Current Panther roster

[TheSpecialJuan]

Quarterbacks   Cam Newton Derek Anderson Joe Webb Running backs Brandon Wegher Jonathan Stewart Mike Tolbert FB Cameron Artis-Payne Fozzy Whittaker Wide receivers Brenton Bersin Corey Brown Damiere Byrd Devin Funchess Ted Ginn, Jr. Cobi Hamilton Kelvin Benjamin Stephen Hill Kevin Norwood Tight ends Ed Dickson Greg Olsen Scott Simonson

Offensive linemen   Reese Dismukes C Ryan Kalil C Gino Gradkowski C Matthew Masifilo C Tyler Larsen G Trai Turner G David Yankey G Andrew Norwell G Chris Scott G Michael Oher T David Foucault T Daryl Williams T Donald Hawkins T Mike Remmers T Defensive linemen Chas Alecxih DT Star Lotulelei DT Eric Crume DT Paul Soliai DT Kawann Short DT Ryan Delaire DE Larry Webster DE Kony Ealy DE Rakim Cox DE Mario Addison DE Wes Horton DE Charles Johnson DE Arthur Miley DE

Linebackers   David Mayo MLB Luke Kuechly MLB Brian Blechen OLB Thomas Davis OLB A.J. Klein OLB Ben Jacobs OLB Shaq Thompson OLB Defensive backs Bené Benwikere CB Travell Dixon CB Brandon Boykin CB Robert McClain CB Josh Norman CB Teddy Williams CB Lou Young CB Kurt Coleman FS Marcus Ball SS Tre Boston SS Ras-I Dowling FS Trenton Robinson FS Colin Jones FS Dean Marlowe FS Special teams Graham Gano K JJ Jansen LS Swayze Waters P

[TheSpecialJuan]

• Currently there are 71 players under contract.

• 19 roster spots still open.

• 6 draft picks. 9-10 Undrafted free agent signings.

• You can clearly see that we are absolutely loaded. There is not 1 major hole on this team.

• It’s possibly the best roster in franchise history. Even our future FA have upside: Larry Webster, David Yankey

• Great depth and youth throughout.

 

• Areas of upgrade/improvement:

 

1. Depth at OT and 1 more CB

2. Backup RB

3. Depth at TE. I am convinced we’re going to draft a TE this year.

4. A young DE that we can develop as replacement for CJ

5. Another DT. Look for Kyle Love to be re-signed soon.

[General_Purr]

Area of upgrades have no DBs? Safety looks pretty wack. D line looks just fine. Outside of Shaq, TD, Luke, LBs could add more. Of course a badass tackle would be great. Olsen is the only tight end I trust.. if he goes down I dont see Dickson or Simon making all pro

[TheSpecialJuan]

5 minutes ago, General_Purr said:

Area of upgrades have no DBs? Safety looks pretty wack. D line looks just fine. Outside of Shaq, TD, Luke, LBs could add more. Of course a badass tackle would be great. Olsen is the only tight end I trust.. if he goes down I dont see Dickson or Simon making all pro

An upgrade at TE is a must.

[TheSpecialJuan]

6 minutes ago, General_Purr said:

Area of upgrades have no DBs? Safety looks pretty wack. D line looks just fine. Outside of Shaq, TD, Luke, LBs could add more. Of course a badass tackle would be great. Olsen is the only tight end I trust.. if he goes down I dont see Dickson or Simon making all pro

And I said 1 more CB.

[t96]

Josh is not on the roster right now.

[TheSpecialJuan]

10 minutes ago, thomas96 said:

Josh is not on the roster right now.

I think we can safely assume he will be.

[KB_fan]

1 hour ago, TheSpecialJuan said:

Areas of upgrade/improvement:

1. Depth at OT and 1 more CB

2. Backup RB

3. Depth at TE. I am convinced we’re going to draft a TE this year.

4. A young DE that we can develop as replacement for CJ

5. Another DT. Look for Kyle Love to be re-signed soon.

Really nice post, THANKS!

My thoughts in rough order of priority:

1. I DEFINITELY agree re: depth at OT.  Unless "Frenchie" Foucault has improved dramatically, we really need another OT for backup.  (I know nearly nothing about Hawkins, however.  Maybe he qualifies.) But since Remmers & Oher both will need new contracts next season, I think we're looking for more than just a potential backup.  We may need a new OT for the future, so finding a future starting quality OT is high on my radar.  I'm just not sure that the draft is deep enough.  Looks like almost all the best OTs will be gone by the time we pick in round 2.  Hopefully Dave finds a gem in the later rounds!

2.  DT :  We've not yet replaced Dwan Edwards.  Need another 3 tech.  Assuming we will do this through the draft.

3a.  CB : I love our signing of Boykin.  That makes CB much less of a concern, but given uncertainty re: Josh's future, and the CB depth in the draft, assume we'll look for one.

3b.  Safety:  Not convinced Trenton Richardson will be anything more than special teams.  Want us to have strong competition for Tre Boston.  Think this could be a priority in the draft.

4.  Depth / competition at TE.  Dickson was one of our worst-graded players.  Given how huge a role Greg plays for us, I'd like us to have stronger backup for him / a future TE to groom for when Greg retires.  Didn't get a feel for how Simonson might fit in this mix.

5:  DE:  With CJ's re-signing (as long as he stays healthy) and if Ealy plays to the potential we saw in the Superbowl, and with Addison & Horton having solid roles in the rotation & the "kids" (Delaire, Cox, Miley) whom Dave & Ron seem to like....  DE is no longer a huge concern of mine.  But given some of the good DEs in this draft, I'd love to see us find a good pass rusher - future starter - to groom as CJ's replacement.

6.  WR / RB:  We seem to be visiting with a lot of WRs, and I could see a lot of scenarios where a WR is BPA for us at our pick in round 1 or in round 3.  I've also seen RBs like Derrick Henry or Prosise be BPA at our one of our picks.  I wouldn't object if we drafted either, but I'm pretty comfortable with our roster at both positions.

7.  P:  Maybe this is the year DG keeps our 7th round draft pick and uses it for a punter?  With Nortman gone, it's not so farfetched....

Update:

8. A quick note about LBs.  I and many of us are assuming this will be AJ Klein's last year with the team, that we'll let him become a free agent next year so he can start for another team.  In that scenario finding another good backup LB is not out of the question... (all your LBs belong to us!) ... but I'm not sure this is the draft to do it.   This looks to be a very poor draft class for MLBs.  Not so sure about OLBs.

[aussiePanther]

3 minutes ago, KB_fan said:

Really nice post, THANKS!

My thoughts in rough order of priority:

I was writing a reply, but then you said everything I was going to.

[TheSpecialJuan]

3 minutes ago, aussiePanther said:

I was writing a reply, but then you said everything I was going to.

write a reply anyway. always interesting to hear other's thoughts.

[TheSpecialJuan]

8 minutes ago, KB_fan said:

Really nice post, THANKS!

My thoughts in rough order of priority:

1. I DEFINITELY agree re: depth at OT.  Unless "Frenchie" Foucault has improved dramatically, we really need another OT for backup.  (I know nearly nothing about Hawkins, however.  Maybe he qualifies.) But since Remmers & Oher both will need new contracts next season, I think we're looking for more than just a potential backup.  We may need a new OT for the future, so finding a future starting quality OT is high on my radar.  I'm just not sure that the draft is deep enough.  Looks like almost all the best OTs will be gone by the time we pick in round 2.  Hopefully Dave finds a gem in the later rounds!

2.  DT :  We've not yet replaced Dwan Edwards.  Need another 3 tech.  Assuming we will do this through the draft.

3a.  CB : I love our signing of Boykin.  That makes CB much less of a concern, but given uncertainty re: Josh's future, and the CB depth in the draft, assume we'll look for one.

3b.  Safety:  Not convinced Trenton Richardson will be anything more than special teams.  Want us to have strong competition for Tre Boston.  Think this could be a priority in the draft.

4.  Depth / competition at TE.  Dickson was one of our worst-graded players.  Given how huge a role Greg plays for us, I'd like us to have stronger backup for him / a future TE to groom for when Greg retires.  Didn't get a feel for how Simonson might fit in this mix.

5:  DE:  With CJ's re-signing (as long as he stays healthy) and if Ealy plays to the potential we saw in the Superbowl, and with Addison & Horton having solid roles in the rotation & the "kids" (Delaire, Cox, Miley) whom Dave & Ron seem to like....  DE is no longer a huge concern of mine.  But given some of the good DEs in this draft, I'd love to see us find a good pass rusher - future starter - to groom as CJ's replacement.

6.  WR / RB:  We seem to be visiting with a lot of WRs, and I could see a lot of scenarios where a WR is BPA for us at our pick in round 1 or in round 3.  I've also seen RBs like Derrick Henry or Prosise be BPA at our one of our picks.  I wouldn't object if we drafted either, but I'm pretty comfortable with our roster at both positions.

7.  P:  Maybe this is the year DG keeps our 7th round draft pick and uses it for a punter?  With Nortman gone, it's not so farfetched....

Update:

8. A quick note about LBs.  I and many of us are assuming this will be AJ Klein's last year with the team, that we'll let him become a free agent next year so he can start for another team.  In that scenario finding another good backup LB is not out of the question... (all your LBs belong to us!) ... but I'm not sure this is the draft to do it.   This looks to be a very poor draft class for MLBs.  Not so sure about OLBs.

This is excellent. And thanks !

[aussiePanther]

1 minute ago, TheSpecialJuan said:

write a reply anyway. always interesting to hear other's thoughts.

Well I scrapped it now, but basically have need at SS & P, and a quality TE2 would be really nice. We need depth at OT, DT (3-tech) & CB. And we should be looking out for the future at C, OT x2, CB, RB & P/KR. We will draft BPA as we should: "Build through the draft fix through FA".

I believe this is a team set for sustained future success and this is a time of immense optimism and happiness.

[t96]

1 hour ago, TheSpecialJuan said:

I think we can safely assume he will be.

It's certainly more likely than not that he will be, however I don't think it's safe to assume so. I would not be surprised to see him hold out into the season or be traded. It's been made extremely clear what he thinks of the franchise tag and he'll do whatever he can to not have to play under it. I still have hope we'll work out a deal but if not, it could get ugly.

[TheSpecialJuan]

14 minutes ago, thomas96 said:

It's certainly more likely than not that he will be, however I don't think it's safe to assume so. I would not be surprised to see him hold out into the season or be traded. It's been made extremely clear what he thinks of the franchise tag and he'll do whatever he can to not have to play under it. I still have hope we'll work out a deal but if not, it could get ugly.

I wouldn't mind getting a 1st rounder back for him but that's a long shot. I really don't think that's going to happen. A team would have to not only give up picks to us but make him possibly the highest paid CB. Maybe some stupid team might make that move.