The Core

[brandon_87]

I hope he does, last season was a disappointment that I doubt I will ever forget

[SorthNarolina]

The OP is kind of vague. I think I will interpret this as the leaders, biggest contributors, and best players.

Williams, Gross, Kalil, Johnson, Beason, Davis, Anderson, and Kasay.

They are the Captains.

Stewart, Goodson, Sutton, Rosario, Gettis, LaFell, Hardy, Norwood, Connor, Gamble, Munnerlynn, Godfrey, and Martin.

They are the officers.

Draft picks, FAs, and everybody else are the enlisted men.

[BBQ&Beer]

That movie was so underr.... oh.

[SOJA]

we have a lot more talent than a typical 2-14 team

[Hoenheim]

Okay, what I got from the OP is that he meant guys that have contributed or are very likely to contribute to team success in the near future. If they were really part of our "Core" for the next, say, five years, I seriously wouldn't put anyone over 32 years of age on the Core list, considering that they would either not be with the Panthers in 5 years, or they would be old and not nearly as good as they used to be. I honestly don't know our defensive players well enough to do a list for them (or our offensive lineman for that matter) so let me give you the skills positions of offensive players:

Here is mine:

- Quaterback: Cam Newton (Age 21)

- Running Back: DeAngelo Williams (Age 28)

- Running Back: Jonathan Stewart (Age 24)

- Wide Receiver: Brandon LaFell (Age 24)

- Wide Receiver: David Ghettis (Age 23)

- Tight End: Gary Barnidge* (Age 25)

*Tight End is very debatable in my opinion. I just think that our tight ends have been so underutilized in the fox system that I don't really have a good predictor of WHO will be our tight end that will be most relied upon, but I'd make an educated guess and say it would have to be either Barnidge, Rosario, or future draft pick. We'll probably know a lot more about this after this season when we can evaluate the tight ends better after a season's worth of increased receptions.

- Let me add that of course, future draft picks in any potion can completely change this.

[top dawg]

In my opinion, the problem with this team is that Smitty appears to be on his way out, and D-Will (who may be developing a rep for being injury prone)may be right behind him. And speaking of injury, Thomas Davis got profoundly hurt right before he became a legitimate star, and now has questions regarding his ability to rise back to pertinence---that's right "pertinence", not prominence. Stewart is arguably more appreciated nationally than by the an base, and Beason is appreciated more by the fan base than nationally (meaning both are not fully appreciated).

At this moment, Cam is arguably the face of the franchise---good or bad. He definitely has the swag, but will he bring the goods? And, like I said, Smitty---who had the swag and the goods---is reportedly on his way out. In my opinion, nobody else is on the radar. So this notion of a core is hard to define because the team has lost its identity.

Hopefully, once the season gets under way (and we get a few games under our belts), the core of the team will begin to define itself, and help the team define its identity. Sorry, guys, until then we don't have anything but an apple core (if you get what I'm saying).