Cap Space?

[MHS831]

Just chill out. We have done a lot of good thus far, if anything the front office should have earned some trust (for the most part, I think we did over pay on a few players... 1 specifically)

But there are still LOT's of FA's available and ready to be signed. Be patient.

And this isn't like Madden where you just pick a player, say his name and go get him. Players have places they want to go... we have coaches who have to evaluate rather the player fits into the system, review their scouting report on the player, look at numbers, compete with 31 other teams ect.

I thought the DW contract was too high because he wasn't at a ned position, but I somewhat understand CJs--we could not let ATL get him. A lot of solid CBs have gone to other teams at reasonable rates--I am not sure that a top CB is in the plans.

I think CB was MUCH more of a priority than RB. Marty seemed to put the priority on Panther Free agents first. Considering DW's track record since 2008 and the fact that most RBs hit the wall at 30 (he is 28), and you have 2-3 quality RBs in the garage. Ask the Cowboys and Jets about waiting around in free agency. But I understand waiting if you are looking for role players or depth.

Forget who played for whom--What were our biggest priorities?

DE-re-signing Johnson

CB-

DT-We got a 32-year old NT nobody has heard of

I don't play Madden. I am sure that it is not that easy, however, but a lot of people are questioning Hurney's spending spree. Giving $22 million to a LB with back-to-back ACL surgeries, giving a 28-year old RB who has been injured a lot $24 million guaranteed, even Paying Charles Johnson nearly what Peppers got in Chicago.

It really is not a case where everyone who likes the spending is cool and the people who question it need to "chill". You are right-this ain't Madden.

[Bj-Monster23]

I understand the CJ deal you have to pay for good pass rushers in this league and they dont come cheap. I believe we could of got him 10 or 20 million less but we had Atlanta on our back. I understand Deangelo Contract the guy is a top 5 Running back to me and maybe a top 5 to the league. The contract that i didnt like was thomas davis I believe we should of waited to extend his contract. If he played the whole season then we could give him one. Football isnt a easy sport it takes time to get back in a rhythm. TD been away for a long time dont expect him to come back an play like he did 2 years ago before he got hurt.

[GotSwag?]

CJ has a frontloaded contract correct? If so, I wonder if he is the only one...smart move if we got a few guys to do this because we needed to spend money and in 3 years these guys contracts might be steals.

[JawnyBlaze]

Giving $22 million to a LB with back-to-back ACL surgeries, giving a 28-year old RB who has been injured a lot $24 million guaranteed, even Paying Charles Johnson nearly what Peppers got in Chicago.

We don't know what TD got. I think a lot of people are mixing up TD and JA's contracts because they were announced at the same time but I haven't heard anything about the details of TD's contract.

Deangelo has only been a starter for 3 years (even if he got a lot of carries in college). College carries aren't the same as Pro carries, not only was he younger then and better able to heal than someone Pro-age, but people in college don't hit as hard-meaning less wear and tear from college carries. His legs are fresher than the average 28 year old. The injuries are a legitimate concern, but I think it's pretty obvious he wasn't THAT badly hurt last year, I think he went to IR because the season was tanked anyway and no need rushing him back (ala TD). He was a need too, need that strong run game for Cam to ease into the Pros better. What if Stewart got hurt? He may or may not be able to shoulder a feature back load of carries (280+ carries). Sure we all like Goodson and think he has lots of potential, but I feel a lot safer with Deangelo and Stewart getting 45% of the carries each than Stewart getting 70% and Goodson getting 25% (or 45/45).

Sure, I would have loved to have gotten Mebane or Cofield, but I'm not too upset with Ron Edwards. He kinda fits the particular need a little better (but obviously not as good of a player as Mebane or Cofield) in being a big run stuffer. For his price he's not a bad signing, all we really needed was a solid vet to help out the young guys. The DT FA pool this year wasn't exactly outstanding, so maybe they were just grabbing a vet stop gap. Next year, either one or both of the two 3rd round picks will work out and we'll be ok at the position, or we can throw a high draft pick (I know nothing about next year's draft class other than the two or three QBs you hear a lot about and Alshon Jeffrey and Blackmon and Quinton Coples) or hope DTs in FA next year are better. I just hope we resign Landri. Haven't heard anything about it yet, only that some other team (forget which) was giving Landri a look.

Even if we don't get another CB, I think this FA period has been a raging success. Sure we didn't go out and make a huge splash signing from another team, but really the guys we resigned on our team were among the cream of the crop anyway. I think the Olsen trade will end up being a much bigger impact move than people are realizing right now. Shockey was a nice signing before the lockout, but everyone knew he wasn't going to last more than a year or two. Olsen probably just locked up our TE spot for the next 5-8 years.

Ideally, we can still grab Cromartie or Rogers. If Cromartie is looking for big $$$, we could probably get Rogers on a 2 or 3 year contract at $4 mil a year or thereabouts (I'm just throwing numbers out there, based on the elite CBs getting around $10 mil a year). He'd be a stop gap and if we get Rogers I expect our 1st round pick to be used on a CB next year (if there's someone there worth it). We knew Hogan was a risk when they drafted him, word was he'd be out of action through the first few weeks of the regular season. Worst case scenario, we don't sign anyone else and El Capitan is the #2 CB and we get manhandled by big receivers until Hogan can play or, if he isn't ready this year, we could just let Gamble handle the bigger WRs and Cap the speedier guys. I think we could have worse problems than an undersized #2 CB.

Wow that was longer than I intended.

[JawnyBlaze]

Oh, and something I forgot to address once I got into the speech, CJ didn't get nearly what Peppers did. He got like $15 mil less, that's not an insignificant difference. Even if he did get nearly what Peppers did, the only problem with that would be that to someone who wouldn't have paid attention to backup DEs on the Panthers for the past few years, it would appear that CJ came out of nowhere and had one good year in his contract year. So there would be risk that it was an anomalous year and that was an unwarranted contract. However, to someone that HAS paid attention to the Panthers backups DEs over the past few years, that shouldn't be a concern. Johnson has played very well when he's been in the game. He got like 6 and 4 sacks the two years before as a backup. That's pretty darned impressive if you ask me. Without the numbers to back it up, I'd bet he played well below 50% of the snaps of a starter...that only makes sense. However, he got around 50% of the sacks that a top tier DE gets in less than 50% of the snaps. And that was without top DTs (haven't had one of those since CJ has been a Panther) and usually without Peppers taking attention off of him (he was usually subbing in for Peppers, if I'm not mistaken). So I honestly, and with every effort to ignore my homeristic instincts, have no concern about CJ not earning his fat payday.

On a side note, as plenty of people have alluded to, there is a side benefit to giving him that much money. It can be a morale booster and motivational gesture to the other young players on the team. "Show up, bust your ass, make the most of the opportunities presented to you and you get rewarded."

[Carolina Crazy V2]

Jesus, why is everyone writing fuging essays.