Ginn, Oher and Coleman

[DaveThePanther2008]

Gettleman gets such great props for bringing these guys in.  His free agent signings are making us a championship team.  Both FA and UDFA.

If we remember we signed these three top free agents within about 10 days or so. back in early March Oher on 6th, Ginn 9th and Coleman 16th.  

Obviously we had our eyes on these specific free agents because they fit our mold. Oher was washed up, Ginn flopped on his free agent trot in Arizona. Coleman played with McDermott in Philly and did well.  Off to KC (I believe) and nothing  Now back with McDermott. 

John Matsko I have no doubt he insisted on Oher.  IMO we signed him way too fast to be just an option.  We wanted him and they were CERTAIN he was going return to the first round talent that he was.  IMO he has.  Ginn basically came back to Carolina to PLAY not just return kicks.  He is such a good weapon because his speed kills.  Coleman was a player I didn't really know much about but McDermott remembered him.  Many said he would be close to Mitchell but IMO he is better.

These players fit.  Hopefully, they realize that they flourish in our system and not somewhere else.   Contracts isn't my bag with players but I believe we have all three through next year.   Once again, hopefully they want to hang around a little longer and make this team a dynasty.   

Star, Short, KB and other young guys could play on another teams but it is these gems that fit our style and hopefully they realize it. These are the guys that make this team nasty and deep.  

[TheRumGone]

All three signed two year deals

[DaveThePanther2008]

1 minute ago, CCS said:

I don't even care about next year and you shouldn't either. Just enjoy this ride.

I must have a unique ability to enjoy this season AND see (as TIMBUK3 would say) 

The futures so bright, I gotta wear shades. 

Open your mind....it is fun to do both.

[DaveThePanther2008]

1 minute ago, JakeR6 said:

Daddy Dave learned a lesson from 2013 when he signed Ginn, Mitchell, etc to 1-year deals. 

Sign these diamond in the rough scrubs to a 2-year deal, get 2 solid years out of them and then let someone else overpay for their services. 

Rinse and repeat. 

 

Ginn will finish his career as a Panther (or as long as we want him)

I also think those signings had more to do with managing the cap than wanting to keep them but you may be right.

Oher and Coleman have a good chance to stay and play.  The whole idea of this post was to point out these guys are well traveled but they flourish on this team because they fit how we play offense and defense.

[KB_fan]

16 minutes ago, DaveThePanther2008 said:

Gettleman gets such great props for bringing these guys in.  His free agent signings are making us a championship team.  Both FA and UDFA.

If we remember we signed these three top free agents within about 10 days or so. back in early March Oher on 6th, Ginn 9th and Coleman 16th.  

Obviously we had our eyes on these specific free agents because they fit our mold. [...]

These players fit.

I'd add Peanut Tillman to this list too.  He was signed a bilt later, on April 9.

He may not be having his biggest year stats wise, but I think he has had a HUGE impact on our DBs, and actually our whole defense.  They are out there competing with one another for takeaways.  I mean look at all the FFs Luke is suddenly having, and the fact that we've got 3 players in the top 10 list of players with interceptions  (Coleman, Norman, Davis)

And, TD, Luke and Josh are all tied for 3rd in Forced Fumbles...
 

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=0&statisticCategory=INTERCEPTIONS&conference=null&season=2015&seasonType=REG

If the DB's are the band of thieves.... Peanut is Prince of Thieves in terms of how he's instilled a culture of GOING AFTER THE BALL!

[TheRumGone]

16 minutes ago, JakeR6 said:

Daddy Dave learned a lesson from 2013 when he signed Ginn, Mitchell, etc to 1-year deals. 

Sign these diamond in the rough scrubs to a 2-year deal, get 2 solid years out of them and then let someone else overpay for their services. 

If he had given Ginn, Oher, Coleman, etc 1-year deals they'd all get poached after this season. Instead, after we win the SB they're all still gonna be under contract for peanuts and allow him to focus on extending key players. 

Those 2-year deals might be the difference between winning a SB and losing a bunch of guys via FA and keeping the team together and going for a repeat. 

Dave is an incredible GM.

 

I wouldn't say learned his lesson. We were mightily cap strapped. He was playing it one year at a time. After the cap opened up you saw more two year deals

[KB_fan]

2 minutes ago, TheRumGone said:

I wouldn't say learned his lesson. We were mightily cap strapped. He was playing it one year at a time. After the cap opened up you saw more two year deals

Forgive me if I misunderstand the way the Cap works, but wouldn't 2 year deals spread the cap hit over two years if the contract were structured in a team-friendly way? 

I'm pretty sure I saw an interview with either Ron or Dave where they specifically lamented having only signed some of the guys like Ginn & Mitchell for 1 year, that it was a mistake they learned from.  We surely missed Ginn terribly last year, and think about our awful our secondary was in the 1st half of the season (DeCoud, Cason....) until Josh, Bene & Boston started to get more playing time.  We would have won more games had we not had to let go of most of our secondary from 2013.

[TheRumGone]

Just now, KB_fan said:

Forgive me if I misunderstand the way the Cap works, but wouldn't 2 year deals spread the cap hit over two years if the contract were structured in a team-friendly way? 

I'm pretty sure I saw an interview with either Ron or Dave where they specifically lamented having only signed some of the guys like Ginn & Mitchell for 1 year, that it was a mistake they learned from.  We surely missed Ginn terribly last year, and think about our awful our secondary was in the 1st half of the season (DeCoud, Cason....) until Josh, Bene & Boston started to get more playing time.  We would have won more games had we not had to let go of most of our secondary from 2013.

its about giving two year deals to players you are not sure about. you are stuck with them if they don't perform well with their cap hits and dead money if cut. DG has stated as much in interviews. Sure they regret only signing 1 year players after the fact they produced well.

 

they tried to eliminate risk as much as possible. 2013-14 were transition years for us to save as much money as possible for cam luke olsen and set us up for our draft picks. that's the way i saw it anyway. i mean we were signing players for less than a mill one year contracts. if those players didn't pan out they walk free, sign two and three year deals cut them and dead money accrues and those chunks add up. We were trying to get out as quickly as possible.

i dont feel like looking up the cap totals for years 2013 and 14. but you will see a SERIOUS difference between those years and what we were working with for 15 and could take a little more risks. 

[DaveThePanther2008]

17 minutes ago, KB_fan said:

I'd add Peanut Tillman to this list too.  He was signed a bilt later, on April 9.

He may not be having his biggest year stats wise, but I think he has had a HUGE impact on our DBs, and actually our whole defense.  They are out there competing with one another for takeaways.  I mean look at all the FFs Luke is suddenly having, and the fact that we've got 3 players in the top 10 list of players with interceptions  (Coleman, Norman, Davis)

And, TD, Luke and Josh are all tied for 3rd in Forced Fumbles...
 

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=0&statisticCategory=INTERCEPTIONS&conference=null&season=2015&seasonType=REG

If the DB's are the band of thieves.... Peanut is Prince of Thieves in terms of how he's instilled a culture of GOING AFTER THE BALL!

RIGHT.... I like Tillman.   A tad worried he is breaking down a bit but love him on this team too.

[UKPanther94]

Every once in a while you're going to get duds like DeCoud and Cason but when you consider it's bargain bin shopping, it's still a remarkably high success rate, even more so when it's in such key areas too

[KB_fan]

Here's an article from March 2015 in which Gettleman comments on the 2 year contract issue:

http://www.panthers.com/news/article-2/Gettleman-Roster-rounding-into-shape-for-draft/76b4f825-bfb9-4d55-bbdf-85280b02f0e7

Quote

Two years ago, Gettleman's first offseason as a general manager, the Panthers signed Ginn to a one-year contract, only to see him flourish to the point where Carolina couldn't afford him given his market and the Panthers' salary cap situation.

This offseason, with a little more cap room but with the continued goal of maintaining some wiggle room for some major re-signings to come, the Panthers signed the likes of Ginn and Oher to multi-year deals.

"Let's say for the sake of discussion that [Oher] hits it out of the park and now he's a UFA (unrestricted free agent) and it becomes, 'Can we afford him?' " Gettleman said. "Let's say hypothetically we can't afford him. Well, now you're looking at a fourth left tackle in four years. You can't operate like that. Not all parts are interchangeable. That was a big part of the two-year deal for Michael."

Being able to bring guys like Oher back in 2016 at what could qualify as a better price should help the financial picture going forward as the Panthers continue to work toward locking up core players long-term. It also helps create what Gettleman termed "cost certainty" – knowing in advance how much a given player will cost in the near future

 

[KB_fan]

While looking for that article above that I just quoted.., I came across an article from a year ago (Nov 14, 2014) at BBR with an extensive analysis of all the parts of Gettleman's plan that went wrong for the 2014 season.  Of course that was while we were still in the midst of our awful losing streak.

Interesting to look back at it now.

http://blackandbluereview.com/5-parts-dave-gettlemans-2014-plan-havent-worked/

Many of the points are true, things Gettleman didn't do so well on.  But it's interesting to see how with patience and hard work, the team overcame some huge challenges and got to where were are now just 1 year later with a  15 game 365 day regular season win streak!

[PantherPhann89]

I think that Gettleman is easily the best GM in Panthers history...