Panthers - Highest Retention of Free Agents

[Mr. Scot]

41 minutes ago, Jangler said:

Very nice post. 

Would be interesting to see how the Panthers have fared throughout the years on this. Seems like whoever is running the team, we have always tried to keep what works. I'd wager we have always kept more players.

You'd wager correct.

Hurney did fairly well at retaining draft picks (at least the ones that didn't wash out in a year or two). Unfortunately, some of the guys he retained were overpaid or mediocre (Charles Godfrey anybody?)

There were years when the team crowed about having a roster built mostly from draft picks, which would have been much cooler if the rosters in question had been winning more games.

[KB_fan]

David Newton has an unusually good article giving a summary of Dave Gettleman's track record in signing free agents.

http://espn.go.com/blog/carolina-panthers/post/_/id/20008/panthers-gm-has-better-record-with-draft-picks-than-ufas

Here's an excerpt:
 

Quote

 

Gettleman has signed 14 unrestricted free agents since taking over in 2013. Only two that were signed as UFAs currently are on the roster. There likely would have been a few more had the Panthers not been strapped under the salary cap when Gettleman arrived.

The 14 doesn’t include wide receiver Ted Ginn. He was signed as an unrestricted free agent in 2013, went to Arizona in 2014 and was released a year ago. He was not a UFA when Gettleman signed him to his current deal.

The same goes for left tackle Michael Oher, who was released by Tennessee while still under contract.

Seven of Gettleman’s 14 UFAs became starters. Three were released prior to playing a down in a regular-season game. Another was released during the season.

The biggest success stories are safeties. Mike Mitchell played well enough in 2013 that he was given a five-year deal by Pittsburgh the following season. Kurt Coleman led the Panthers in interceptions this past season.

Backup quarterback Joe Webb and tight end Ed Dickson played well enough to earn a second -- and in the case of Webb on Tuesday -- third deal with Carolina. Mitchell likely would have been re-signed as well had Gettleman had more cap space.

But what stands out the most is that Gettleman hasn’t spent big on anybody. The average yearly salary has been just over $1.1 million. He’s yet to pay more than $2.5 million a season for a player.

Gettleman has saved the big bucks for re-signing his own free agents. He also hasn’t rushed into signing UFAs, letting the market settle before making a play.

 

Newton then goes on to list all the UFAs signed under Gettleman with details of salary, and how it worked out:
 

Quote

 

2015

• S Kurt Coleman (Two years, $2.8 million) -- Perhaps the best bargain of the 2015 offseason and Gettleman’s best UFA signing in three years. Led Carolina with seven interceptions during the regular season. Returned one for a touchdown.

• CB Charles Tillman (One year, $1.75 million) -- Started 12 games but ultimately had his season ended by a knee injury. Was a nice stopgap at corner opposite Josh Norman, but at 35 likely not to be re-signed.

• LB Jason Trusnik (One year, $950,000) -- Was released before the season.

2014

• CB Antoine Cason (One year, $795,000) -- Was released 12 games into the season after starting 11.

• WR Jerricho Cotchery (Two years, $5 million) -- Started 16 games in two seasons. Caught 87 passes for 1,065 yards and four touchdowns. Filled a leadership role the past two years, but at 33 won’t be back in 2016.

• TE Ed Dickson (One year, $730,000) -- Caught 10 passes for 115 yard and a touchdown in his first season. But played well enough that after the season he was re-signed to a three-year deal worth $6.8 million.

• WR Tiquan Underwood (Two years, $2.1 million) -- Released prior to the season. Hasn’t made a roster since. Probably Gettleman’s worst UFA signing.

• QB Joe Webb (One year, $635,000) -- Signed to help simulate what Cam Newton does in the running game while Newton recovered from offseason ankle surgery. A reserve wide receiver and special teams contributor as well. Signed a one-year, $825,000 for the 2015 season and signed a two-year deal on Tuesday.

2013

• LB Chase Blackburn (Two years, $2,050,000) -- Played in 19 games and started nine. Had 39 tackles in two seasons before injuries basically ended his career.

• CB Drayton Florence (One year, $940,000) -- Started five games and played in 14. Had two interceptions. An aging veteran that filled a nice role.

• WR Ted Ginn Jr. (One year, $1.1 million) -- Caught 36 passes for 556 yard and five touchdowns in 2013. Signed a three-year, $9.75 million deal with Arizona during the offseason. Signed a two-year deal to return to Carolina after being released a year ago.

• WR Domenik Hixon (One year, $1,162,500) -- Caught seven passes for 55 yards and a touchdown. Signed with Chicago during the offseason and retired after suffering a knee injury.

• SS Mike Mitchell (One year, $1 million) -- Started 14 games in 2013, and then signed a five-year, $25 million deal with Pittsburgh.

• CB D.J. Moore (One year, $550,000) -- Released seven months after signing.

 

 

Obviously, we've also added players - including several solid starters -  who weren't UFAs:  Practice Squad guys from other teams, UDFAs or Street Free Agents.  Some of the names that come to mind:  Harper, Norwell, Remmers, Finnegan, McClain, Teddy Williams, Delaire... ,

[Bartin]

Great info!

I know it isn't in the PFF FA database so you are working with what you've got, but the Broncos total retention is a bit misleading. They signed Chris Harris Jr in December of 2014 for a bargain price before he became a FA and then did the same this year with Derek Wolfe.

The Packers also did that with Mike Daniels this year.

For all intents and purposes, those guys were free agents but since they were signed a couple weeks before the end of the season they don't officially count. There are probably a few others as well that fit this description but those 3 were the ones off the top of my head. Of course, it also wouldn't include guys like Cam and Luke who signed extensions with a year left on their deals.

[KB_fan]

Great point.   I think getting your players signed to extensions BEFORE they hit free agency is a pretty important mark of a good GM.  Thinking ahead.... having a plan.  

[PanthersBigD]

Free Agency has already gone full retard, so while it would be great to bolster our roster with some quality free agents, it would be extremely stupid/short sighted to pay the prices that even mediocre talent is commanding right now. If history holds, we will have a successful draft, and can still scoop up some good players after June cuts. I would have loved Vernon, but come on, dude is not worth that much. They're paying him based on potential. That rarely works out very well. 

[top dawg]

1 hour ago, Growl said:

This is actually a bit concerning. Teams in our position who enter the off season determined at all costs to simply repeat out success by fielding the exact same team have a poor precedent.

 

We aren't going to have the same team from last year. Not in the locker room, and if we have it on the field we'll be in trouble.

 

Teams have to grow. We should be less concerned with trying to hold it all together and have a stronger emphasis on bolstering it as a whole. Let's see an upgrade at DE so we can drop more DBs, let's see a second TE so we can utilize dual sets. Anything. But please oh please don't just assume that because made it to the Super Bowl that it somehow means we are contenders once again.

Not saying that I don't understand your argument, and agree with it on some level, but I take issue with it. The main reason is that there is an inherent assumption that the FO wants to field the exact same team at all costs to catch lightning in a bottle. I don't think that the Panthers are resting on their laurels of last season.

Moreover, you speak of precedent, but where is this precedent? I can't think of any team in NFL history that has been hellbent on sending the same personnel on the field from one year to another, and today's modern NFL simply isn't built for that with the NFLPA and CBA.

The puzzle of personnel is not static, it is a dynamic proposition by its very nature. With all the movement on and off the field in the NFL, one has to have the ability to adjust, and the teams that are able to keep their core together while continually adjusting the role players around their key playmakers are the perennial powers that threaten to go deep into the postseason on a near yearly basis. They are the organizations that know how to draft and develop their own talent so that role players have a possibility of stepping up and becoming a part of the core as well. So you must take that part of the equation into consideration. 

If you're doing a good job, free agency is really about tweaking your roster with Band-Aids of varying degrees. Mind you, this doesn't mean that it is impossible to find a gem among free agents from time to time that actually stick. There are treasures to be found like Greg Olsen, and there are also precious stones among other teams' career backups and practice squads if you are vigilant enough. But the real infusion of new blood comes from the draft, and sometimes fresh undrafted free agents, as well as your own practice squad.

Lastly, but not least, you would be loath to discount the effects of injuries and experience  from one season to another as well. Hopefully we will get better by virtue of a return to good health and a year's more experience, alone. However, with injuries always looming, this speaks back to why a vigilant eye on FA, the draft, undrafted free agents, and practice squads is so important. Dave Gettleman's modus operandi should---if nothing else---prove to anyone that he is the eye in the sky, always keeping his vision to the forefront of his mind.

We have grown and will continue to do so. The growth just won't necessarily be with a splash, but with conservative, methodical forethought inclusive of all the tools at Gettleman's disposal, and taking into account all the dynamics of building and managing  a yearly contender.

 

 

[gorillamilitia13]

Progress your own, build what you have. Thats always been Gettleman's philosophy. 

[O-Ther]

2 hours ago, KB_fan said:

Great point.   I think getting your players signed to extensions BEFORE they hit free agency is a pretty important mark of a good GM.  Thinking ahead.... having a plan.  

Gettleman having a plan is why I'm not worried about our free agents in 2017. Concerned, yes. Worried, no. The list is daunting, and in the interest of not wanting a Huddle meltdown, I won't post it, but if you access that info, it makes you realize that we may be saving our cap space this year to rollover to next year, to help with not only the quantity of our free agents, but also their quality.

[ickmule]

Good info, but my head hurts now......