How do you make up for the loss...

With Julius Peppers gone, what's the best approach to building next year's defense?

Could the Panthers build a dominant defense on the strength of the mid-range pickups they usually prefer combined with more of a focus on Jon Beason and (possibly) a new coordinator and scheme?

OR...

Is the loss of Peppers so impactful that it will be absolutely necessary for the Panthers to make at least one "big splash" acquisition like Albert Haynesworth, Terrell Suggs or Nnamdi Asomugha?

 

switch to the 3-4

 

they'll have money they intended to spend on Peppers, if they don't spend it on Peppers. Traditionally, the years in which the Panthers have been stingiest have been years they've also taken a lot of money to re-sign and/or extend other players.

 

Brayton and Johnson are ok. If we get lucky, Johnson will continue to progress and become a full time starter. But you'll still need to find some legitimate players inside, and an open side pass rusher.

 

Dominant? No. The scheme preferred by Fox & Trgovac is too passive and vanilla to ever be dominant without great players. I would imagine that their strategy will be to make the defense adequate and hope that the offense can do enough to win games. You probably go about that by getting the best run defenders you can find, and then substituting pure pash rushers like Hilee Taylor in obvious passing situations. Losing Peppers doesn't mean that the defense is destined to be awful, but mediocre is probably the best they can shoot for. Regardless of what happens at DE, I'd like to see improvement in the secondary, both at safety and either fixing Marshall or replacing him at nickel back.

I'd be really surprised if we could outbid other teams for any of those players given the monetary commitments we already have on the books. Obviously we'd be thrilled to get any of the three, but I just don't see that as likely.

 

Fixing the back end is a must, regardless. We can't compete with the teams on our schedule next year if we don't have anything better in the secondary.

I'd like to bring in another safety to rotate with Harris in passing downs.

 

Fortunately, we're in a division that will likely face a similar difficulty of schedule as us.

It's all about getting on the bus. Win 10 of 16 games, and go from there.

 

True. The entire South will probably come back to earth in '09. I'd say that New Orleans will probably be the team, but I'll believe it when I actually see it. Plus I don't think Brees can match the season he just had, so they better get some kind of running game going.

 

You just can't overlook how fucking lucky we are to have the backs and OL we have, despite the playoff loss, and the news about Pep.

 

And Tampa Bay got a lot worse. I think 8 or 9 wins takes the division next season.