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Carolina Panthers: Panthers Filling in the Gaps

By John Woodcock

Mar 1, 2017; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Carolina Panters general manager Dave Gettleman speaks to the media during the 2017 NFL Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 1, 2017; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Carolina Panters general manager Dave Gettleman speaks to the media during the 2017 NFL Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /
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Some far the Carolina Panthers are doing step one of the Gettleman plan, leaving us anxious for step two.

The Carolina Panthers have made some signings in the past few days, and they are signings that suggest that Dave Gettleman is still following the crux of his playbook on free agency. The Panthers are bringing back lower tier personnel and this will hopefully enable them to make a big splash either in the draft or the free agent pool.

Before this season, Gettleman was hamstrung by the need to clear the books of some of Marty Hurney’s deals that slowly ate up the Panthers salary cap. The result was Gettleman looking for low cost solutions on the offensive line while benefitting from a good group of draftees in their rookie contracts. He had almost gotten out of that hole last season and refusing to keep Josh Norman late in the free agency period gave him more freedom for this free agency period.

If Gettleman had kept Norman, the Panthers would be looking at two major negotiations right now. That would be Norman and Kawann Short. The Panthers could only franchise one of them and that would likely still be Short. Norman would either have walked this off-season or locked down thirteen million dollars, leaving the Panthers once again grasping for straws to fix other problems.

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The money that Norman would have made last year is essentially being using to franchise Short this year, and the Panthers have more flexibility to make other moves while having two viable young corners in James Bradberry and Daryl Worley.

This brings us back to signing the second tier guys. Wes Horton, Fozzi Whittaker, safety Colin Jones, and Brenton Bersin were all brought back in the last two days. Jones is a backup safety and special teams ace. Whittaker is the third down back and possible relief for Jonathan Stewart (although I would like a more rough and ready second running back). Even Charles Johnson came back for relatively cheap.

These guys are the glue of the Panthers. They help set the foundation of where the team has been. New moves will have to establish where it is going. Gettleman has yet to reveal those moves yet, and if none appear then the future of the team will be in some doubt (but we’ll have lots of cap room).

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