long term deal for hardy was never in the plans

[Kuech the Sneak]

Didnt plan to sign him long term this offseason, maybe giving him a prove it season

[Marguide]

Keep in mind we had to apply the tag to Hardy before the draft. There was no guarantee we would get Ealy at that point.

 

Also, you cannot equate overpaying for RB's with DE's. One is a premium position (DE), the other is not.

[DaCityKats]

not a fan of renting a guy in his prime for a year, hopefully something will get done. to play devils advocate, continuity could have been bringing back some of those DBs that signed else where such as Mitchell and Captain. it does not pertain only to the DL.

[LinvilleGorge]

Didnt plan to sign him long term this offseason, maybe giving him a prove it season

 

If it was never in the plans, then why were we trying to negotiate a long-term contract prior to tagging him?  Virtually all sources were reporting that and several made reports hinting at ongoing negotiations after the tag, including sourcing Gettleman comments on the matter.

 

Like I said, I think we're trying to act like the arrest was no big deal in terms of impacting our long-term plans, but in trying to play it off we're actually making ourselves look even worse.  IMO, the arrest definitely directly impacted our plans regarding Hardy and I'm not sure why we don't just admit that.  It makes a lot of sense and no one would blame us for calling an audible after that.

[panthers55]

I don't understand why we franchised him if we didn't plan to sign him long term or try to trade him. Everyone points to the RB contracts and Beason as limiting our cap mobility, but that Hardy tag is HUGE this year. We may just be setting ourselves up to get Julius'd again.

Hardy wanted so much money up front that his cap hit would likely have been 8 million in 2014 with a huge signing bonus.  This way we pay roughly 5 more with no up front money, no dead cap hit and he has to play like it is contract year which it is.  A long term deal could have been done but he wasn't reasonable in his demands.  I heard rumors that Gettleman wasn't sold on his emotional stability and wasn't going to risk a ton of money on him until he shows he can handle success and do it again.

[B.BERSIN]

I'm sure someone would fire at Gman.

•••Sent from my couch while fuging the Saints•••

[davos]

The way I see it, whenever a 25 y/o has the opportunity to make massive money and make a name for himself is given a DE franchise tag will hopefully have some fricken motivation to wreck sh*t this season...especially if he knows the team is cap strapped and it may be a league audition of sorts.  Only positives..

 

..but Kony is the one I'm watching b/c even given the value, it was still a questionable pick imho.    

[LinvilleGorge]

The way I see it, whenever a 25 y/o has the opportunity to make massive money and make a name for himself is given a DE franchise tag will hopefully have some fricken motivation to wreck sh*t this season...especially if he knows the team is cap strapped and it may be a league audition of sorts.  Only positives..

 

..but Kony is the one I'm watching b/c even given the value, it was still a questionable pick imho.    

 

I don't see the Ealy pick as questionable.  Hardy is playing under the franchise tag and CJ has a massive cap hit.  No matter what happens, I don't think Gettleman had any plans of both of them being here after this season.  I honestly think the plan was to keep Hardy long-term and make CJ a cap casualty, then Hardy had to go and get himself arrested and now the Panthers are backpedaling and acting like Hardy was never in the long-term plans and making themselves look like a bunch of amateur hacks in the process.

[panthers123]

I don't understand why we franchised him if we didn't plan to sign him long term or try to trade him. Everyone points to the RB contracts and Beason as limiting our cap mobility, but that Hardy tag is HUGE this year. We may just be setting ourselves up to get Julius'd again.

 

Cause he is a key piece and the most important part of our team. 

 

What made our team special and ultimately was the biggest reason that we went 12-4?

 

Front 7

 

Greg and is a key cog in the most important piece of the team. You remove him and the defense will give up more than 15 pts a game. If you give up more than 15pts a game then you probably lose 2-4 games last season. 

 

We may not get to keep him long term but we get 1 more year of Hardy in his prime which is worth the risk in my opinion. 

[bleys]

not a fan of renting a guy in his prime for a year, hopefully something will get done. to play devils advocate, continuity could have been bringing back some of those DBs that signed else where such as Mitchell and Captain. it does not pertain only to the DL.

 

I don't know about you, but I think we are better off now than we were last year in the secondary.  And we didn't have to do anything ridiculous like pay Mitchell and Munneryn instead of Hardy.  JMO, of course.

 

I like Mitchell's demeanor, but you're also talking about taking away a key piece that helped the secondary look as good as it did and helped those guys get paid elsewhere..

[panthers123]

Personally I think the money will be moved from CJ to Hardy next year. CJ's cap hit really sucks

[LinvilleGorge]

I don't know about you, but I think we are better off now than we were last year in the secondary.  And we didn't have to do anything ridiculous like pay Mitchell and Munneryn instead of Hardy.  JMO, of course.

 

I like Mitchell's demeanor, but you're also talking about taking away a key piece that helped the secondary look as good as it did and helped those guys get paid elsewhere..

 

We'll have to wait and see.  I honestly think Cason has a chance to be our best CB since Chris Gamble which honestly isn't saying a great deal.  I don't see Captain as a huge loss.  Maybe I'm wrong on that, we'll see.  I really wish we could've kept Mitchell because I think he was huge for us last year both in his play and his leadership/emotion.  Just like last year, our secondary is a big question mark going into the season.  Worked out pretty well last year and hopefully it will again this year.

[pantherclaw]

The OP is making quite the assumption.

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[panthers55]

We'll have to wait and see.  I honestly think Cason has a chance to be our best CB since Chris Gamble which honestly isn't saying a great deal.  I don't see Captain as a huge loss.  Maybe I'm wrong on that, we'll see.  I really wish we could've kept Mitchell because I think he was huge for us last year both in his play and his leadership/emotion.  Just like last year, our secondary is a big question mark going into the season.  Worked out pretty well last year and hopefully it will again this year.

Gettleman really does think that he a great judge of talent and can get guys like Mitchell and Ginn and turn them into great players.  If he continues to do that with this year's receivers and our secondary you have to give him the nod and say he was right.  If his choices fizzle out and we regress then he will have to rethink his decisions.

I for one hope he is right again even if it means we get rid of more good players like Mitchell last year and either Hardy or Johnson after this season.