Jump to content

  • Welcome!

    Register and log in easily with Twitter or Google accounts!

    Or simply create a new Huddle account. 

    Members receive fewer ads , access our dark theme, and the ability to join the discussion!

     

Priority Number 1 - Offensive Line

Zod

By Zod,
in Carolina Panthers

Recommended Posts

Carolina Cajun Mentor

Carolina Cajun

Posted
Posted

As I see it, our number one priority is at Tackle and Guard.

 

I know, I know, many of you are preaching WR. WR's don't protect Cam, nor do they help get some kind of return out of our ball achingly ridiculous RB cap situation.  Therefore WR's take a back seat.

 

Gross is up in the air and Bell is a backup at best. Needing two new OT's going into an offseason is pretty awful. It doesn't get much worse than that. We all need to pray Jordan decides to play one more season and for next to nothing salary wise.

 

Getting Amini back will help, and Kugzilla is green and unproven but with an up side. But Wharton and Scott are hot garbage. Garry Williams probably ballooned up to over 400 pounds since September. Hangman they tried to get rid of in August. Nate Chandler, while serviceable, is also a backup in this league at best.

 

So worst case scenario we will need two new starting tackles and 1 new starting guard. 3 of 5 starters not just new to starting but new to the team.

 

How long do you think it will take for them to gel and start working well together under Shula. 1 game? 4 games? 8?

 

 

So here is the question, how much of our resources do you feel should go to remedy the above listed problems.

 

I couldn't agree with this any more.  Rarely do you see late first round WR's top 1,000 yards in their first year, most of the good ones end up with 500-600 yards and that's not bad, but definitely not going to dynamically change our Offense.  There's a reason people look for "Third year Wide Recievers" and anyone who's played Fantasy Football for any significant time knows what I'm talking about, it's about that time when things really click for wideouts.

 

Now does this mean to ignore the WR position?  Hell no, but looking at the depth of talent at the WR position, I have a feeling that we can get good value on a great young WR in the second round and not sacrifice much.  I think/hope you'll see us go Oline --> WR --> Oline in the draft because a good O-line will ALSO help with a struggling run game that we had outside of Cam which helps our offense as a whole.  Give D-lo some holes and he might actually be serviceable again because this season the only successful RB we had was Tolbert and that's because he made his own holes by trucking people.

 

One other thing, I know we have a need at CB, and I agree...to an extent.  In McDermott's zone scheme, shut down corners (what people look for early in the draft) are not necessary.  We run zone, and my understanding is our scheme is predicated on pass rush and having guys fill holes long enough for our pass rush to get to the QB, which has been working, and working well.  Because of that, it would not benefit us in the least to go after a Corner in the first or even really the second round.  The zone guys will come off later than the man guys, and yet again like I keep saying, you should be able to get good value later in the draft A la Melvin White and Robert Lester (both of which performed every bit as well as a rookie could in the scheme we operate in).  Like I said about WR earlier, don't ignore it, but don't throw the kitchen sink at fixing a small issue when the most glaring need is the Oline.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Catalyst Newbie

Catalyst

Posted
Posted

1. Re-sign Gross to a short-term deal. I think he'll come back if we offer him a half-decent contract.

2. Draft the best available OG in the 1st round. I like Cyril Richardson out of Baylor or Gabe Jackson out of Mississippi State personally, but whoever Gettleman likes.

3. Sign a veteran RT to compete with Byron Bell and a veteran OG to compete with Amini in case he regresses. Not huge names, but 2nd tier vets who won't cost a fortune.

In all that's a decent-sized contract for Gross, a 1st rounder spent on an OL, and two marginal contracts for veteran OL. End result is both good depth and an upgraded starting unit. Plus, it frees us up to spend a 2nd rounder on a WR - possibly even two if we can get a pick for Greg Hardy in a tag & trade deal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sloth Apprentice

Sloth

Posted
Posted

We have one WR under contract for next season. Of our expiring guys, LaFell is a blocker, Ginn would be a 4-6 guy for just about any other team, and Hixon is still sitting sadly on a bench somewhere in BoA.

 

We're going to bring Gross back and will have Wharton in the mix with Silatolu. Kugbilla better be in the fuging mix as well considering how highly we over drafted him and some of the players we skipped over to get him. That leaves RT. If Gettleman can't find a decent to good RT in free agency or rounds 3-7 of the draft, we need to fire his ass anyhow.

 

We'd be about the only team to draft a franchise QB and flat out refuse to give him weapons to grow with. We traded for Olsen and signed Tolbert and hoped Newton would make Smith somewhat relevant again. Our offensive gameplan last season was "make something happen Cam on two BREAK".

 

Get someone on fuging offensive besides our QB who can make plays. If our organization plan is to hope the league time warps back 15 years and to go all Ravens/Dilfer, we don't need a player like Newton. Trade him, concede we don't give a poo about offense and overload on D.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Montsta Rising Star

Montsta

Posted
Posted

Amini was starting to look like a stud, Kalil is an All-Pro. If Gross will come back for peanuts, I wouldn't mind drafting a future LT and using him at RT until 2015. See what Kugzilla brings to the table. Chandler actually progressed quite rapidly given the circumstances. I say we draft a stud tackle in the first, either G/WR/TE in the second, and whichever of the three we don't draft in the second, draft in the 3rd.

Two of the first three rounds on o-line wouldn't bother me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
panthers55 Grand Master

panthers55

Posted
Posted

Why do we need an upgraded line??  I thought it was common knowledge here that the whole fault was Shula's and bringing in Norm or someone else would fix the problem.  

 

Oh wait..................

 

You mean the poor line and crappy receivers might have something to do with why the offense struggled????

 

What a novel concept.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sloth Apprentice

Sloth

Posted
Posted

Why do we need an upgraded line??  I thought it was common knowledge here that the whole fault was Shula's and bringing in Norm or someone else would fix the problem.  

 

Oh wait..................

 

You mean the poor line and crappy receivers might have something to do with why the offense struggled????

 

What a novel concept.....

 

Yeah, I dislike Shula-ball. Really hated our offense this year. Every time I'd get all ragey about Shula, I'd remember the talent (lol!) we were fielding on O. And you can't argue with results - 12-4. Shula deserves another season with an influx of talent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
beastson Newbie

beastson

Posted
Posted

Im not a expert on cap, dont know. Whatever can be done to get d.will and stewart of this team, do it. Let Mike be our starting RB with Barner as his backup. Find a way to move up in the draft to get the top 3 (Evans, Lee, Watkins), I'll be looking at CB in the 2nd, OL in the 3rd

Link to comment
Share on other sites
unicar15 Experienced

unicar15

Posted
Posted

This is the only reason I'm coming around to the idea of trading Hardy if we can get a 1st round and 2nd round pick. There are several good tackles in this draft. I think Gross will sign another 1-year deal cap-friendly. He knows we are close and he wants a ring. If we have two 1st round picks this year that could bring us a franchise tackle and help at WR for Hardy then do it. Get a pass rush hungry team like OAK to bite and I'd be up for it.

I think that re-signing Ginn is a huge priority as well. At this point I'd tender LaFell and see if anyone bites unless he's willing to take a friendly low salary contract. Ultimately, I think he's gone.

If a trade is done for Hardy you could potentially go:

OT - 1st

WR - 1st

G - 2nd

The lingering question in the room is whether Rivera has faith in getting the pressure we need with Addison, Horton, and Alexander.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...