Panthers uneasy with Gano

[BrianS]

8 minutes ago, Toomers said:

We botched it when we cut Butker and signed Gano to a ridiculous contract comparable to his success. If Gano didn’t have all that guaranteed money stick to him, this wouldn’t even be a discussion. 

Just so we're clear here . . . when we signed Gano following the 2017 season, he had just completed a season where . . . 

For field goals, he was the most accurate kicker in the league:

And where he was third for touchback percentage:

We were effectively paying a guy who had just proven he was one of the top kickers in the league a salary commensurate with being just that.  I'm sorry, that's how the league works.  As Cam says . . . "If you play good, they pay good."

 

[Mr. Scot]

27 minutes ago, Toomers said:

Trade Gano/keep Slye

 At around 2M(and no guaranteed money), Gano isn’t a bad buy for a PK needy team. If he will play. 

 But this is getting into Kalil territory where it might be time to move on. It won’t cost us anything this year. 3.1M next. But it would still be 3.1M if we kept him so cutting the cord is becoming a likelier option. 

A Gano trade would hinge on three conditions:

1) the team has to be kicker-needy, maybe even kicker-desperate

2) you need the GM of said team to not be the sharpest knife in the drawer

3) Gano has to pass the other team's physical

One and two are tricky to find as a combo, but at least conceivable.

Number three? Eeehhhh...

[Sasquatch]

7 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

 

2) you need the GM of said team to not be the sharpest knife in the drawer

 

But Hurney already has Gano.

[Toomers]

3 minutes ago, BrianS said:

Just so we're clear here . . . when we signed Gano following the 2017 season, he had just completed a season where . . . 

For field goals, he was the most accurate kicker in the league:

And where he was third for touchback percentage:

We were effectively paying a guy who had just proven he was one of the top kickers in the league a salary commensurate with being just that.  I'm sorry, that's how the league works.  As Cam says . . . "If you play good, they pay good."

 

You paid a guy for one good year in an otherwise average at best career. And touchbacks mean nothing with the new rules. You don’t see NE kicking it in the end zone every kick. I’m more worried about 3 XPs every year. He was about as bad as a K can be in 2016. We paid for his “outlier” or anomaly. In a year he didn’t make a 50+ yd FG. And we are exactly where I said we would be the day he signed. Stuck with a PK we don’t want but can’t get rid of. 

  The only thing he’s proven is inconsistent PK and he can’t seem to stay healthy. 

[Toomers]

9 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

A Gano trade would hinge on three conditions:

1) the team has to be kicker-needy, maybe even kicker-desperate

2) you need the GM of said team to not be the sharpest knife in the drawer

3) Gano has to pass the other team's physical

One and two are tricky to find as a combo, but at least conceivable.

Number three? Eeehhhh...

It was definitely a “best-case” hypothetical. 

 That’s why I was trying to grasp just cutting him now. 

[Mr. Scot]

4 minutes ago, Sasquatch said:

But Hurney already has Gano.

I knew somebody was gonna go there...

[TheRed]

Dudes are really out here trying to Stan for players like Gano and Bene, but can't figure out why they keep getting stuck with losing seasons 

At some point you gotta stop looking in the rear view and raise the bar.

[SBiii]

2 hours ago, BrianS said:

Like I said in the other thread, I think the situation is playing out where we carry two kickers on the very first 53 and then immediately IR Gano with designation to return.  Slye does well, Gano stays on IR.  Slye crashes and burns, we bring Gano back when he's healthy and cut Slye.

If Slye does really well for the entire season, we then cut Gano next spring.

Good post.  Logical thinking here.  Nice to see.

[Mr. Scot]

2 minutes ago, SBiii said:

Good post.  Logical thinking here.  Nice to see.

Downside to keeping Gano on IR all year is, to quote The Dire Straits, money for nothin' 

[BrianS]

Again, you're talking revisionist history.

Yes, we paid him for his best season . . . but at that point in time consider our options.

1.  Good kickers are hard to find.  This is well known.

2.  We had every reason to believe we were going to compete for a championship in 2018 after our 2017.

So, given this, you have one of the previous seasons very best kickers about to become a free agent.  Good kickers are rare.  You have a championship caliber team.  Do you then tell your team and fan base . . . we're going to draft some kid and hope for the best?  

Come on.  Be real.

[Mr. Scot]

Just now, BrianS said:

Again, you're talking revisionist history.

Yes, we paid him for his best season . . . but at that point in time consider our options.

1.  Good kickers are hard to find.  This is well known.

2.  We had every reason to believe we were going to compete for a championship in 2018 after our 2017.

So, given this, you have one of the previous seasons very best kickers about to become a free agent.  Good kickers are rare.  You have a championship caliber team.  Do you then tell your team and fan base . . . we're going to draft some kid and hope for the best?  

Come on.  Be real.

It is fair to point out though that Rivera kept him off the field for a lot of long kicks. There's not much rationale for something like that unless your confidence is in question.

Realistically speaking, GMs are paid to be psychic friends. You have to be able to predict the future with the stockbroker phrase "past results are not an indicator of future performance" always in the back of your head.

It's not necessarily fair, but that's the game.

[Toomers]

1 minute ago, BrianS said:

Again, you're talking revisionist history.

Yes, we paid him for his best season . . . but at that point in time consider our options.

1.  Good kickers are hard to find.  This is well known.

2.  We had every reason to believe we were going to compete for a championship in 2018 after our 2017.

So, given this, you have one of the previous seasons very best kickers about to become a free agent.  Good kickers are rare.  You have a championship caliber team.  Do you then tell your team and fan base . . . we're going to draft some kid and hope for the best?  

Come on.  Be real.

   We had limited options because of the decision made the year before. And options at PK are plentiful. One off the street replaced him easily last year. We sure seem to be considering a rookie this year and most of you have the team in the SB. What’s the difference? These are just revisionist excuses for a bad signing that many said it would be and is turning out exactly how predicted. 

[Sgt Schultz]

 

6 minutes ago, BrianS said:

Again, you're talking revisionist history.

Yes, we paid him for his best season . . . but at that point in time consider our options.

1.  Good kickers are hard to find.  This is well known.

2.  We had every reason to believe we were going to compete for a championship in 2018 after our 2017.

So, given this, you have one of the previous seasons very best kickers about to become a free agent.  Good kickers are rare.  You have a championship caliber team.  Do you then tell your team and fan base . . . we're going to draft some kid and hope for the best?  

Come on.  Be real.

One excellent season does not necessarily make him a kicker worthy of a substantial contract, at least substantial for his position.  That is especially true of a position as fickle as kickers.

The problem with the decision to sign Gano, or anybody for that matter, to a significant contract based on one big season is that means the only factor in determining a player's salary is what they do the year their contract runs out.  Disregarding their entire body of work in favor of looking only at the most recent season is how teams wind up overpaying for players who can never replicate their best season.  Even back to back good to great years is at least a trend.  Two out of the last three would give one optimism.  But one year is just that: one year.

 

[SBiii]

18 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Downside to keeping Gano on IR all year is, to quote The Dire Straits, money for nothin' 

Or as the Stones say "you can't always get what you want"...

...but Tepper can afford it.