kid got called Harry Anus... evidently Harry was a family name, but still... awful move by the parents

It's a legitimate concern. My hope is that Horn is a superior athlete and can use his speed to compensate for the difference in physicality. Horn's only real knock I could find is that he is overly handsy with receivers... I hope with good coaching and having officials at training camp will help him find a happy medium... That being said, we definitely need more aggression in our secondary overall, and hopefully having Horn and Chinn along with the other guys will turn this unit into a force that can actually cover the big-time receivers they will have to go against in the NFC South

It gets lost in the postseason that Smitty had (and the fact that Ricky Manning wasn't able to keep up that level of play beyond the 2003 postseason), but we don't make the Super Bowl without Manning, Jr. He made one of the best one-handed interceptions I've seen to this day snatching the ball away from Torry Holt when the Rams were in the edge of field goal range in OT against the Rams. He followed that up with a 3 INT game in the NFC Championship game against the Eagles where he absolutely brutalized the Eagles finesse receivers. His style wouldn't cut it today, but Manning's level of CB play in the 2003 playoffs was as good and perhaps better than any other corner in Panthers history over a short span. The only other CB that comes close to dominating the game over a 3 game stretch was Josh Norman in 2015 where he single-handedly won the Jacksonville and 1st Saints game during the first 3 weeks of the 2015 season.

Smitty in the 2003 playoffs was magical (in fairness 2005 was probably even better). But that was definitely when he became a superstar and in the discussion as one of the best WR's in the league. The national media that year didn't fully realize just how good Smitty was until the playoffs b/c we entered the year so far under the radar It will be hard for another receiver in Carolina to top the double-overtime 69 yard house call in St. Louis given everything that was riding on that play. The Panthers defense was gassed, and would have probably lost had Smitty not at least converted that 3rd down into a fresh set of downs.

2013 says hi... and they did it with 2 undrafted rookies playing significant time in the secondary. The 2003 defense was obviously very good, and probably better overall, but IMHO, the 2013 D Line was the best, and that's not a slight to the 2003 team. Peppers, Rucker, and Wallace vs. Hardy, Johnson, and Addison is close to a draw And while I might give Jenkins and Buckner a slight edge over Star and Short since they were rookies, that one is pretty close too in terms of how well they played I still think what the 2013 was more impressive bc of the sheer lack of talent in the secondary. That secondary only worked bc the pass rush was so ferocious

I've never regretted my subscription to The Athletic. Great coverage across the board, and Person is as good as any of the other writers they have. Joe does better with the long-form format The Athletic has vs the still truncated form of traditional papers trying to fit a set amount of words onto a physical space on the newspaper that he had to contend with being with the Observer. He still can come off like a tool in interviews, but he's a good writer and probably covers the Panthers in the furthest depth of anyone currently covering the team. Him and Jourdan Rodrigue were really great together but she left to cover the Rams.

Second that

It would as bad as rescinding the franchise tag on Josh Norman in 2015 or how badly the team handled the departures of Smitty and Cam...

I was in a college fraternity with that jackbag (he was kicked out for constantly starting fights, creeping girls, and almost burning down our fraternity house in his drunken douche-baggery) involved with the Jon Beason lawsuit... He got everything that had been coming to him for years... I know he carried around a laminated card around in his wallet to impress woman claiming he was on the Panthers practice squad (this was in the early 2000's when it would have been much harder to verify that information for fringe practice squad players... I don't know what position he claimed but I doubt it was punter... he was 6'4", 240ish, and ripped so he could pass for a player for someone naive... https://www.derp/2011/6/5/2207751/beason-accuser-arrested-in-nc https://www.wsoctv.com/news/man-suing-panthers-player-testifies-about-incident/223042055/ https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/jury-sides-with-beason-in-civil-trial

There is nothing that will make me happier a Panthers fan that to get the Bucs in Week 2 and get a season-defining win against the reigning SB Champions like we did in 2003. I just looked at the power rankings and absolutely no one is giving us any respect (most I've seen have us last in the division). But they did in 2003 also, and I feel we have just had the most transformative offseason we've had since that special season... Who knows what will happen, but I think we crushed free agency and the draft. This team (on paper) is much, much improved from last year. I tip my hat to Rhule and Fitterer. Our roster was one of (if not the worst) in the NFL last season before last year's draft... these guys have done a masterful job building it back up. Seriously, before the last draft, the only truly elite players on our roster were CMC, Burns, and maybe DJ Moore. We are a long ways from that... Rhule, Brady, and Snow need to earn their paycheck and coach these guys up, and we could be in a good spot at the end of the year. I think having the 17th game definitely favors youth and having better depth. For way too long, we have neglected quality depth in favor of trying to hit on more elite talent... and outside of the 1st round, it simply hasn't worked, and injuries have left us playing guys that shouldn't be out there

Yep. One or the other is better long-term. I also firmly believe part of the passing on Fields is to legitimately give Darnold a chance this year to see if he can become the guy he was projected to be. If Darnold fails, I think we will again be all-in on Watson (provided he settles his legal/civil issues) , and have better assets to facilitate a trade

Fair points... I don't think anyone should see Leno as the "answer" at LT, but I would feel a lot better if we signed someone like Leno or Okung for one more year to have an established veteran presence while Christensen and the other young guys continue to develop. I like Irving for his versatility, but I would feel much better having someone who is an established LT

Hoping that number is right... and that would give us plenty of cushion to add a few more quality guys to round out the roster, sign our draft picks, and still give some space to sign someone during the season if there are injuries.

This was the source I was using: https://overthecap.com/salary-cap/carolina-panthers/ Whatever the number is, it can go up when/if we cut Jansen by roughly $1M Even better if it's more in the range you are saying... where did you see those numbers?

Panthers currently have about $15M in cap. Need $5M or so for draft picks, so we have the means to add some more talent. Especially since the salary crunch from Covid is going to cause some of these veterans to take 1-year minimum or near-minimum deals

This afternoon is when the next wave of free agency commences, as teams try to round out their roster post-draft. Here is a list of some of the top prospects- In my opinion, OT, S, & LB are still areas we could address:

You're probably right... Fitterer should still vet the situation out

True... and Christensen might be great... just a tremendous amount of risk not to have someone you know can start at LT to begin the season. I would much rather have a dependable and proven guy like Leno (who has started every game over the last 7 seasons) even with a lower ceiling as an option than just rolling with Cam Irving, Trent Scott, Greg Little, etc. and hoping we can make do. Best case for everyone is that Christensen is able to lock down the LT spot... that's a huge ask for a 3rd round rookie though This is a tremendously improved roster outside of the glaring question marks that remain at LT and QB. And addressing LT will help QB

True... which is why we are going to need to be aggressive with the money (within reason) to convince him to come here Adding Leno with the other draft additions we've made would give us a legitimate O Line and would leave Darnold's development and performance the only real question mark (on paper) for a tremendously improved roster

Exactly. Way too much of a risk to go into the season without another option. I've read though that Leno's college coach is now with the Colts who also need a LT and they are the favorites to sign him... one can hope though