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Yas: Panthers have shot at FA record for silence

CatMan72

By CatMan72,
in Carolina Panthers

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CatMan72

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From Yas on his ESPN NFC South blog:

The Carolina Panthers are the only team in the NFL that has not signed a single free agent in 2009 and 2010.

That’s according to ESPN Stats & Information and it backs up a common belief that Carolina owner Jerry Richardson has been preparing for a lockout since owners opted out of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. It was at that point that Richardson told coach John Fox not to expect a contract extension anytime soon (Fox’s contract ran out at the end of last season) and that his assistants would be given only very short contracts (that led to several assistants leaving the Panthers after the 2008 season).

Jerry Richardson's reluctance to sign free agents the past two offseasons is likely a sign he was preparing for the lockout. In the history of free agency, several teams have gone back-to-back offseasons without making a signing. But the Panthers have a chance to make history if they don’t add a free agent this year (and tight end Jeremy Shockey, who was signed before the lockout doesn’t count because he was cut by New Orleans and therefore is not considered a true unrestricted free agent). The Buffalo Bills, from 1999 through 2001 are the only team ever to go three straight seasons without signing a free agent. No team has gone more than three straight seasons without adding a free agent.

It remains to be seen if Richardson will give his team the green light to start signing free agents again once a labor agreement is reached. But, historically, the Panthers were pretty aggressive in free agency before the last two years.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, the Panthers have signed 89 free agents in their history, which only goes back to 1995. That number only includes true free agents and not undrafted rookie free agents or players added during the season.

That ties the Panthers with the Falcons for the all-time division lead in that category. But Atlanta, New Orleans and Tampa Bay each had a two-year head start on the Panthers because free agency began in 1993. The Panthers set the record for any NFC South team by signing 19 free agents in 1995 and also added 12 in 1999, George Seifert’s first year as coach. Atlanta’s biggest year for signings was 1995, when the Falcons brought in nine free agents.

Read more: http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcsouth/post/_/id/21797/panthers-have-shot-at-fa-record-for-silence

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Woodie Newbie

Woodie

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It seems he is using a whole lot of qualifications in order to make a point. The truth is that we haven't been big spenders in FA, but we have spent...mostly on ST or depth guys like Wallace Wright. But for the most part, they were UFA's when we signed them, so it kind of invalidates the point of this article. Now if he wanted to talk about bringing in starters, then that would be a different story, but as it stands, the article is not particularly accurate.

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