Ok, doom-and-gloomers, break it down for me! :)

[godscowboy68]

Call me stupid (not really 'cause that'll offend me) but I see flashes from Charles Johnson. For me its almost the same kind of flashes I saw from the late great Mike Rucker. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Rucker didn't start for awhile because we had White, J.Williams, J.Peters, and rag tag of underachieveres, but showed moments when he played where everyone questioned "Why is this guy not on the field more?" I see the same with Charles Johnson, kid is scary good just hasn't got much PT. Give the kid a shot!

[CharlotteBeer.com]

The only area I'm really concerned with is the defensive line, but I have hopes for a lot of the young guys. I think Johnson, especially, will do good things.

[monstercat]

losing peppers, brayton and lewis will hurt.

I'm with you when it comes to Peppers, but I'm not so sure about Brayton and Lewis. We have about 3-4 guys who can potentially take Lewis's place, and as much as I like Brayton, I saw him crash inside, only to have the RB go right by him for a good gain on the outside about 15 times last year. That crap drove me nuts, because is was so correctable. The DE cannot consistently lose containment on running plays and expect to keep his job.

[scpanther22]

No..way we lose all the players we have lost and get better.Now its too early for judgement because were still in FA and draft time.

[GreatPoupon]

I'm with you when it comes to Peppers, but I'm not so sure about Brayton and Lewis. We have about 3-4 guys who can potentially take Lewis's place, and as much as I like Brayton, I saw him crash inside, only to have the RB go right by him for a good gain on the outside about 15 times last year. That crap drove me nuts, because is was so correctable. The DE cannot consistently lose containment on running plays and expect to keep his job.

agreed, and charles johnson had better range running laterally to make tackles. pep hurts. i always like lewis but i do think he's replaceable.

[carolinanimal]

I'm with you when it comes to Peppers, but I'm not so sure about Brayton and Lewis. We have about 3-4 guys who can potentially take Lewis's place, and as much as I like Brayton, I saw him crash inside, only to have the RB go right by him for a good gain on the outside about 15 times last year. That crap drove me nuts, because is was so correctable. The DE cannot consistently lose containment on running plays and expect to keep his job.

these are the things i think will hurt us in the beginning with our young guys. containment and sniffing out screens misdirection and other stuff designed to trick the dline.

[CharlotteBeer.com]

No..way we lose all the players we have lost and get better.

We probably thought our defense would have suffered more with so many injuries last year, but it was better than the 2009 unit.

[thefuzz]

My biggest concern is the D line, Davis coming off of a torn ACL, and no pressure on the QB causing really poor downfield coverage by the secondary....

But maybe I am thinking too much into things/

[HSCBandit07]

Hayden must be dirt cheap to still be on the team

[Leeroy Jenkins PhD]

The FO is doing the exact same thing I do every year on Madden when playing franchise mode.

The key here is setting the user difficulty on easy for a season and giving your youth some experiance.

[GreatPoupon]

easy difficulty is cheating! lol.

[Zod]

The FO is doing the exact same thing I do every year on Madden when playing franchise mode.

The key here is setting the user difficulty on easy for a season and giving your youth some experiance.

Good night everybody!

[ncbobcat]

you guys have to realize we have JUST gotten into free agency and have not even had the draft yet... this team is no where near what its going to look like in the first game of the regular season. For the most part, every cut that the Panthers have made have been necessary.

Where do I start? By just getting into FA you mean the process, yes, it is very early on, but what you are not realizing is that in this youth/cost saving movement, the team is not going to bring in any name that 90% of us have heard of. I admit not knowing the new WR we just signed, meaning they will be role players with "potential".

Next the draft. We do not have a first round pick. Typically, your first and second rounders start or have the potential to start. Third and fourths usually are role players. Right there we are only getting 2 maybe 3 players that contribute more than special teams and spot play.

So far trough FA and the draft, we are looking at prorbably 3 starters, new to our team, schemes and lacks cohesion.

Where are the rest comming from? Answer...part time players from last year that MUST step up. Obviously if they don't we are in worse shape than last season.

Lastly, out side of Peppers, who basically forced the Panthers into a decision to bankrupt themselves or let him walk, what move was...in your words, necessary?

[CRA]

So our points per game should go up to the 25 range, right?

I don't get where you downgrade the LBs--we get Davis back and Diggs was good but nothing special at all. In the secondary we finally have good coverage, where we used to struggle with it. I don't get where you say we don't. The only unit that's being downgraded is the line. So how much more do we surrender as a result? Only five teams in the league gave up more than 25 points per game last year, and they had nothing close to our secondary or linebackers.

the craptastic DL hurts the LBs. That is what I meant by downgrades the LBs.

We had a decent pass rush at times last year thanks to the one man show of Peppers. There is little to support "we are finally good in coverage". Godfrey and Harris have never been good at it. Marshall was also had more bad days than good last year.

You can't downgrade the Panther DL and not expect to effect the LBs and secondary. It is not just a downgrade on DL......it might be the worst in the entire NFL. That kind of crap up front will serious effect everyone else at this level.