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Coach Ron Rivera gets a 3 year extension by the Panthers. I think he has earned it. He learned from mistakes, takes chances when appropriate, and his players love him. I have no issues with retaining him as our coach.

Rivera gets Coach of the Year. Congrats! He earned it.

Looks like Jordan Gross is going to retire rather than give it one more year. Don't know if a current player can fill that void. May look at FA or the draft with our 1st rounder; we were torn between WR and LT for the 1st, but this may make the decision for us.

Resigned Gano to 4 yr deal - good
Franchise tag on Hardy as expected. Gets him paid and gives them time to work out long term deal.

Mike Mitchell to the Steelers for 5 yr $25 mil That hurts Carolina

ohara wrote:Mike Mitchell to the Steelers for 5 yr $25 mil That hurts Carolina

Where was he going to start? Remember our starting safety is returning, and we already have Lester and Mikel who are playing well.

I liked Mitchell, and he is going to be absolutely PERFECT for the Steelers, but he wasn't worth the cap space (certainly not $5 mill a year) for us at this time.

If you want to talk about smart signings look no further than the Lions getting Golden Tate, the deal is a tad more expensive then I would like it, but Tate is going to be a perfect compliment to Megatron.

If you want to talk about HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE signings look no further than Josh McCown to the Bucs. It isn't an expensive contract (5-7.5 mill a year), but that is still 5-7.5mill a year for a 36 year old QB who has never started an entire season. And this for a team that had a promising young QB and an early draft slot.....

Lost Ginn, Jr to the Cardinals today after cutting Smith. And does not look like Nicks is coming to Charlotte either. So far, this off season has been a disaster in my eyes. Retirements and other teams getting our FA's. Not feeling too happy so far. But I have faith the front office knows what they are doing.

Munnerlyn goes to the Vikings. Good grief, our team looks nothing like the team that won the Division last season.

Nicks to the Colts on a 1 yr deal. This is depressing now. No WR's for Cam has got to piss him off.

Roman Harper signs with Panthers. Good Safety addition.

LaFell to the Patriots. Man o man, Cam has got to be depressed over this mess. No one to throw to but Olsen.

ohara wrote:LaFell to the Patriots. Man o man, Cam has got to be depressed over this mess. No one to throw to but Olsen.

Im actually glad to see LaFell gone, he never did much to impress...

If we can get James Jones I will be thrilled.

Signed CB Antoine Cason and WR Jericho Cotchery. But we need more.

penquin11 wrote:

ohara wrote:LaFell to the Patriots. Man o man, Cam has got to be depressed over this mess. No one to throw to but Olsen.

Im actually glad to see LaFell gone, he never did much to impress...

If we can get James Jones I will be thrilled.

I agree that LaFell never reached his potential with Carolina. And I ordinarily would not have minded him going. But with Cam being out for the next 4 months and not being able to get familiar with new WR's, and not having ANY of his prior 4 WR's on the roster, I think LaFell would have been good just for a security blanket. That is really all I hate about losing him.

Would like to get DeSean Jackson, but fear the price may be too high. But if we could get him, would give Cam a #1 WR which we currently do not have. Boy, would I welcome that talent to the team.

Signed Jason Avant to fill a WR spot.

If Carolina drafts another WR in the 2nd round (should go OT in 1st) the WR corps might be better than last seasons

Avant and Cotchery are both equal too or better than LaFell and Underwood is the same as Ginn add a 2nd round WR he would be better than Domenik Hixon not to mention other WR's on the roster (McNutt and King) and i'd say they got a decent bit better

Avant will be solid and Underwood should be an upgrade over Ginn (look for Underwood to have a surprisingly good year).

I think we go OT/WR in the first 2 rounds.

Well at the very least it will be nice to have WR's that dont drop passes Cotchery just had 2 drops in 2013, Avant had 1 and Underwood had just 3, in contrast Steve had 6, LaFell had 6 and Ginn had 3

I actually think we've improved the 2-4 WRs this offseason, the exception being losing Ginn's return ability. I prefer Cotchery to LaFell, Underwood to Ginn (as a receiver), and Avant to Hixon (but I'll always love him for the catch vs. the Saints). Obviously losing Smith stings but he was no longer a true No. 1 receiver. I kinda want us to go WR in the first, though I agree OL is now the biggest need. If there were ever a year to pick a receiver, this is it. There's been like 10 guys to receive a first-round grade, some may be available to us in the second:

Watkins, Evans, Lee, OBJ, Cooks, Matthews, Robinson, Benjamin, Landry, Adams.

And then several good options in the third and beyond:

Latimer, Moncrief, Abbrederis, Herron, Bryant, Richardson, Norwood, Coleman, Ellington, Campanaro

Honestly, I'll be a little disappointed if we don't leave the draft with at two of these guys. As far as OL, unless Martin or Lewan fall I don't think there's anyone worth the pick. One caveat however, if our team signs off on his knee issue I think Cyrus Kouandjio could be our pick at 28. All the talent in the world, just concerns over his injury. Very similar to Star's situation last year, maybe taking a shot on a guy with health concerns works out for us again.