Preseason Report Card - Final Evaluation + PS Predictor

[Bronn]

Hi again folks!

You may, or may not, have noticed I didn't do one of these posts last week. To be honest, we looked pretty bad on all fronts and, to save myself from getting too worked up over a preseason game, I gave everyone a break for the week. We made some cuts (I was a little disappointed we let some of the guys go we let go (Capers and Lally specifically)) and we moved on towards the last, pretty meaningless preseason game.

We picked up a new punter and a new safety in the process, which I feel like were both good moves. Lee is a proven player, and Brown is both experienced and solid.

That brought us to last night... The last chance for a lot of the guys to make their push for their spot on the final 53 man roster.

Here are my final grades for all units on the squad, as we prepare to make our way to Mile High.

QB: A+
Cam Newton is the best QB in the league, as far as I am concerned. He's a threat outside the pocket, but has shown that he will carve you up through the air too. Derek Anderson could start for maybe 10 teams right now. Joe Webb is an asset at QB and an athlete on Special Teams and could even play WR if we needed him to.

RB: A
Jonathan Stewart is probably one of my top 5 hardest RBs to bring down in history. As long as he can stay healthy, he'll be our work horse. Mike Tolbert is a bowling ball. CAP has showed he is a threat in the open field, and he can make something out of nothing. Fozzy is my #2, and is a threat in the receiving game as well as the outside running game. Wegher has shown flashes, but I feel like he's kind of been pushed out this year. Simmons is a kid I am excited for, and I hope (and think) he's shown us enough to get a practice squad offer.

WR: A+
"We ain't got no wideouts" is going to be replaced with "Oh my god" or some expletive laden rant by opposing defenses. Benji's back, Funchess is emerging as a playmaker, Ginn is a threat anytime he touches the ball, Brown is reliable and deceptively quick, and Bersin has the experience and dependability that we need. Byrd has had a strong showing this year, and one could argue he deserves a 6th spot on the roster. Garrett has actually made a couple plays when he has had the chance, so maybe he'll get an offer for the PS. Undoubtedly, though, this is probably our strongest position corps on offense. Tough luck for Norwood last night.

TE: B+
Let me preface this by saying that Marcus Lucas hasn't gotten a lot, if any, air time in these writeups. But, that young man has done very well, and could have pushed for his spot on this team. Olsen is our stud, obviously. Simonson and Sandland have been unimpressive in the receiving department, but have shown flashes in the blocking and route-running department. Dickson's job as our #2 could be safe, unless pay and durability come into play. I'm torn on who makes the roster, to be honest, outside of Olsen. The 4 guys behind him bring such different things to the table that this spot is going to be a hard one.

OL: B+
Our starters are solid. Sure, they will have their moments where we pick on them for something, but as long as they can stop the outside rushers and keep Cam safe I am good. Nothing needs to really be said of the starters, but guys like Williams, Hawkins, Gradkowski, and Scott will be solid if they are called upon. I think Rigsbee had a shot, and I haven't heard what his injury was, but it didn't look good. Yankey has probably pushed for a backup spot. Denver will be a chance for our guys to show they have improved, and earn their A.

DL: B+
Our starting front 4 will be solid. Our rotational guys should be solid-serviceable. I think Delaire has earned his spot now. I think Butler and Soliai are a given. Horton will probably hang around until we hear a "Who?" added to the mix. I still think Kyle Love will be here. Addison is still a solid backup. The last spot is a battle between Miley and Crume, and I personally have seen more out of Miley. It seems others, including the Panthers are high on Crume.

LB: A++
This is actually probably our strongest and deepest position on the team. Keek and Davis are All-Pro, and Shaq doesn't have much left until he proves he is. Klein and Mayo could start for a lot of teams. Even Blechen and Norris have looked really good in certain situations. Jacobs is serviceable, but good on Special Teams. Cash looks really good, and is all over the field. He's probably pushed Jacobs out at this point.

DB: B+
There is still some shakiness as far as the Safeties go and about having rookies starting on the outside. But I like most of what I have seen out of all of them. If they can keep their tackling in check they will be solid. With our system, they don't really have to be anything other than solid. Bradberry, Worley, Bene, Sanchez, Coleman, Boston, and Brown are our core. McClain, Jones, Ball, and Marlowe have all probably pushed hard enough to get a spot, but I don't know that we'll have room to carry them all.

ST: A
Gano is great. Lee is good. Jansen is great. So long as their support units function, I have no doubts about our success here.

I've kind of done away with my Bubble Watch segment, as they have pretty much been covered by everyone else. There were indeed some jobs on the line last night, and we'll find out soon who was victorious.

PS Predicions:
J. Norris LB
B. Blechen LB
J. Simmons RB
A. Capers WR
E. Crume DT or A. Miley DE (whichever doesn't make the 53)
L. Young CB
T. Larsen G
S. Simonson, B. Sandland, M. Lucas, E. Wallace TE, B. Deaver TE (two of these guys)
K. Garrett WR

Granted, all of these are guys we are familiar with. I don't think, like a lot of people do, that teams are just waiting for us to stash Garrett on the PS. If we do, I think he'll stick there. I'm still torn about or TE situation. Two of the guys I listed could actually make the team. I think we'll stash two on the PS for future development, though. We could drop one of the WRs for another DB, like one of the younger safeties. We may also want to bring in another OL to the PS, so that would kick out a WR, too.

I haven't read about the injuries yet, but I'm guessing Rigsbee and Norwood will be headed to IR. That counts them out of the 53 and the PS, and actually might help in some of the decision making moving forward.


Anyways. Thanks for reading these writeups, and I hope you've enjoyed. I'm getting the feels as next Thursday approaches, and hope everyone is as excited as I am for the upcoming season. #1 Offense and #1 Defense. Super Bowl 51 champs. Those are the goals, and I totally believe we can achieve them.

Go Panthers!

[KSpan]

Pretty optimistic with a lot of those grades but I like the enthusiasm. Not sure that DB or WR are quite that high, and once you get beyond the starters in RB, TE, Ol, and DL there's a significant dropoff in talent.  

With that said though, it's time to get started.

[Wundrbread33]

Lowest grade is a B+? Go Panthers!

[Bronn]

3 minutes ago, Wundrbread33 said:

Lowest grade is a B+? Go Panthers!

Heck YES! Until proven otherwise by other teams in the league, the 2016-2017 Panthers, at least in my book, are unbeatable.

I mean... We're undefeated right now, this regular season...

[ThPantherFan]

Just now, Bronn said:

Heck YES! Until proven otherwise by other teams in the league, the 2016-2017 Panthers, at least in my book, are unbeatable.

I mean... We're undefeated right now, this regular season...

I think the highest grade would have been a B+.  I would give that to Webb because of what he had to work with.  No grade would have been below a C.

[Bronn]

Just now, ThPantherFan said:

I think the highest grade would have been a B+.  I would give that to Webb because of what he had to work with.  No grade would have been below a C.

It's more of an observation of our team, as a whole, post preseason. It isn't just a grade for last night.

[ThPantherFan]

19 minutes ago, Bronn said:

Hi again folks!

You may, or may not, have noticed I didn't do one of these posts last week. To be honest, we looked pretty bad on all fronts and, to save myself from getting too worked up over a preseason game, I gave everyone a break for the week. We made some cuts (I was a little disappointed we let some of the guys go we let go (Capers and Lally specifically)) and we moved on towards the last, pretty meaningless preseason game.

We picked up a new punter and a new safety in the process, which I feel like were both good moves. Lee is a proven player, and Brown is both experienced and solid.

That brought us to last night... The last chance for a lot of the guys to make their push for their spot on the final 53 man roster.

Here are my final grades for all units on the squad, as we prepare to make our way to Mile High.

QB: A+
Cam Newton is the best QB in the league, as far as I am concerned. He's a threat outside the pocket, but has shown that he will carve you up through the air too. Derek Anderson could start for maybe 10 teams right now. Joe Webb is an asset at QB and an athlete on Special Teams and could even play WR if we needed him to.

RB: A
Jonathan Stewart is probably one of my top 5 hardest RBs to bring down in history. As long as he can stay healthy, he'll be our work horse. Mike Tolbert is a bowling ball. CAP has showed he is a threat in the open field, and he can make something out of nothing. Fozzy is my #2, and is a threat in the receiving game as well as the outside running game. Wegher has shown flashes, but I feel like he's kind of been pushed out this year. Simmons is a kid I am excited for, and I hope (and think) he's shown us enough to get a practice squad offer.

WR: A+
"We ain't got no wideouts" is going to be replaced with "Oh my god" or some expletive laden rant by opposing defenses. Benji's back, Funchess is emerging as a playmaker, Ginn is a threat anytime he touches the ball, Brown is reliable and deceptively quick, and Bersin has the experience and dependability that we need. Byrd has had a strong showing this year, and one could argue he deserves a 6th spot on the roster. Garrett has actually made a couple plays when he has had the chance, so maybe he'll get an offer for the PS. Undoubtedly, though, this is probably our strongest position corps on offense. Tough luck for Norwood last night.

TE: B+
Let me preface this by saying that Marcus Lucas hasn't gotten a lot, if any, air time in these writeups. But, that young man has done very well, and could have pushed for his spot on this team. Olsen is our stud, obviously. Simonson and Sandland have been unimpressive in the receiving department, but have shown flashes in the blocking and route-running department. Dickson's job as our #2 could be safe, unless pay and durability come into play. I'm torn on who makes the roster, to be honest, outside of Olsen. The 4 guys behind him bring such different things to the table that this spot is going to be a hard one.

OL: B+
Our starters are solid. Sure, they will have their moments where we pick on them for something, but as long as they can stop the outside rushers and keep Cam safe I am good. Nothing needs to really be said of the starters, but guys like Williams, Hawkins, Gradkowski, and Scott will be solid if they are called upon. I think Rigsbee had a shot, and I haven't heard what his injury was, but it didn't look good. Yankey has probably pushed for a backup spot. Denver will be a chance for our guys to show they have improved, and earn their A.

DL: B+
Our starting front 4 will be solid. Our rotational guys should be solid-serviceable. I think Delaire has earned his spot now. I think Butler and Soliai are a given. Horton will probably hang around until we hear a "Who?" added to the mix. I still think Kyle Love will be here. Addison is still a solid backup. The last spot is a battle between Miley and Crume, and I personally have seen more out of Miley. It seems others, including the Panthers are high on Crume.

LB: A++
This is actually probably our strongest and deepest position on the team. Keek and Davis are All-Pro, and Shaq doesn't have much left until he proves he is. Klein and Mayo could start for a lot of teams. Even Blechen and Norris have looked really good in certain situations. Jacobs is serviceable, but good on Special Teams. Cash looks really good, and is all over the field. He's probably pushed Jacobs out at this point.

DB: B+
There is still some shakiness as far as the Safeties go and about having rookies starting on the outside. But I like most of what I have seen out of all of them. If they can keep their tackling in check they will be solid. With our system, they don't really have to be anything other than solid. Bradberry, Worley, Bene, Sanchez, Coleman, Boston, and Brown are our core. McClain, Jones, Ball, and Marlowe have all probably pushed hard enough to get a spot, but I don't know that we'll have room to carry them all.

ST: A
Gano is great. Lee is good. Jansen is great. So long as their support units function, I have no doubts about our success here.

I've kind of done away with my Bubble Watch segment, as they have pretty much been covered by everyone else. There were indeed some jobs on the line last night, and we'll find out soon who was victorious.

PS Predicions:
J. Norris LB
B. Blechen LB
J. Simmons RB
A. Capers WR
E. Crume DT or A. Miley DE (whichever doesn't make the 53)
L. Young CB
T. Larsen G
S. Simonson, B. Sandland, M. Lucas, E. Wallace TE, B. Deaver TE (two of these guys)
K. Garrett WR

Granted, all of these are guys we are familiar with. I don't think, like a lot of people do, that teams are just waiting for us to stash Garrett on the PS. If we do, I think he'll stick there. I'm still torn about or TE situation. Two of the guys I listed could actually make the team. I think we'll stash two on the PS for future development, though. We could drop one of the WRs for another DB, like one of the younger safeties. We may also want to bring in another OL to the PS, so that would kick out a WR, too.

I haven't read about the injuries yet, but I'm guessing Rigsbee and Norwood will be headed to IR. That counts them out of the 53 and the PS, and actually might help in some of the decision making moving forward.


Anyways. Thanks for reading these writeups, and I hope you've enjoyed. I'm getting the feels as next Thursday approaches, and hope everyone is as excited as I am for the upcoming season. #1 Offense and #1 Defense. Super Bowl 51 champs. Those are the goals, and I totally believe we can achieve them.

Go Panthers!

Okay, you have graded the final team and not just last night.  Okay, I'll agree to that.

[Mojo]

I wouldn't give Special Teams an A (yet).  The rest I can ride with.

[Felipe Vieira]

I was really impressed with Donald Hawkins. Solid run game!

Here at RT

 

 

[TN05]

No love for Scoot?

[top dawg]

I think you're a little dated on the Garrett thing. At the beginning of the process people may have thought that he'd be a target. Now, it is clear that he's not ready. That being said, I believe we may have something in him for the future (and I believed the same of Byrd last year).

 I do think that Cash might be a target if any of the opposition has been paying attention. I can't see us trying to slip him on the PS. Cash is just a baller, and the league's got to know it.

Who knows the dynamics of the cut-waiver world though? Perhaps one, none or both end up on our PS, or another team. 

Our LB group overfloweth. We should trade Klein for something while we still can.

[top dawg]

23 minutes ago, Felipe Vieira said:

I was really impressed with Donald Hawkins. Solid run game!

Here at RT

 

 

 He's good!  

I like the way Krume gets after it on defense also.

All hail the Hogfather!

 

[Bronn]

1 hour ago, TN05 said:

No love for Scoot?

Quote

 

Simmons is a kid I am excited for, and I hope (and think) he's shown us enough to get a practice squad offer.

 

 

[Devil Doc]

WR Avius Capers is not on the team anymore.