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PFF Panthers free agency preview

TheSpecialJuan

By TheSpecialJuan,
in Carolina Panthers

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TheSpecialJuan Grand Master

TheSpecialJuan

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What you need to know

Rebounding from a Super Bowl hangover in 2016, the Carolina Panthers put together an 11-win season and earned a playoff berth in 2017. However, their postseason was short-lived, as the New Orleans Saints bested the Panthers in their Wild-Card showdown, 31-26.

With playoff appearances in two of the last three years, the Panthers have proven they can reach the postseason with Cam Newton’s roller-coaster play at the quarterback position, but to turn playoff losses into more playoff wins, roster additions are in order.

Though entering the offseason with 23 impending free agents (11 RFAs/ERFAs), Carolina won’t have too many tough decisions on their hands with the level of talent they’re potentially losing, which should push the franchise to dial their efforts into signing outside playmakers.

Salary cap room

$20,305,968 (19th in the NFL, as of 2/1/2018)

Biggest Needs

  • Edge defender
  • Cornerback
  • Wide receiver
  • Safety

Notable free agents

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t96 Grand Master

t96

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2 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Well, they nailed that part. I'm just not convinced that we realize that CB is a need, but the short-term benching of Worley does give me some hope.

 

CB is not as big of a need as DE or safety. Not even close. Remember we have Elder coming back too for depth purposes. Norman hitting FA would help though...

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LinvilleGorge Grand Master

LinvilleGorge

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1 minute ago, thomas96 said:

CB is not as big of a need as DE or safety. Not even close. Remember we have Elder coming back too for depth purposes. Norman hitting FA would help though...

I don't disagree. I consider DE, S, and WR our top three needs. But CB might be #4. CB and center would round out my top 5.

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Pantha-kun Mentor

Pantha-kun

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14 minutes ago, KDawg004 said:

$20M in cap space you say? And a lot more with some cuts. Maybe we can actually dream of making one big FA signing. Along with some mid tier players. One can hope.

20 M is before potentially resigning anyone like Peppers, Gano, DA, Norwell, or Star too. 

Look at it this way though, we could cut Stewart, Charles Johnson , Shepard , Fozzy or Cap, (all these are very obvious cuts to me if I were GM) and suddenly we're sitting on 37 mil instead of 20. Id bring back Peppers and gano back on cheap deals and have 30 mil left to spend on FA is not too bad. Thats enough to get even a couple big paydays out, or spend wisely (more likely) and fill alot of holes in fa before the draft. Id do something like : 

  • Name Position Cap Hit
    Julius Peppers EDGE 2,400,000
    Graham Gano K 3,200,000
    Mike Wallace WR 4,500,000
    Morris Claiborne CB 2,800,000
    Calvin Pryor S 2,800,000
    Demarcus Lawrence EDGE 9,800,000
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MHS831 Grand Master

MHS831

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20 minutes ago, Pantha-kun said:

2

  • Name Position Cap Hit
    Julius Peppers EDGE 2,400,000
    Graham Gano K 3,200,000
    Mike Wallace WR 4,500,000
    Morris Claiborne CB 2,800,000
    Calvin Pryor S 2,800,000
    Demarcus Lawrence EDGE 9,800,000

Where did you get that number for Lawrence?    Seems low to me...

Conspiracy theory:  Of course, Marty would not do it because he loves all of his children, but we could cut Ryan Kalil and would have about $7m more.  If I did that, I would re-sign Norwell.

I think we will sign Wallace.  I hate fast WRs with no hands. 

 

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LinvilleGorge Grand Master

LinvilleGorge

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5 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

Where did you get that number for Lawrence?    Seems low to me...

Conspiracy theory:  Of course, Marty would not do it because he loves all of his children, but we could cut Ryan Kalil and would have about $7m more.  If I did that, I would re-sign Norwell.

I think we will sign Wallace.  I hate fast WRs with no hands. 

 

If releasing Kalil meant being able to lock Norwell up long-term, I think it's a no-brainer. Kalil has been a great player for us, but he's missed more games than he's played in the past two seasons and given that information, his cap hit has to be looked at as a huge risk to carry into 2018. I'd rather get the younger player long-term than roll the dice on Ryan staying healthy.

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Pantha-kun Mentor

Pantha-kun

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10 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

If releasing Kalil meant being able to lock Norwell up long-term, I think it's a no-brainer. Kalil has been a great player for us, but he's missed more games than he's played in the past two seasons and given that information, his cap hit has to be looked at as a huge risk to carry into 2018. I'd rather get the younger player long-term than roll the dice on Ryan staying healthy.

There's a bunch of decent G/C prospects in the draft too. Not saying they are as good as Ryan but you just brought up a great point of cutting Ryan. I just dismissed it uncounciously but if we do cut Ryan we save 7.5 mil vs the cap . That shoots my figure of 37 mil (after cutting Stew, Shep,  CJ, Coleman, Fozzy,) up to 44 mil and suddenly we can make some splash plays in free agency.

Quenton Nelson, Billy Price, Will Hernandez, Isaiah Wynn, Branden Smith, Frank Ragnow, Sean Welsh , and strictly centers like Mason Cole and James Daniels. Not to mention we have moton on the roster to kick out to LG, and let the drafted rookie play center.

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LinvilleGorge Grand Master

LinvilleGorge

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3 minutes ago, Pantha-kun said:

There's a bunch of decent G/C prospects in the draft too. Not saying they are as good as Ryan but you just brought up a great point of cutting Ryan. I just dismissed it uncounciously but if we do cut Ryan we save 7.5 mil vs the cap . That shoots my figure of 37 mil (after cutting Stew, Shep,  CJ, Coleman, Fozzy,) up to 44 mil and suddenly we can make some splash plays in free agency

You're not looking at dead money. Cap savings for Kalil are roughly $6.8M, CJ $3.2M, Shepard $2.1M, Fozzy $1.15M, and CAP $660k. If we're sitting at $20M in cap space right now, those moves would get us to a shade over under $34M. Kalil's cap hit is a big risk, but I would only cut him if I had to in order to make the moves I wanted to make. The OL is certainly better with him out there, but that's definitely a lot of money to carry on a player that has become unreliable due to injuries.

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