Panthers Sign WR Aldrick Robinson

[Wolfcop]

This gives T. Smith less and less room for error. He better come out balling in TC. If he is no better than our 4th or 5 best WR...adios. There will be players we can sign after final cuts or during the season with that $5M.

[Black&BlueBubba]

So I watched some other film and it looks like Robinson also played special teams for SF.  Saw him return some punts and and make some decent tackles on special teams.  For a 5th or 6th WR I think that should be necessary.  Smith does none of that and costs us about 4mil more. 

[07579394]

WR again?what about our safty?!

[GRWatcher]

Quote

According to multiple reports by Jourdan Rodrigue of the Charlotte Observer, there were several factors that influenced the Panthers' decision to sign Aldrick Robinson. For one, his proven ability to stretch the field and take the top off of a defense precedes him, as evidenced by a 2018 season where he had five touchdowns that included scores of 34 and 40 yards. But for another, he has a proven understanding of "how to be excellent", given his experience with wide receivers like Julio Jones of the Atlanta Falcons and Stefon Diggs & Adam Thielen of the Vikings. In addition, he is also willing to pass on such an understanding to a receiving corps that features young players like D.J. Moore, Curtis Samuel, and Terry Godwin.

According to Rodrigue, the Vikings had actually wanted Robinson back on their team, but were unable to retain him given their salary cap issues. According to Spotrac, the Vikings currently have only $2,534,181 in salary cap space - most of which is sunk into the massive contract given to quarterback Kirk Cousins - which has left the team with little room to pay anyone else and in need of relief.

Given that he has played for five different teams since being drafted by the Washington Redskins in the sixth round of the 2011 Draft, Robinson has been able to learn a great deal from some of the game's best receivers. Perhaps his best experience came during the 2016 season, when he was teammates with Jones, Mohamed Sanu, and Taylor Gabriel on a Falcons offense that led the team all the way to Super Bowl LI. Robinson has also played for the San Francisco 49ers, and spent time on the Baltimore Ravens' roster prior to the 2015 season.

Though a one-year contract isn't necessarily the most secure thing, particularly for a ninth-year journeyman like Robinson, it reportedly made sense for him: Robinson allegedly wants to build his relationship with Cam Newton and his fellow receivers, produce even if his snap count is limited, and prove himself to be a valuable-enough veteran to keep around in 2020. The 2020 mark is of particular importance, as fellow veteran wide receiver Torrey Smith and Chris Hogan's contracts both expire following the 2019 season. And beyond Smith, Hogan, and Jarius Wright, the Panthers' wide receivers room is a young group.

https://247sports.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/Article/Why-the-Panthers-signed-Aldrick-Robinson-132121603/

[kungfoodude]

14 hours ago, 45catfan said:

Agreed, and the reason saving cap money is very important even with a few million here and there.  Consistently being then the bottom 1/4 of teams in cap space every year isn't a good trend (usually even lower).  It's a not a complete truism that competitive teams are cap poor and crappy teams are cap rich.  It tends to work out that way in many cases, but there are plenty of exceptions.

Cap space ranking (most cap money to least) as of today May 17th for the twelve playoff teams from last year:  1, 2, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 26, 27 and 28.

The Colts are #1 in cap space and Pats are #28.  The median and average cap money rank is 15th. The 15th team in terms of cap space are the Cowboys who have just under $15 million remaining (weird how that actually worked out).  This is considering most of the team's acquisitions are completed. The Panthers are 23rd, BUT have a slew of contracts pending in the near future as was pointed out.  The team will need a lot more than the nearly $10 million it is sitting on as of now if it wants to avoid another veteran salary purge that tends to occur roughly every three years from cap constraints.

2019 cap space

I think we are currently projected to have about $41 mil in cap space available next season. With a lot of players at the end of their deals, it will be interesting to see how that pans out. We could end up with a lot of space or we might ride it to the line again.

One thing that Marty has in his history is the pattern of pushing it to the limit on the cap.

[LinvilleGorge]

21 hours ago, Wolfcop said:

This gives T. Smith less and less room for error. He better come out balling in TC. If he is no better than our 4th or 5 best WR...adios. There will be players we can sign after final cuts or during the season with that $5M.

I don't see how hell possibly be any better than our 4th best WR, but then again, when has ability mattered over preference to Ron when it comes to making a depth chart?

[kungfoodude]

16 hours ago, stbugs said:

One of the reasons why I wasn’t happy with trading the 3rd and taking Grier was guys like Khalen Saunders being available. We could have gobs of cap space if we dump Smith and the Poe and Short next year. It’s not good paying them this year for what they will provide, but it’s borderline criminal to pay them $31m next year. We’d save $24m combined next year. Rollover cap from Torrey and what we have and you at at $70m in space more than enough for extending CMC, Samuel, Moton and heck even Cam if he’s OK. Saunders in year 2 goes a long way to getting rid of Poe/Short and DT was hugely deep this draft.

Yeah, I think Poe and Short are essentially on prove it deals, or they should be. They need to elevate their level of play or their is really no reason to have them taking such a chunk of the cap.

Yeah, I was not thrilled with the draft picks either. I get the logic behind taking them but I don't agree with the players taken. We just have to hope it works out in our favor and Little and Grier prove they were worth that draft capital that could have been used elsewhere.