Offseason Focus

Respectfully disagree. The injuries are definitely a concern, but from the little I've seen, Seidman's got hands that Mangum could only dream of having. I think Seidman's about the same size as Mangum, maybe even a little bigger, so Maser should be able to polish up his blocking skills to balance him out. I haven't given up on him yet.

 

Agree somewhat. He's shown a lot more ball skill than Mangum but he's basically that second TE. Good blocker inline and can make a catch if he's open but that's about it. Now that's better than Mangum, if you give him another year or two, but we need a starter.
It's not being down on Seidman, but he was a 3rd TE all year and now he's hurt. We need a starter, it'd be great to bring back Wiggins to compete to start, and Seidman to grow with.

 

He never crossed my mind. M is right, he probably won't be available, and if he is, we probably need to spend our money elsewhere. But it sure would be worth a phone call.

I think we don't use the TE much because we don;t have one who can block and catch. If we did, we would.

 

By position...

QB: Jake needs a new deal to show that we are committed to him as our QB now and going forward. Not sure what Wienke's contract status is, but if I remember correctly he just re-up'd and should be a decent #2. Peete should retire, if he doesn't, it wouldn't hurt to keep him and bring in a rookie to compete for the 3rd spot.

RB: No problems here. Davis is the man and Foster gives us a nice second option. Another year with Davis and Foster will be ready to be a feature back. Smart is expendible as a RB, but a solid STer. Keep him if financially prudent or replace him with a CB with return ability. Goings give us good reps out of his hybrid RB position, he's worth every penny at this point.

FB: Hoover has developed nicely into his role as a FB and continues to improve his blocking. Bringing is a second FB might be a good idea, but a TE or Goings can easily fill in if needed.

WR: Moose and Jake finally developed the necessary chemistry to make me feel we need to keep him. Smitty is starting to improve his route running and has emerged as a legit starter. Proehl is priceless as an X-factor in creating mis-matches and finding sotf spots in zones...he just plays so smart. Hankton has never moved up the depth chart and is expendible, as is Young (had high hopes, but he's Donald Hayes part II at this point) Baker could stick as a return man and depth if needed and Dyson is a GOD...NOT!

TE: Quickly becoming a huge need. I have been thinking CB and LB for so long that I haven't looked at the current big picture. Wiggins is a big body who can do things in the pasing game, but anyone else can pack thier bags.
TE IS NOW A TOP 3 NEED IN THE DRAFT FOR CAROLINA.

OT: Gross didn't play like a rookie much and I think we could safely move him to LT...but not just yet. Stuessie has more in him, but I'd rework his deal or dump him. Depth is a necessity here and keeping Stuessie would be beneficial while we shore things up for the future. Tuten is aging, but a decent back-up and Willig can play inside or out which is of value.
Overall, we need some new faces here. Not much to work with in the draft but we can find a solid RT prospect in rounds 3 or 4. Not sure what value the FA pool holds.

OG Jeno has earned the right to be here, but Donnelley could go either way dpending on his contract expectations. Nelson and Brez need to shit or get off the pot. Might need to look at OG in the draft, but it is not a deep position in the draft and the FA pool doesn't look to be particularly special either.If Donnelly can't be retained, this could be a big concern going into camp.

C: Mitchell is the most under rated center in the league IMO, but if Nelson develops he is expendible. I don't like saying that, but money could come into play.

DE: Peppers and Rucker are set. Wallace will likely be starting elsewhere after we try to retain him. Kemp continues to develop and the staff seems to like him. We'll need to add depth here. DE WILL BE A NEED.

DT: Jenkins...I'll stop there! Don't know Buck's contract status off hand, but I think he's set for next year and is playing his best FB late in his career...the mouth piece of the D. Moorhead looked good, what we saw of him and hopefully we can get another year or two out of Burton.

LB: Depth is needed and I'd like to see Morgan moved outside. More so to protect him from injury, but either way we need someone in the middle who can play coverage better. Spoon is up and down, but solid for the most part. Feilds will be the X factor here as to weather we need just depth or a starter.
Anyone else can get the hell out as far as I care...Favors, Allen, Caldwell. I really like Townes, btu he would fit better elsewhere.
AT THE VERY LEAST IMPROVED DEPTH IS NEEDED.

CB: Manning has shown he can play which gives us some options. I'd be happy with either Howard or Cousin as a Nickle (at least one of them needs to go if not both), but we need to sign a quality FA as a starter and a rookie woudl be nice too. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Wesley is a more natural fit at FS and is a decent STer. Anyone else...C YA!
CB SHOULD STILL RANK AS THE HIGHEST CONCERN

S: Minter is set and Grant has steadily improved this year. Coop is necessary as a STer and I wouldn't mind trying him at LB, he's bigger than many of the top draftees in this coming class. Richardson can go, and Wesley moves over as the back-up. Moving Coop would create a need for a back-up.

In review, needs in order for the draft would be CB, LB/TE, depth everywhere. A FA CB and maybe OG/OT, plus possibly a TE.

 

I like Vilma. He sounds a lot like Witherspoon which would be perfect to back up Morgan or Fields. Actually, I guess Witherspoon would have to go back inside if anything happened to Morgan until Vilma bulked up. But Vilma at least appears to have that potential.

http://www.nflfans.com/draft/2004/showplayer.php?key=Jonathan Vilma

 

From what I've read of Vilma, I like him too. Wouldn't break my heart at all to see him taken at #31.

 

I would love to see us get Derrik Hamilton from Clemson at WR although I've seen mock drafts having KC taking him before us and I know we have bigger needs in the 1st (and maybe 2nd) rounds. In other mocks I've seen him drop to the second round.

He's exactly the type of WR we're looking to eventually replace Moose with. He's tall, 6'4", 209 lbs. and is a great leaper. I'm a big Clemson fan and I've watched him for the past 3 years. He's fast too, runs a 4.4 40. Oh, yea, he's a really good return man too.

Anyway, here's the rest of my .02.

1. - Extend Delhomme for 5 - 7 years.

2 - Pay Smitty. I just pray he doesn't ask for the moon and the stars as we can only afford one.

3. Upgrade the secondary. I would rather have a CB from free agency rather than the draft. Champ Baily or Chris McCalister although I don't know if we could afford either. I think Troy Vincent would also make a good fit here and might not break the bank in exchange for coming to a Superbowl bound team
Drafting a CB to me is almost as scary as drafting a QB. We could draft a high CB and end up with another Rashard Anderson or we could grab one in the 3rd round and get another Ricky Manning. I think Manning will be a stud and having a shut down corner with plenty of NFL experience would be awsome. I either don't see us having the extra money to sign Deon Grant or would rather put that money in a really good CB and get a cheap alternative to Grant. I think with better CB, Minter, and Fields back we can be better with a less talented Safety.

4 - Keep the line just like it is with possibly moving Stussie to RT and Gross to LT. Rotate Nelson is more to see if he's got it. He'll need to start if Donnally retires. Also resturcture Stussie if you can do it but I can see us letting him go, moving Gross and letting Melvin Tutten start at LT. Not the greatest solution in the world but it'll free up some more cap. I would feel much better keeping the line together though as the run is our bread and butter.

5 - I would love to redo Moose's contract and have him stay as he's really come on in the latter part of the year and I love his blocking ability but unless we can do it money wise I can see us letting him go. Look, I don't like it either as Moose good and what he does but you can't pay big money to every member of the team. If we have to let Moose go, resign Dyson and draft another WR, possibly in the 1st round (Derrik Hamilton) to compete for a starting job if we can get a CB in free agency like I want.

6 - I think we're set at LB if Fields comes back. We just really need some depth there. I like BA and Favors as a backup. I taking it for granted that Morgan health issues are a thing of the past. He's a little weak against the pass but I'll take that trade off for his run stopping abilities. (18 freaking tackles in the SB) I say keep him in the middle.

I'd like to have Coop back. Resign Kasey, he's a very solid kicker who's helped up far more than he's hurt us. I don't even think there's much to even discuss with him. I think we're ok at TE if we just use what we've got a little more. Wiggins (did you see him jumping over NE players in the SB) is good and I like the upside to Seidmen. Probably keep Magnum or upgrade if we can since we run so many 2 TE sets.

Other than that I think we're gonna be ok.