The Carolina Panthers made an unusual move to be active players in free agency. Let’s hope it plays out.
The Carolina Panthers look a bit different now than they did just forty-eight hours before. They look like a team that is taking the free agent arms race seriously in their effort to put a team on the field that can get back to the Super Bowl.
That may be intentional. The team is fairly comfortable for this one season, but then there are two rather big bombs that go off next year.Kawann Shortwill come off the franchise tag looking again for a bigger pay day. He will be joined byStar Lotulelei, who will off his final contract year as well. The team may be put into a situation where they cannot keep both, meaning the quality of the defensive line may degrade just a year out.
The other unanswered questions lie in the running back position whereJonathan Stewartwill probably not give the team sixteen games next year. The Panthers design is not to be theCam Newtontakes on the world offense. The design is to be the dominant defense with a grueling running attack that keeps the defense fresh. That does not work without a grueling running back to do it.
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Those may be nitpicks. The Panthers did a great PR move in bringing backPeppers, who is now in his Old Man Logan story arc with his old battery mateCharles Johnson. Peppers has grown up a lot in his time in Green Bay, where he became a vocal team leader. That was something he was infamously prodded to do about the time of his exit from the team.
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Peppers,Captain Munnerlyn, andMike Adamshave to be viewed as positional upgrades on the defense. Peppers will be key to finding a post-Sean McDermottpass rush that will help the back side of the defense develop without constantly being under fire.
Although the Panthers lostTed GinnandA.J. Kleinon the first day of free agency, McDermott remains the most important loss for the team. Everyone loves replacement Steve Wilks, but we simply won’t know until games are played what he meant. Some of that is no doubt alleviated by having a cerebral linebacker likeLuke Kuechly.
For right now, as the snow falls, things seem brighter in the Queen City.
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