John Fox

[PantherBrew]

LOL @ you guys.

Sharper was/is a probowl player.

Sharper was a DPOY canidate last year.

Dont get me wrong, I loved me some hard-hitting Chris Harris, but he was an average player. Above average in run, below average in pass.

With that said, typically, this is a young mans game and a passing league.

You do the math, and if you cant ask Fiz.

[Guest]

The troll is right. Harris had his limitations but he was definitely a leader on the field.

[Hairless Cat]

with the exception of Harris every one they have gotten rid of makes sense to me.

You want delhomme back? gmafb

[LawCat]

I understand that a lot of panther fans are upset about so many of the classy veteran players being released this off-season. However, I am really not. Sure Brad Hoover was a great guy, and a fan favorite, but he was old and an average NFL fullback. We had a promising young player sitting right behind him who is more athletic and probably going to be a better overall player. I think you could say this with every player that we released.

I don't know whose call it is to go with this so called "youth movement" (assume it's JRs) but is it really a bad idea? With an uncertain labor situation on the horizon, I am encouraged that the team ownership is taking precautions to ensure the survival of the franchise were there to be a lockout. The path the team has taken will ensure that they will be one of the most well positioned teams, both financially and personnel-wise following any sort of extended labor dispute. We will be rife with young players who will not be significantly harmed by sitting out a season. Had we kept Brad Hoover , let him play this year and then there was work stoppage in 2011, our only FB with starting experience when football resumed would be out of shape and on the wrong side of 30. I would rather Tony Fiametta get a year of experience under his belt this year, and if there is a lockout in 2011, our starting FB will be young and experienced and ready to go once football starts back up. Again, you can say this about every player released and their respective replacement. Maake, Damion Lewis, Diggs, Delhomme, etc.

If there is not a lockout, we will still be in good shape. We will have a team full younger, cheap players that will gain experience and eventually become as good as any of the guys we let go.

[Peppers90 NC]

A lot of guys looked up to Brad Hoover.

You know cuz you are in the locker room often?

Harris, who I liked, got tweet happy. No room for that in a men's locker room. He kinda deserved to be let go, that poo don't fly around here.

Beason is obviously the leader of this team, especially defense.

Hoover has been suffering thru injuries the past two years, when it's time, it's time. First people complain Fox is too loyal, then when they make moves people criticize that as well.

Again, it boggles my mind how some of you people speak about locker room leadership when none of us have ever been in their locker room. Thankfully I live in NYC now, so the only Panthers idiocracy I see/hear is on this board and not the radio as well.

[Sloth]

Here is the thing with that line of thinking.

How are the young talented guys ever going to become the leaders if they are being led? The only vocal leader we lost was Delhomme. Diggs, Peppers, Kemo, Damien, all of them were not vocal leaders and I don't even know if they were any type of leader what so ever. Harris, the most I have heard and seen of him leading, is this offseason. When he was trying to lead a revolt on the FO.

Unless your leader is someone like Ray Lewis or Peyton Manning he can be replaced. I am sure that Beason, Davis, and Brayton will do a fine job in keeping the D in line. I am also sure that SS, Williams, and Gross will do a fine job of keeping the O in line.

But don't you usually want your young guys to outperform the vet ahead of them and THEN move them up? We have yet to do that. Hoover >> Fiametta. Lewis > Leonard/Tyler. Diggs > Anderson. Harris >> Godfrey. How much is anyone going to look up to you when you're handed your job without earning it?

What it looks like we're doing is "Young? Cheap? You got the job!"

[Matt Foley]

Here is the disconnect....some of you think this has all been done for the right reason, namely older players being pushed out by younger ones with a higher ceiling. But I and many others think the reason is $$$$$. You don't purge all of your veterans at once like this...it's just dumb. Before the 2001 season, Seifert said in an interview "I've never stuck my balls out there like this before." If you're going to get rid of Delhomme, who was THE main leader on the team, but still want enough leadership in the locker room to get you through the tough times, you would keep the other leaders around to soften the blow.

And Peppers90 NC, Stewart tweets, too. Should he get shipped off?

[NanceUSMC]

Rams drafted Sam Bradford, signed an Eagles QB who played well under their OC, about to sign Westbrook, too....they aren't slashing payroll AND raising ticket prices. That's gashing your fans.

Gonna respectfully disagree with you... The players that have departed, are aging veterans and bad contracts, for the most part...

I liked Delhomme... I think he's got good football left in him... But both he, and the Panthers needed some sort of change... I'll take my chances with Clausen, Moore and Pike... They're young, but all talented... To me, that's an improvement over what was in place...

Peppers isn't as irreplaceable as people want to make out... The complete idea behind drafting Brown was to prepare for the potential of Peppers leaving... People want to forget that Brown isn't some no talent hack... Brayton is back, and Brown steps in... Add Johnson to the mix and I think we'll be ok there too...

Losing Hoover sucked... But the man definitely had some wear on the tires... I loved having him on the team... Loved pulling for the hometown guy... But I also think there's a reason no other team has signed him yet... Sure, I think he'll play again, and was a great player for us... But choosing now as the time to move on shows that the team has both faith in Fiametta as well as concerns about Hoover's injuries and durability...

Both of our starting CB's are back, so that's a wash...

Our OL is intact...

Our RB's are excellent...

Steve Smith has had an infusion of youth brought in around him...

Our Special Teams have been upgraded, counting the coach, which may have been the most important part...

The biggest areas of concern are obviously our Safeties and our DL, which are still both young and talented... Safeties have been addressed recently with an eye towards the future... Which, in my opinion, leaves DT as the teams weak spot... We lost players there, which weakened our depth, but did little to hinder our starters as Kemo was hurt all year...

I'd personally say, of all the veterans that we lost, the ones that will hurt the most are Lewis and Harris... Both solid players, but hardly unreplaceable... Lots of turnover, yes, but when you get right down to it, it was plenty of dead weight and bad contracts for players WELL past their primes...

[God]

Stop trolling us, Meat.