Offseason Prediction

[ericr0319]

I appreciate any comments. Positive or negative. If you notice anything incorrect let me know so I can adjust. I am going to update this as I go along. I have not yet included a Draft because it is WAY TOO premature. 

Ownership - ABD - Anyone But Diddy. I really have no opinion on who I would like to buy the team. That said, I have heard rumblings about possible new ownership moving the team outside of Charlotte. I do not think this is wise. I think the ACC would quickly remove their championship game from Bank of America. 

GM - Again, I cannot pretend to know the ends and outs of what it goes in to run a team. That said, I would not mind if we brought Marty Hurney back. Although I think new ownership might want a new face.

Coaching - I was not a fan about the Norv Turner hiring, but what is done is done. Let's hope for the best. Looks like Steve Wilks is going to stay. I am not a huge fan of his either. Too much zones and untimely blitzing. I think his system needs a stronger secondary, which we are lacking. I was hoping the DA would retire and move into coaching for our team. It is still a possibility. 

Current Cap Space - According to Over the Cap we have $21,360,591 in cap space (middle of the pack) for 2018. I am not sure if this includes the 2018 season cap projection to rise to $178,000,000 or not. 

Cuts - 

• Ryan Kalil - saves $7,500,000. Aging, injured, and just not worth that pay day.
• Jonathan Stewart - saves $3,750,000. See above.
• Russell Shepard - saves $2,150,000. Not reliable. The only plays I remember from him outside his week 1 touchdown were bad plays. 
• Charles Johnson - saves $3,500,000. Thank you for your time, but no where near worth this money, and I do not even want to see him take a paycut. Right now he is worthless on the field.
• Wes Horton - saves $1,200,000. We will look to FA/Draft for more DE. 
• Fozzy Whittaker - saves $1,150,000. Just not worth the $. Can find 100s of guys just like him. 
• Kevon Seymour - saves $630,000. I mentioned him and Sanchez of the lesser guys because it is time to move on.
• Zack Sanchez - saves $555,000. See above. 

Maybe cut a few others, but this brings our cap to $39,395,591.

Restructures - Just now learning more about this, but apparently we can only save so much on the cap by a restructure. These guys need to restructure. 

• Matt Kalil - saves $345,000.
• Kurt Coleman - saves $1,342,500. I could see him actually being cut, but it would leave us too big a hole at a top hole. 
• Captain Munnerlyn - saves $723,333. We save nothing by cutting so we have to restructure and cut next year. 

I am sure a view others will. Maybe Davis takes a paycut in his final year to work toward a Super Bowl. Saving $2,066,178. Gives us $41,461,769 to spend on our guys and FA.

Resignings - 

• Andrew Norwell - the #1 priority this offseason is extending Norwell. Turner received a 4 year $45,000,000 deal. I expect Norwell to ask for the same if not a pinch more. I would give him the same deal. Can load his up with All-Pro incentives since he has already reached that and makes sense.
• Julius Peppers - Final year for Pep. Him and Davis retire together. 1 year $3,500,000. $500,000 signing bonus.
• Kaelin Clay - 2 year/ $2,000,000.
• Damiere Byrd - 2 year/ $2,750,000. 
• Tyler Larsen - 4 year / $17,500,000.
• Michael Palardy - 3 year / $6,500,000.

Notable non-resignings: Gano, Star, Bersin, Anderson (thinking he might retire and move toward coaching). Spend about $25,000,000 towards next year's cap on our current roster resignings.

Free Agent Targets - Right now I am just going to list some targets. I do not expect us to target anyone extreme. 

• WR - Allen Robinson, down year + injured season could lead to a smaller deal. Terrelle Pryor, disappointing season could make for a steal. Paul Richardson, guy is a burner. 
• S - Morgan Burnett, I will spend the money any pay a premier S. Eric Reid, affordable. 

Draft - TBA

[Drics13]

20 hours ago, ericr0319 said:

 

• Russell Shepard - saves $2,150,000. Not reliable. The only plays I remember from him outside his week 1 touchdown were bad plays. 
• Charles Johnson - saves $3,500,000. Thank you for your time, but no where near worth this money, and I do not even want to see him take a paycut. Right now he is worthless on the field.

Incredible we let Ginn go and spend this kind of money on these Cabbages.

Would be great if Kalil came back on the cheap.

This is a good overview. Agree we need to sign Norwell and our own free agents you say above. I am not a Pryor fan and I think Allen Robinson will get big money. I do think Paul Richardson would be a great addition and Eric Reid/Burnett would be awesome. What about Marquis Lee or Moncrief? Both fast guys.

[ericr0319]

12 minutes ago, Drics13 said:

 What about Marquis Lee or Moncrief? Both fast guys.

I would be okay if we brought one of these guys in. Moncrief hands are not the greatest from what I remember. I do not think we are destroyed at WR like the "experts" say. Samuel has the ability to be a B+ WR in this league and Funchess is a B+ guy. Robinson or Lee would quickly boost that position and allow us to focus the draft on defense. We need to address all three units on the defense. 

[Zithers2]

Ownership - There is no way the Panthers move. They have a lease with BOFA, which has been renovated plenty in recent years, and there is almost no way 2/3 of the NFL's owners would vote to approve a move. The Carolina's are a large market that they'd want to take advantage of.

Cuts - I honestly don't think a single one of these will happen except for CJ and maybe Shepard.

Not keeping Gano would be flat-out stupid as hell. Same with Star.

[Toughguy77]

I understand we need to get Cam more weapons but bringing in Richardson(1 year NFL wonder thus far) and Moncrief(not an upgrade over Funchess) doesn't do us justice. 

 

We can't load our receiving cabinet with a bunch of B/C guys. We legit need a playmaker (Jarvis Landry/Allen Robinson/Potentially 1st rd pick). Wouldn't mind a new face as an every down back, JStew's time has ran out in Carolina. 

[ericr0319]

11 hours ago, Zithers2 said:

 

Not keeping Gano would be flat-out stupid as hell. Same with Star.

So you want to keep Star over Norwell? 

[ericr0319]

9 hours ago, Toughguy77 said:

JStew's time has ran out in Carolina. 

Yes Stew and his #43 ranked in yards per carry needs to go. Patriots know how to win because they get rid of guys instead of being loyal. Nobody deserves anything in this league. 

[Franck8666]

Star and Norwell should be our focus as FA, we need to built this team through the draft and we're really good at it since Gentleman was here... but who knows with Hurney back.

[Zithers2]

4 hours ago, ericr0319 said:

So you want to keep Star over Norwell? 

I would rather gamble on Taylor Moton succeeding Norwell than have lord knows how much guaranteed money tied up in our interior. Back in 2014 Rivera even said Norwell was on the verge of being cut until he got to play with the 1s and suddenly looked better when surrounded by stronger talent. I don't trust it.

We don't have an NT to replace Star. His backup is Kyle Love. The market is probably not great (Dontari Poe is a possibility I guess but it isn't like he'd be cheaper than Star). If we don't have a good NT our defense will be horrific. Star soaks up a lot of double teams that allow KK, Mario, and Peppers to feast.

Gano just led the NFL in FG%. He also consistently leads the league in touchback %. He's been a top five or ten kicker since joining the team outside of the 2016 season where he stank for whatever reason.