2025 Salary Cap Offense/Defense

[frankw]

https://overthecap.com/positional-spending

We are 10th in offensive spending and 28th in defensive spending.

Much has been said about both sides of the ball in the last several days. Some want to blame the defense.

The numbers speak volumes.

Discuss.

[Icege]

How does spending rankings determine sole fault?

Outside of the folks that want this to be exclusively Bryce Young's fault, most rational fans understand that the offense and defense combined for a stinker. Bryce didn't play well enough, Nijman didn't play well enough, Corbett didn't play well enough, Legette didn't play well enough, the TEs didn't play well enough, the entire defense minus the CBs didn't play well enough.

The only players that played well enough were TMac, Jaycee, Mike Jackson, Hunt, DLew, and Chuba.

[frankw]

I am someone who is skeptical at best of Evero at this point in time. And in hindsight he probably should have been replaced.

But you cannot simply dismiss that kind of spending gap and then whail about the defense as if that is our identity at this point in time. Yes we used to be a hard nosed defensive team but that hasn't really been the case for some time now.

And just to be clear. I was not the first one to mention the starting QB.

At this point just be up front and acknowledge you are just a propaganda machine icege.

[Shotgun]

We also have an offensive coach and put most of our draft capital there. We all knew the D would be bad...its hard to see an O that cant score more than 10 points. Good luck keeping opposing teams to 9 or less points. 

[mrcompletely11]

4 minutes ago, Shotgun said:

We also have an offensive coach and put most of our draft capital there. We all knew the D would be bad...its hard to see an O that cant score more than 10 points. Good luck keeping opposing teams to 9 or less points. 

Thats why its going to suck spending another top 10 pick on a qb instead of an elite Lb, pass rusher or whatever.  but it what it is and you have to have a qb to win in this league

[frankw]

19 minutes ago, mrcompletely11 said:

Thats why its going to suck spending another top 10 pick on a qb instead of an elite Lb, pass rusher or whatever.  but it what it is and you have to have a qb to win in this league

Inside linebacker is basically non existent. And that goes against everything that has been Carolina Panthers for a couple decades now.

And that is just one such area that has suffered as we have paid through the nose to build up our offense around a bad investment.

[Waldo]

It's a failing of most first time HCs. I get an OC not being a defensive expert but they do play the other side every week so it always amazes me that poop slides so often. First year? Sure but as time goes on they need to be a HC and have a balanced and good team in the end.

They went offense for that reason and the QB issues the team had. They had to go WR again this year because they failed so hard last year at that position in the first. That's on both the HC and GM on that miss IMO. This year they went out and got a bunch of free agents and drafted more on the D. It just doesn't appear they did it well again. Add in keeping Evero and missing out on an expensive free agent, thankfully but it would have lessened the cap gap in spending, it's not like they didn't try. It's more of an issue of competency than cap. Building around Evero after last year is damning for thr GM and HC. That's the biggest issue. They just didn't do any of it well. Now they have some younger talent and I don't think there is a decent coach in that house.

Edited 2 hours ago by Waldo

[Navy_football]

This is getting out of hand again. I swear some of yall just look for reasons to call out the QB, in an extremely thinly vieled "OFFENSIVE CAP HIT" statement. 

All of that is offensive line. It was an overreaction to how horrible the guards were in 2023, where guys were starting multiple games that will never take a snap in the NFL again. Speaking of 2023... where did the offensive cap rank then? Where are those WRs playing in the league now? How much are the WRs, TEs and RBs making compared to the rest of the NFL?

We have two, 1st round WRs on the roster. And they are the only WRs on the roster picked before the 4th round. One shouldn't have been a first rounder, he's only in his second season, AND he was literally outplayed by an UDFA rookie WR last year - that is currently on IR. The other WR picked before the 4th round has only played one game as a pro. 

QB play needs to improve. Absolutely no friggin doubt about that. But, come on. That dude has not been dealt a fair hand, no matter how many ways you try to spin it. Let's hope he figures out how to make chicken salad out of the chicken poo this team has served him his entire time here. Hoping that this org finds another Cam Newton is not really a realistic expectation. 

[woahfraze]

I think Morgan has had the right general idea. The problem has been in execution. 
 

Bryce year 1, there were myriad issues from roster talent to coaching and scheme, but the offensive line was particularly glaring. So they went out and  fixed the o-line by signing Hunt and Lewis.  That fix actually seems to have been at least moderately successful. 
 

Last year, pass rush was a major issue. So they invested along the defensive line and at edge. The problem is, they either expended too many resources over correcting—partially because in free agency, when you’re a shitty franchise, you have to overpay to get talent in the door—or they didn’t make the right picks. It’s probably too early to pass judgment on the free agent class or draft picks as it’s only been one game. So we’ve got a small sample size and rookie edges may take time to develop. But if game 1 is any indication, they didn’t solve the problem. 

[LinvilleGorge]

16 minutes ago, Navy_football said:

QB play needs to improve. Absolutely no friggin doubt about that. But, come on. That dude has not been dealt a fair hand, no matter how many ways you try to spin it. 

Are you kidding me? Two huge money OGs, the highest paid OT in football, a top 10 pick at LT, a top 10 pick at WR, another 1st round WR, a highly paid RB, an offensive minded head coach.

We've done everything we could to put Bryce in a position to succeed and that has left us strapped for resources on defense. I think that's the point of this thread and it's honestly probably a fair point.

And I should add that I'm not complaining about spending all those resources trying to surround Bryce with talent on offense. When you make the move we did to get Bryce you're all in. It would be dumb NOT to do everything you can at that point to make sure your investment pans out, unfortunately we dumped all our money into a meme coin that went belly up.

[rebelrouser]

We spent a lot of draft capital on Bryce when we had holes all over the roster.  Now we still have holes all over the roster but just added the biggest hole of all in the need for a new qb. There is no quick fix.  What is needed is a disciplined and patient approach to building back the roster.   Unfortunately, we don't have that kind of owner.  People on here were actually talking about trading two firsts and a quality player for Micah Parsons.  For what? A slightly better D?

[mav1234]

The defense was not good by any means but the two units aren't doing each other any favors. I don't think Evero is particularly good and it appears he may be allergic to youth. If it wasn't for the fact we constantly hear about how our drafts/acquisitions are his idea (and then they fail to pan out) I wouldn't hold nearly as much against him as I do, especially because of spending.

Fwiw, the offense is atrocious and it starts at the head of the unit, but many of us have also been very down on XL as well.

[SmokinwithWilly]

12 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Are you kidding me? Two huge money OGs, the highest paid OT in football, a top 10 pick at LT, a top 10 pick at WR, another 1st round WR, a highly paid RB, an offensive minded head coach.

We've done everything we could to put Bryce in a position to succeed and that has left us strapped for resources on defense. I think that's the point of this thread and it's honestly probably a fair point.

And I should add that I'm not complaining about spending all those resources trying to surround Bryce with talent on offense. When you make the move we did to get Bryce you're all in. It would be dumb NOT to do everything you can at that point to make sure your investment pans out, unfortunately we dumped all our money into a meme coin that went belly up.

I don't mind spending the resources either because you have to know if Bryce is the guy. His next contract will be in the 30-50m AAV depending on his play level. Eventually someone that spending is going to have to fall off and when it does, he's still going to need to be that guy.

But pretending he's the only QB in the league that has a difficult road to get up to speed is disingenuous. Other QBs are coming in and simply looking more prepared, more talented, and more like an NFL starting QB. All the pre draft hype has been just that, hype. 

This isn't all his fault. The team has no identity from top to bottom starting with the owner. Maybe he is successful elsewhere, but with this team, this owner, this FO, and this coaching staff, it's going to be hard for anyone, much less someone that needs to be a unicorn in the SB era. 

[Icege]

14 minutes ago, mav1234 said:

The defense was not good by any means but the two units aren't doing each other any favors. I don't think Evero is particularly good and it appears he may be allergic to youth. If it wasn't for the fact we constantly hear about how our drafts/acquisitions are his idea (and then they fail to pan out) I wouldn't hold nearly as much against him as I do, especially because of spending.

Fwiw, the offense is atrocious and it starts at the head of the unit, but many of us have also been very down on XL as well.

The team is in desperate need of complimentary football rather than this, "One side will have to carry the other" Hell we've been in. Offense has to turn clock-killing drives into points and the defense has got to get off of the field on 3rd and long.

It's going to be a long season, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel in the form of $70M in cap space for next year and a full slate of draft picks (including MIN's 5th instead of CAR's original 7th). If Bryce looks more of the same then that first rounder is going directly to a QB. If he shows that the end of last season wasn't a mirage then BPA all day, every day.