FBO-Time to Rebuild

Carolina Panthers: Is it time to rebuild?

After a 12-win season in 2008, the Panthers had high hopes for 2009. Alas, Jake Delhomme's season-opening spurt of interceptions was a sign of bad things to come; the Panthers finished 8-8, but needed wins over an absent New York Giants team in Week 16 and the Saints' backups in Week 17 to get there. DVOA has them at 10.2 percent over the season -- 14th in the league -- but it underestimates the level of effort they faced against an otherwise-excellent Saints team in Week 17. It's fair to say that Carolina was a below-average team in 2008.
That difficult year yields challenging questions for this offseason. Defensive end Julius Peppers is an unrestricted free agent, and because he was tagged as the team's franchise player a year ago, he'd cost an absurd $21.8 million to keep around for 2010. Chances are that he won't be, costing the team its best player without any compensation. To fit Peppers into the cap a year ago, the Panthers signed Delhomme to a cap-friendly contract extension that guarantees him nearly $12 million in 2010; of course, Delhomme was alternately average and terrifying in 2009, and was essentially benched onto injured reserve. The team is stuck with him for one more year.
With Peppers leaving, Delhomme gnawing at owner Jerry Richardson's pocketbook, and a host of veterans that are unlikely to survive a rebuilding period as Panthers, Carolina should take the uncapped year to shed as many of its onerous contracts as possible and start over. With a talented draft class (especially at OT/DT) entering the league, they have assets that could result in valuable draft picks, including wide receiver Steve Smith and left tackle Jordan Gross.
Their best trading chip, though, is All-Pro halfback DeAngelo Williams. Williams turns 27 in April, has only 754 NFL carries on his odometer, and is signed for one more year at the price of $725,000. With budding (albeit injury-prone) star Jonathan Stewart waiting in the wings, a Williams deal is the Panthers' best shot at getting back the first-round pick they traded to the San Francisco 49ers to move up and draft Everette Brown a year ago. The San Diego Chargers, who pick 28th, seem like a logical landing point if the Panthers head in that direction. With a team not good enough to make it to the Super Bowl, it makes sense for them to start over.




Unnecessary IMO.

 

Trade Williams for the 28th pick in the draft? Brilliant lol.

 

rather grim.

and trade away smith and gross as well for picks. that's not rebuilding. that's full scale demolition.

 

Screw that. Once Moore got in the game we looked like a contender. We beat the Saints, Vikings and Giants down the stretch. IMHO the team is pretty solid. The OL and running game is strong. We could use another weapon at WR but with Smith on the roster you just need a good compliment not a superstar. The defense is not bad either. The linebackers are solid and deep. The secondary is not bad. The DL is in a state of flux with Peppers likely gone but there are some good young guys on the roster who should step up.

Quarterback was the glaring weakness on the team last year and once Moore stepped in that looked to be fixed. If you are not sold on Moore then bring in a guy to compete with him. Get him a better WR to pair with Smith and he should be productive.

Besides all that next year is scheduled to be a good year.

 

There are probably 20+ teams in the NFL that are not good enough to make it to the Super Bowl. Should everyone just start over?

 

This is a make-the-playoffs-or-else season for Fox. No way that we do a roster purge. Some of those ideas have merit, imo, but it's not happening.

 

Could this be any more idiotic ? Who writes this stuff, chimps ?
Yes, by all means, lets trade away Gross, and then draft an OT.

 

We have a more solid roster than most teams in the league. A QB who implodes during the season can make the whole roster look bad. Swap Jake Delhomme for Drew Brees and see how good the Saints look.......

 

Our biggest contracts right now were signed last year, Gross and Gamble, if we dump them now we just gave over 50 million dollars for one year from those guys.

 

Makes an intersting point but I dont agree. This team is certainly talented enough to make the playoffs, the NFC South is always wide open.