Offseason and Draft Assessment

[DaveThePanther2008]

Overall I think we have done quite well this off-season.  I am not overly thrilled with the 3rd day of the draft but those players are players that have potential.  

I think we address our EDGE well with Irvin and Burns.  

Resigned Love at DT.  He has been a solid contributor.

Our O-Line looks like it will be solid and keep Cam upright with the addition of Paradis and Little.

Our receiving corps got a small upgrade with Chris Hogan.  DJ and Samuel will cause problems and Hogan is a great vet that will bringing a winning mentality to this group. 

I like we picked up many AAF players who might have a better chance at making this team over UDFAs.  Ross intrigues me. 

Heinicke and Allen were good back ups who will now have to fight to be #3 with Grier on the roster.

The only piece that needs addressing is FS unless management thinks the answer is already on the roster.   I know we had a lot of our young players get injured last year so maybe one of them steps up and becomes a solid contributor. 

It will be fun to see the Panthers hit the field in Rookie Camp, OTAs and Mini-camps in the next couple of weeks.  Hopefully, lightning strikes twice and we find another Norwell. 

Regardless of what the talking heads think.  I believe our draft grade should be an A with Burns and Little alone.  Grier will be a solid backup and my only grief is a 3rd rounder should be a solid contributor and he will only see the field if Cam gets hurt.  The Turner's love him and that is more than enough for me to get excited about his potential to step in and lead this team if Cam goes down. 

[GoPanthers123]

It is a success just because we got specifically the guys we wanted, and then some.  Front office must be very pleased although I still question the QB pick since Cam is in his prime (pre injury he was at most accurate he has ever been) and according to reports he feels great and motivated as never before.

[DaveThePanther2008]

29 minutes ago, GoPanthers123 said:

It is a success just because we got specifically the guys we wanted, and then some.  Front office must be very pleased although I still question the QB pick since Cam is in his prime (pre injury he was at most accurate he has ever been) and according to reports he feels great and motivated as never before.

My thoughts exactly.  I also like that the defensive players we added seem to be players that can play 4-3 or 3-4. 

[DaveThePanther2008]

22 minutes ago, YETI said:

Not satisfied until we get Berry

Well I guess you won't be satisfied because Berry is not coming to Carolina.  

[Tepper's Chest Hair]

Free Safety is now just the war cry of people that want Hurney fired.

We went into this off season with very little cap room, and problems all over the field.  

We have improved in nearly every single area of need, except one position.  FS.  We did it without giving up future picks.  Without tying ourselves to insane contracts we can't quickly get out of.  That in itself is a miracle.

[DaveThePanther2008]

21 minutes ago, Tepper's Chest Hair said:

Free Safety is now just the war cry of people that want Hurney fired.

We went into this off season with very little cap room, and problems all over the field.  

We have improved in nearly every single area of need, except one position.  FS.  We did it without giving up future picks.  Without tying ourselves to insane contracts we can't quickly get out of.  That in itself is a miracle.

I am pretty sure that now that the draft is over and that position wasn't addressed we will find a FA on a 1 or 2 year deal.  Hurney/Rivera may have had their eyes on a particular players that fit our scheme but were not available when the round that player fell into came up.   IMO I think the Grier pick was done exactly for this reason.  No 3rd round FS that we like was available so they took Grier.  On top of that the Turner's really liked Grier.

 

 

[Sub Zero]

1 hour ago, DaveThePanther2008 said:

Overall I think we have done quite well this off-season.  I am not overly thrilled with the 3rd day of the draft but those players are players that have potential.  

I think we address our EDGE well with Irvin and Burns.  

Resigned Love at DT.  He has been a solid contributor.

Our O-Line looks like it will be solid and keep Cam upright with the addition of Paradis and Little.

Our receiving corps got a small upgrade with Chris Hogan.  DJ and Samuel will cause problems and Hogan is a great vet that will bringing a winning mentality to this group. 

I like we picked up many AAF players who might have a better chance at making this team over UDFAs.  Ross intrigues me. 

Heinicke and Allen were good back ups who will now have to fight to be #3 with Grier on the roster.

The only piece that needs addressing is FS unless management thinks the answer is already on the roster.   I know we had a lot of our young players get injured last year so maybe one of them steps up and becomes a solid contributor. 

It will be fun to see the Panthers hit the field in Rookie Camp, OTAs and Mini-camps in the next couple of weeks.  Hopefully, lightning strikes twice and we find another Norwell. 

Regardless of what the talking heads think.  I believe our draft grade should be an A with Burns and Little alone.  Grier will be a solid backup and my only grief is a 3rd rounder should be a solid contributor and he will only see the field if Cam gets hurt.  The Turner's love him and that is more than enough for me to get excited about his potential to step in and lead this team if Cam goes down. 

Love this assessment.. You can always find things you question or dislike during offseasons moves.. Nobody is perfect so I didn't expect to like all the moves this offseason anyway..But it shouldn't be hard to be objective and try to have a positive attitude towards your team.. If you are a real fan..

My positives are simple.. They had a plan and by all appearances.. They stuck to it without any crazy contracts or losing future draft picks.. They saw a problem with the trenches. So they put resources into the trenches.. They gave away some older players that needed to go .. They made move to have some spending money if needed without kicking the proverbial can down the street.. IF Cam and Luke stay healthy this is a playoff team.. And the new defensive scheme should make it interesting to see how it comes together..

[Sub Zero]

Just being honest..

When Ron was 1st talking up changing the defensive scheme.. I thought he was either dreaming, bullshiting, or dumb as hell.. Considering his job isn't secure and the little money we had going into Free agency.. Plus my thinking was it would be easier to just find pieces to fix our 4/3 instead of having to put more work into getting 3/4 pieces..

But looking at the roster now.. They might have pulled this off.. We might be able to field a competent  multiple front  defense now.. With actually depth and young guys learning from competent vets at all the front 7 position.. Which is crazy to me.. So on paper right now this doesn't look half bad..

Lastly even crazier to me is we might be able to protect Cam at the same time with all their offensive line moves.. I have way more faith and confidence in this Oline (on paper).. Than I did the 2015 Oline at the beginning of that season.. lol

[DaveThePanther2008]

1 hour ago, Sub Zero said:

Just being honest..

When Ron was 1st talking up changing the defensive scheme.. I thought he was either dreaming, bullshiting, or dumb as hell.. Considering his job isn't secure and the little money we had going into Free agency.. Plus my thinking was it would be easier to just find pieces to fix our 4/3 instead of having to put more work into getting 3/4 pieces..

But looking at the roster now.. They might have pulled this off.. We might be able to field a competent  multiple front  defense now.. With actually depth and young guys learning from competent vets at all the front 7 position.. Which is crazy to me.. So on paper right now this doesn't look half bad..

Lastly even crazier to me is we might be able to protect Cam at the same time with all their offensive line moves.. I have way more faith and confidence in this Oline (on paper).. Than I did the 2015 Oline at the beginning of that season.. lol

Looking at our O-Line on paper we have a really good starting group.

[Icege]

5 hours ago, Tepper's Chest Hair said:

We went into this off season with very little cap room, and problems all over the field.

We had nearly $25M in cap space... what?

[FakePlasticTrees]

This is the best Panthers' offseason in recent memory. The Panthers have been relatively transparent. They recognized that the OL was a major weakness (obviously). They may have managed to transform that weakness into a strength. That is not an easy feat in today's NFL. They found a center, LT, and back-up tackle. They resigned Williams. This is group that is relatively young and provides some nice flexibility.

The Panthers let it be known that more 3-4 and hybrid looks will define our defense's future. They then grabbed three edge rushers during the offseason. Rivera has a lot of flexible talent with which to transform this defense. Irvin, Burns, and Miller will create a lot of excitement in the upcoming season

The Panthers let it be known that the back-up QB situation was a problem given the unknowns for and recent history of Cam. They then drafted Grier very late in the 3rd round. I will be watching him and Ryan Finley who was drafted a few picks later. I happen to think some Grier's flaws (downfield arm strength etc.) are not going to change. Reasonable people can disagree though.

The Panthers said they were in the market for a back-up RB and filled that need with a player that has a nice upside and relatively low miles on his legs. 

Furthermore, the Panthers dominated the other NFC South teams in this draft by any reasonable measure. And that was on top of an offseason that was also better than any other NFC South team.

There are still potential holes. Then again, the offseason is far from over.

[Panthero]

8 hours ago, YETI said:

Not satisfied until we get Berry

Dude berry is not healthy. Would be a big name but bring very little to the table.

[Tepper's Chest Hair]

1 hour ago, Icege said:

We had nearly $25M in cap space... what?

25m in cap space when your oline was in shambles, no pass rush, weak LB group.  That isn't a lot.  

[Toomers]

2 minutes ago, Tepper's Chest Hair said:

25m in cap space when your oline was in shambles, no pass rush, weak LB group.  That isn't a lot.  

Then maybe we shouldn’t be paying our 5th WR 5M. 

Or our PK 4M

Or a useless DT.9M

or one of those weak LBs 9M