This year's vs. last years FAs

[updownsigma]

So the consensus is that at least part of the reason for the team's struggles is that in 2013 Gettleman hit home runs on several of his cheap FA signings, whereas the FA class from this year absolutely sucks.

 

I was trying to think of reasons to explain the difference, and realized that our best FAs from 2013 (Mitchell, Ginn) were guys who were former high draft picks with high upside who never played up to their potential, for whatever reason.  Notably, both those guys are still in the late-ish prime of their career (both are in their late 20s).  This means two things:

 

1. Both were willing to sign 1 year "prove it" deals in hopes of signing another decent sized multi-year deal, which they both did.

2. Their physical skills hadn't diminished much, if at all.

 

This year, we signed 4 players who play those same positions... Harper, DeCoud, Avant, Cotchery. With the exception of DeCoud, who's 29, all those guys are old as poo (Harper literally has gray hair).  Well ok, not that old, they're in their early 30s, but:

 

1. It looks like the physical skills of all 4 players has declined, and Cotchery and Avant especially were never world beaters at WR to start with

2. Given their age/how they've played this season, I can't imagine that any of them sign another deal after we cut them. I think they probably realized this when they signed their contracts too.  For lack of a better phrase, they're probably much less hungry than Ginn and Mitchell were.

 

Thoughts on this theory?

 

Note: I'm NOT advocating that we go out and sign Darrius Heyward-Bey types every off season, because yes, I realize the NFL is not Madden. This is just a theory tying to explain the relative under performance of this year's FA class at a few positions where we're really struggling.

[MHS831]

I dunno--it is hard to put your finger on it.  Early 30s is not that old if the football acumen surpasses the loss of a step.  However, DeCoud was a free agent signing we all liked--made a pro bowl.  Cotchery has averaged about what Lafell averaged here.  Harper?  That was a strange acquisition considering his history with the team and his one-dimensional talent.

 

To me, DeCoud has been a bigger disappointment than Harper.  You never hear his name.  He tried to avoid tackles and when he makes one, he acts as though he just won an oscar.

 

Cotchery has value, but not as a #2.  He needs time to find the seams as the checkdown WR.

 

These players lack chemistry, but we are mistaken if we forget that Mitchell had his fair share of screw ups last year.  Our secondary was not much better in 2013.  The difference on both sides of the ball is probably not the skill players, but the lines in front of them.

 

I am not going to be like some on here and blame Gettlemen.  Hurney's contracts in 2011 and 2012 are just now starting to come off the books.  We have a ton of dead money.  Everyone wants to know why Hurney did not address the OL or get better defensive backs.  Duh. 

 

This is the first offseason to judge Gettlemen.  Even then, we are still fighting more of Hurney's dead money and keeping players we can't restructure or cut because the deal Hurney signed was so bad for the team.  I hate to see fans bash Gettlemen because he did not sign the pro bowl roster in the offseason or because he is not kissing Cam's ass.  It is not his job, and if you see the same numbers I see, nobody should be kissing his ass.  There may be excuses--and legit ones at that---but the mess Hurney has us in has made it difficult to surround Cam with talent.  Ultimately, we don't know how good he is on a consistent level. 

[top dawg]

Cotchery was a beast in the red zone last season playing in the slot. He is just too slow (as is Avant) to play the 1 or 2 WR.  We are misusing older receivers who have pretty much reached their ceiling.  I don't think it has anything to do with their hunger. 

 

Harper was just a horrible signing. 

[panthers55]

I dunno--it is hard to put your finger on it.  Early 30s is not that old if the football acumen surpasses the loss of a step.  However, DeCoud was a free agent signing we all liked--made a pro bowl.  Cotchery has averaged about what Lafell averaged here.  Harper?  That was a strange acquisition considering his history with the team and his one-dimensional talent.

 

To me, DeCoud has been a bigger disappointment than Harper.  You never hear his name.  He tried to avoid tackles and when he makes one, he acts as though he just won an oscar.

 

Cotchery has value, but not as a #2.  He needs time to find the seams as the checkdown WR.

 

These players lack chemistry, but we are mistaken if we forget that Mitchell had his fair share of screw ups last year.  Our secondary was not much better in 2013.  The difference on both sides of the ball is probably not the skill players, but the lines in front of them.

 

I am not going to be like some on here and blame Gettlemen.  Hurney's contracts in 2011 and 2012 are just now starting to come off the books.  We have a ton of dead money.  Everyone wants to know why Hurney did not address the OL or get better defensive backs.  Duh. 

 

This is the first offseason to judge Gettlemen.  Even then, we are still fighting more of Hurney's dead money and keeping players we can't restructure or cut because the deal Hurney signed was so bad for the team.  I hate to see fans bash Gettlemen because he did not sign the pro bowl roster in the offseason or because he is not kissing Cam's ass.  It is not his job, and if you see the same numbers I see, nobody should be kissing his ass.  There may be excuses--and legit ones at that---but the mess Hurney has us in has made it difficult to surround Cam with talent.  Ultimately, we don't know how good he is on a consistent level. 

When I have criticized what Gettleman I do so because I really think that he thought after the success he had in 2013 that he could do the same thing in 2014 and just replace all the guys who wanted more money with cheaper guys  and have success.  He went after a few guys like Nicks and the OL guy who went to Tampa for whatever reason and then he had to scramble to put together a lineup. I read that he didn't even try and sign some of the guys we lost to free agency. So I understand that it wasn't his fault we had no money but how he handled the off-season to how he let Smitty go were functions of his own hubris so I think he deserves criticism for his strategy and how he went about making his changes.  Lets face it if he hadn't done what he did to Gross with the contract for example in 2013 he would probably still be here.  Playing hardball can work at times but other times can blow up in your face.  In 2013 it worked but in 2014 it surely didn't.

[thennek]

I also think Gettleman underestimated the value of some of the players that were not re-signed.  Munnerlyn, Mitchell, LaFell, Ginn, = all these guys were starters on a 12-4 team that appears that Gettleman did not try 'really hard' to keep.  I know these players were over-paid with their new teams, but it just does not seem the Panthers tried to even sign these guys. 

 

Then add in retiring starters like Gross, Wharton, Florence, Mikell (sp?), and Hartsock and the Panthers lost 5- more big contributors on a 12-4 team.  Next, add in the injuries to starters this year from the 12-4 team that missed games:  Stewart, Williams, Tolbert, Brockel, Blackburn, C. Johnson, TD, and of course Cam.  Then add in Hardy not playing.  All totaled, that is a bunch of starters either not on the team or have been injured and missed games. 

 

I also think the Panthers grossly over-rated their O-Line players, and secondary.  Perhaps there was a little arrogance on just 'signing a guy' like they did on the 2013 team, and they felt they could do the same thing this year. 

 

 

[TheRumGone]

it's been said that the panthers organization thought we were superbowl contenders this year with the franchise of hardy.

 

i really think the loss of hardy spiraled this season out of control. (along with Cam's surgeries/injuries)

[UKPanther94]

Cotchery was a beast in the red zone last season playing in the slot. He is just too slow (as is Avant) to play the 1 or 2 WR.  We are misusing older receivers who have pretty much reached their ceiling.  I don't think it has anything to do with their hunger. 

 

If I see Shula send Cotchery on a deep route one more time.........

[Mr. Scot]

Defensive signings were done with the expectation that we'd have the same sort of pass rush this year as we did last.  Had our pass rush remained consistent, who knows?

 

On the offensive side, they were building back toward a straight Coryell offense and expecting the line to take a step forward.  Early results looked promising but since the Steelers game it's been an absolute mess.

 

Some things are honestly just mystifying (like Jason Avant, the guy who never dropped anything, suddenly being unable to catch).

[MHS831]

When I have criticized what Gettleman I do so because I really think that he thought after the success he had in 2013 that he could do the same thing in 2014 and just replace all the guys who wanted more money with cheaper guys  and have success.  He went after a few guys like Nicks and the OL guy who went to Tampa for whatever reason and then he had to scramble to put together a lineup. I read that he didn't even try and sign some of the guys we lost to free agency. So I understand that it wasn't his fault we had no money but how he handled the off-season to how he let Smitty go were functions of his own hubris so I think he deserves criticism for his strategy and how he went about making his changes.  Lets face it if he hadn't done what he did to Gross with the contract for example in 2013 he would probably still be here.  Playing hardball can work at times but other times can blow up in your face.  In 2013 it worked but in 2014 it surely didn't.

 

I get it, I really do agree with you.  I think, however, Rivera was sold on the idea that Bell and Chandler/Williams could handle the T job.  I also think they counted on a mobile Cam Newton.  I think Rivera wanted a good LT, but did not prioritize it.  I can't prove it, but from comments, it seems he was singing Bell's praises through the spring and camp.

 

I agree that Gettlemen seems to be hell-bent on purging the Panthers of their core before he arrived. 

[MV%doe]

This year he's getting what he paid for, unlike the season before where each cheap signing had huge returns in value production. Plus just about all these 2014 deals are one year or cut with little/no harm.

[caatfan]

The defensive front is nowhere near what it was last year, and that has a big impart on the DB play, and the receivers would look a lot better if the OL was halfway decent.

 

Even assuming the FA's aren't nearly as good this season though, you can't expect to hit a home run in FA signing every year. I don't think Gman lost his ability to evaluate FA talent, so I'm not worried. There just isn't much talent normally available in the FA pool, otherwise they wouldn't be FA's. 

 

This organization put itself in a big cap hole and it takes time to climb out. We got lucky last year. This year the luck ran out. 

[hepcat]

Defensive signings were done with the expectation that we'd have the same sort of pass rush this year as we did last.  Had our pass rush remained consistent, who knows?

 

On the offensive side, they were building back toward a straight Coryell offense and expecting the line to take a step forward.  Early results looked promising but since the Steelers game it's been an absolute mess.

 

Some things are honestly just mystifying (like Jason Avant, the guy who never dropped anything, suddenly being unable to catch).

 

Two reasons for Avant dropping balls now:

 

#1 - this team sucks and no one on the team cares about making hard catches when you're down 45-7

#2 - Cam throws balls so hard that he makes even sure-handed receivers drop the passes because who seriously wants to catch a fastball at 10 yards?

[Carolina Cajun]

Wouldn't Derek Sherrod count as a young high draft pick with something to prove...man if only he were available...

[Mr Mojo Risin]

We should try putting brandon williams in as a.flex TE more often hes got some speed. Of course that would require shula to have some innovation which he doesnt have so we'll continue to see cotch/avant outmatched on the perimeter. What a dumbass OC we have.