Worried about morale this season....

[Zod]

I am a bit worried about the tensions between the players and the front office this season. If players see these moves as simply preparations for a lockout (true or untrue), they may and will resent it. How hard will a player play for a boss who is sticking it to them? Not very.

Do you feel damage control needs to happen at some point this offseason? Publicly or in the film room?

[pantherfan81]

I do think that Beason, Moore, & Smitty need to rally the troops and get their mind right. Especially Beason cuz the defense is gonna need to be confident and focused even more with such a shake up up front.

[nosuchthingasapanther]

I am a bit worried about the tensions between the players and the front office this season. If players see these moves as simply preparations for a lockout (true or untrue), they may and will resent it. How hard will a player play for a boss who is sticking it to them? Not very.

Do you feel damage control needs to happen at some point this offseason? Publicly or in the film room?

i think the only players who may need damage control are the new "veterans".

i think the younger less experienced simply see an opportunity.

[Swarly]

what happened to you "officially loving this off-season" ?

anyways, it's obvious this isn't sitting well with some of our star players(DWill, Chris Harris) but you know, they just lost some of their good friends. when it comes down to it, they're smart dudes and know this is a business. they'll give it their all, and if they don't I'm not sure I want them in a Panthers uniform anyways.

[Jangler]

Could be troubling for sure. Have a good season save Fox/Hurney's job, tank the season and a new FO comes in...

[Matt Foley]

I am a bit worried about the tensions between the players and the front office this season. If players see these moves as simply preparations for a lockout (true or untrue), they may and will resent it. How hard will a player play for a boss who is sticking it to them? Not very.

Do you feel damage control needs to happen at some point this offseason? Publicly or in the film room?

Depends on what happens in the film room.

[SorthNarolina]

I wasn't really worried about the cuts until hoover. That was pretty extreme and I don't think the players liked it. Hoover was still pretty good and just didn't deserve that. His salary wasn't big and he was still pretty skilled. Fiametta hasn't really shown that he can take over yet. I don't see why they cut him. He was injured some this year but I didn't see that as a such a big deal.

[MurkN]

Depends on what happens in the film room.

[Matt Foley]

Caption: My booger is better than Dwayne Jarrett!!!

[venom]

I wasn't really worried about the cuts until hoover. That was pretty extreme and I don't think the players liked it. Hoover was still pretty good and just didn't deserve that. His salary wasn't big and he was still pretty skilled. Fiametta hasn't really shown that he can take over yet. I don't see why they cut him. He was injured some this year but I didn't see that as a such a big deal.

agreed. the release of hoover was a big surprise, especially considering his past couple seasons were amongst his best.

[R0CKnR0LLA]

The best damage control would be to string together a few wins to start off the season. Hopefully the schedule is a bit softer to start off. A few easy teams for the young guys to build their confidence off of while everything is still gelling would do wonders.

Losing so much of the veteran leadership though, this season could turn ugly real quick if we start off slow.

[Matt Foley]

The thing that Hoover, Delhomme, Diggs and some of the others did that will be missed are things like setting the tone by showing up every day to watch film, giving it their all in offseason conditioning (teammates know who is making the most of what he has), and...this may sound silly...but joking around. Hoover was the worst practical joker I've ever seen, but the fact that he led the team in quantity kept everyone loose.

[panthers55]

I do think that Beason, Moore, & Smitty need to rally the troops and get their mind right. Especially Beason cuz the defense is gonna need to be confident and focused even more with such a shake up up front.

I agree that Beason and Moore do have to step it up and will. Smitty will never rally the troops and tends to be a malcontent for the most part. If Williams and Harris are both disenchanted as well exactly who else is going to be there for leadership?

Gross might be one. He hasn't exactly indicated his feelings either way.

Kasay may be another one unless he is let go as well.

Unfortunately there seems to be a dirth of team leaders to even provide direction.

Richardson may push hard for a lockout because his whole philosophy is depending on it. If a CBA agreement is done, this might totally backfire. Then we have set back the team for at least a few years. And if the lockout occurs, all of us as fans suffer as well. Hard to see how this is going to end well for us unless Hurney pulls some huge rabbits out of his hat.

[House]

I agree that Beason and Moore do have to step it up and will. Smitty will never rally the troops and tends to be a malcontent for the most part. If Williams and Harris are both disenchanted as well exactly who else is going to be there for leadership?

Gross might be one. He hasn't exactly indicated his feelings either way.

Kasay may be another one unless he is let go as well.

Unfortunately there seems to be a dirth of team leaders to even provide direction.

Richardson may push hard for a lockout because his whole philosophy is depending on it. If a CBA agreement is done, this might totally backfire. Then we have set back the team for at least a few years. And if the lockout occurs, all of us as fans suffer as well. Hard to see how this is going to end well for us unless Hurney pulls some huge rabbits out of his hat.

\

I do not see how getting a CBA done before a lockout occured would not benefit JR. Either way, whether the CBA is done this year and goes into effect in '11 or doesn't happen until after a lockout in '12, the team is set up nicely for the future.

In fact it would greatly benefit JR's plan for this team to not go through a lockout. By rellying on young talent to step and learn this year it may cause some pains but the team would be vastly improved the following year. Having a young team sit out a whole year after playing is what would be detrimental.

Once again everyone is underestimating the talent level of this team. Outside of some ? on the DL and at WR, the OL, RB, TE, LB, and DB are all really good. The same guys that have been playing the last 2-3 years. Are they a SB winning team, no. Do they suck, definetely not.