Looking ahead to '04 final 53

Graham's allright. Replacing Kasay takes more.

Good lord. Some of y'all have the focus of the average goldfish to negate all that information and bicker about the kicker. I wouldn't keep three, though, and hell yeah if we get Stover.



>>IMO we wait to “reward” Jake with a big extension until after NEXT year’s super bowl.

Risky. The Soph year thing? With contracts come expectations, and honestly to me it just comes down to play. I don't care what he's getting paid as long as he's here, but IMO he deserves rewarded at least as much as Smitty. Hopefully we can get it done.


>>WR - Moose, ROOK #2 - Moose stays and in the 2nd there WILL be his eventual successor

For right now, I'd kinda like to have the receiver we draft be more of the shifty, speedy punt returner type. But big posession guys like Wilford, for instance, would work as well as a guy like Berrian. I just think that we've got posession guys. Did I miss where you noted Proehl gone?

Relatively happy with the line situation you provided.

>>TE – Seidman, Wiggins, Mangum – Seidman steps up & we can finally sit Mangum a little

I'd like to see it, but doubt it. I'd prefer we keep one of the two vets (or go get someone else, I like Wiggins but I know a vet starter can be better), grab a promising rookie with a little more speed than Seidman, and have Seidman roleplay like before.

You don't mention what to do behind 20 and 48. Keep Rod? The rest, other than the KO guy, is legit as well. I didn't count to see if you had 53.

 

yeah, and if Jake has another big year, then he might just have priced himself out of our range. I'd much rather lock him up now than take the risk of losing him as an UFA.

 

not just that but he may just decide to walk because we didn't offer a contract earlier... seen it happen with other teams before

 

Undoubtedly. Jake deserves rewarding as much or more than Smitty.

 

Yes reward the guys now. There is some team spirit, unity, yippy tye yo tye yeah going for us for what it is worth. At this point Jake feels this is his team. Sign him. Call me paranoid, but I'm worried Smith's agent will tweak him into an ugly situation. We should be able to get Grant and Jeno signed. Signing Wallace will surprise me.

 

We already have rook #1 backup CB to Vinson (if we land Vinson). His name is Anderson. He's got to get a shot. You really expect him to act up on this team with these coaches.

 

there's still no word Anderson will EVER be reinstated... furthermore he's been outta football for 2 FULL seasons... and before that he struggled in his playing ability... he's a 4 year vet with NO experience at cornerback... he will never again play in a Panther's uniform unless AT BEST he's here during training camp... and to be honest I don't think he's talented enough to play ANYWHERE in the NFL

 

In the recent panther.com article both Fox and Hurney express some concern over “30 teams having a head start in the off season”. One of Fox’s favorite sayings is, "If you are not getting better, you are getting worse."

Where do we NEED to get better? CB for sure and LB. I’m sure that all of us would be stupefied if we did not add an established veteran corner to pair with Manning as our starters next year. It would be equally perplexing if we did not draft a corner also seeing as how at least one of the early starters will be gone (Howard & Cousin). At LB even if Fields is back to start strong side we will have to find a future starter/backup and neither Favors nor Caldwell is the guy . . . another free agent AND rookie situation. That much seems crystal clear. IMO it also seems clear that Grant will be retained as soon as that can be hammered out. We don’t need to upgrade at that position since Grant has himself improved. And as I stated earlier we can’t afford an upgrade if we can’t afford Grant. You have all convinced me that Wallace is gone. I think that a recovered Pittman and Rasmussen being one more year experienced will keep us in good enough shape on the line.
Where else do we need to “get better”? We have got to find a way to keep James, and even if we only lose KD to retirement our G situation is looking potentially weak. IMO Guard looks like the biggest need to address on offense. Next is probably WR and if we don’t re-sign Smith we are set WAY back and WR becomes THE offensive priority. Even with Smitty we need a young(er) #3 and better depth. I was optimistic that Young would answer some prayers but he seems to be lacking either the hunger, head, or the heart and we will absolutely have to go to the well much sooner in the ’04 draft. With ass-kicker Gross and Steussie’s Matthews-like durability we are good enough at T but a little better (younger) depth would be nice. If Seidman comes through like our staff expects him to then I think we are fine at TE, especially given the present offensive scheme. Last would be depth at QB. By next season Peete might not be able to bend over far enough to take ball from center. Either we upgrade in free agency or draft our new 3rd and move Weinke to #2. Either way we will need to get better at QB. That should do it.