Watson or not, this feeling is nice!

[top dawg]

We're making moves that actually make sense! We're cutting dead weight on the field by releasing  Boston who really had no upside at all and wished him well. We're cutting dead weight off the field by restructuring Paradis who had a resurgence of sorts as a serviceable center, especially as the quality of the play beside him improved. We dropped KK who wasn't living up to his contract for injuries, age or whatever reason, and are even willing to bring him back at a better cap number (which makes sense, but admittedly the Devil is in the details). We're getting younger, and we're obviiusly letting some young guys get in and take their shot, just like we did with Joe Charlton who hit some bumps but stuck it out and ultimately shined. Just the fact that we actually let competition ultimately send some aging vets to the bench is a far cry from the rhetorical competition we had under the previous regime.

I think things will only get better. Sure, it won't be perfect, but new leadership ain't just gonna sit by and accept mediocrity, much less bad play from season to season, or even game to game (it seems). It appears that we aren't going to live in upsidedown contractural-cap purgatory either. Whatever we decide to do, Fitterer looks to be keen at keeping our cap in good health, not only with the literal numbers and contractural structures, but by churning a certain part of the roster (not only the "bottom" part per se) with young talent. 

Call me a homer or simply premature, but I feel good about the direction we're going. The only wildcard I can think of is Tepper. I don't know that he's the classic meddler as much as he is a keeper of his hand on the pulse of his football team. But, we will see. He's a smart dude who appears to have put smart dudes and adept football minds around him. I can't fault him for any of that. 

All in all, it's a different, but good and interesting time to be a Panthers football fan. 

Keep pounding!

[TheBigKat]

We do moves like this every offseason 

[hepcat]

I don't feel any different than I did watching this team blunder their way into 3 straight miserable seasons. The Panthers have won the offseason many, many times. Hurney made tons of moves that looked great before the games started being played.

That feeling will change if they start winning again this fall.

[ForJimmy]

Much better than the usual mega contracts to aging veterans. I’m liking what I’m seeing so far. In the past we wouldn’t have even tried for Watson...

[Pup McBarky]

It's pretty sad when common sense moves make fans excited.

[top dawg]

9 minutes ago, hepcat said:

I don't feel any different than I did watching this team blunder their way into 3 straight miserable seasons. The Panthers have won the offseason many, many times. Hurney made tons of moves that looked great before the games started being played.

That feeling will change if they start winning again this fall.

Was last season really "miserable"? I'd say that we were supposed to be dead in the water, but showed enough signs of life that we'll be as good as new--even better--by no later than 2023.

In the fall, what are realistic expectations for winning? What is the W-L threshold that will make you feel that the season isn't "miserable"?

I don't believe anyone can really answer that question right now. But I'll take a win in the offseason. Unlike some apparently, I can't say that we've ever won an offseason! Last offseason may have been the closest to it. I do know that it's going to take winning more offseasons to get more wins during the regular season--and having two consecutive winning seasons--and ultimately championship seasons.

[JawnyBlaze]

Agree with OP. But last year was the most miserable Panthers season for me ever. Worse than ‘10. Worse than ‘01.  Even though this year’s team was better, it was miserable going out there watching Teddy bumble away what could have been a decent year. I was much less down on this team than most, and the fact we were able to win 5 games with Teddy as our QB proves why. With a decent QB last year would have been around 9 wins. Maybe even one or two more. Teddy shat away 8 possible wins. And that’s why it was more miserable to me. At least those other two years it was a matter of overall talent and coaching deficiency. No matter who we get at QB this year, whether a rookie or Watson or someone out of left field like Dak, and no matter if we go 2-14 or something like that, it will be less miserable than this past year. 

[Harbingers]

We have approximately 20 starting roster spots to fill and about with 22 rotational. We safely can say maybe 3 of those are on the roster already unless certain people really step up their game(IE: Greg Little). We have 35~ in cap space. - 9 for rookies but add on maybe 3 more for drafted starters? So about 26 million to fill 14-16 starting/rotational/key backup spots.

[Moo Daeng]

I didn't find the season miserable at all but I'm not a pessimist. Misery is your state of mind.

[trueblue]

1000% agree top dawg.. coming off 2 straight turd seasons this optimism is weird feeling. 

[PanthersGTI]

This past football year was pretty fun. Its nice when all you're looking for is progress and you get surprised with more progress then you expected.

 

I'll tell you whats different. KK would still be getting paid right now, Boston would still be here and we would be signing declining vets to band aid the secondary if our old regime was still in charge.

[KillerKat]

1 hour ago, TheBigKat said:

We do moves like this every offseason 

No. No we don't.

[Fox007]

Just now, KillerKat said:

No. No we don't.

Hurney might have given Boston a fugin raise lol

I've never seen this team try to go after a Stafford or clearly be in the mix for someone like Watson.

[KillerKat]

3 minutes ago, Fox007 said:

Hurney might have given Boston a fugin raise lol

I've never seen this team try to go after a Stafford or clearly be in the mix for someone like Watson.

Yeah, its common sense moves we've all been wanting every offseason, but we've had coaches and FO staff with inflated egos that kept us from doing so. We should be looking to free up space every offseason and at least trying to go after players that could help the team tremendously instead of sticking with a failed plan and keeping coach's favorites on the team like Rivera did.

Edited February 20, 2021 by KillerKat