Thursday, March 20, 2008

D.J. Hackett, Welcome to Carolina!


Marty Hurney's journey into finding a compliment to Steve Smith continued earlier this week when former Seattle WR D.J. Hackett was signed to a 2 year, $3.5M deal. Hackett will likely be the number 2 WR for Carolina next year, but will battle Muhsin Muhammad and Dwayne "DWI" Jarrett in training camp. This signing is kind of a gamble. Though Hackett is young (26) and talented (he finished off 2007 on fire), he's been plagued by injuries in his short career. If he can remain healthy (and if Jake is back healthy) the Panthers will finally have an effective air attack to compliment their running game. 3 WR sets with Muhammad and Hackett on the outside, with Smith in the slot, will be highly effective, giving Smith more room to get open while teams have to worry about Hackett and Muhammad. Steve Smith can finally rejoice, he's got a complimentary guy finally who's not on the wrong side of 30.

This signing also calls into question Dwayne Jarrett's future with Carolina. Let's face it, Jarrett so far has been a huge bust. He was Carolina's 1st 2nd Round choice last year and was supposed to be the number 2 alongside Steve Smith, the big physical receiver as opposed to a smaller, quicker receiver. What did he do last year? 6 catches. No touchdowns. Got ripped by Steve Smith. Got a DWI last week. With a young Hackett in now, and likely to start at number 2, what is Jarrett's future? Only time will tell.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Panthers Add Linebacker, Running Back


The Panthers bolstered their already strong linebacking corps (Thomas Davis, Jon Beason, and Na'il Diggs) by adding a solid LB from Cincinnati, Landon Johnson. Johnson, who was one of 4 Bengals not in trouble with the law, totaled 109 tackles in 16 games for the Bengals last year (he has 394 tackles in his career). He will compete with Diggs for a starting position in training camp this year, as Davis and Beason are locked to start. Johnson is a very flexible linebacker as well, he played all 3 linebacking positions in the Bengals 4-3 Defense.

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LaBrandon Toefield, a RB from Jacksonville, was also signed recently by the Panthers. Toefield was stuck behind Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor out in Jacksonville and only has 1 career touchdown. He's known as a bigger, more physical back that should be the ultimate compliment to Williams' speed and agility. Toefield will likely be the team's short yardage back and goal line back.

These two signings look like they will help the team. We should be set at linebacker, and could have one of the very best linebacking corps in the entire NFL with Landon. However, the Panthers would probably do wise to draft a RB in the middle rounds in this year's draft. While Toefield adds depth and is the power runner that the Panthers were looking for, we just don't know enough about him as he's played a whole lot in Jacksonville. All in all, good signings. Now to shore up our offensive and defensive lines in the draft.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

"Nut Shot" Brayton Coming to Carolina


Tyler Brayton, a former Oakland DE, signed a 2 year deal with the Panthers today. Brayton, who has good size at 6'6" 280 lbs, is probably more known for his cheap shot on a Seattle TE in 2006 than for his play on the field. In 47 career starts, he's tallied a grand total of 6 sacks.



Time will tell if a change of scenery will help him reach his full potential. He'll compete for a starting job opposite Julius Peppers, which almost certainly means that long time Panther Mike Rucker will not be returning to the team. The Panthers are also interested in veteran LT Barry Sims, also from Oakland. Rumor has it that they should have a deal in place within the next couple of days. Finally, Carolina has been talking to DT Ian Scott, formely with the Philadelphia Eagles. Looks like the Panthers are starting to heat up what has been a somewhat slow free agency period so far.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Interesting Article on the Panthers Salary Cap Figure


According to an article over at SI.com, the Carolina Panthers are actually not in that bad a shape salary cap wise. Because GM Marty Hurney, but adding incentives to contracts that are never met, has manipulated the Panthers' salary cap figure by around $9M. So, the Panthers are essentially operating under a $125M salary cap, instead of the official $116M. The notion that Carolina didn't have any money this off-season seems to be huge overstatement.

The unfortunate thing for the Panthers is that this has been one of the weaker free agent markets in recent memory, with most of the top-tier free agents getting franchise tags from their respective teams. But, there are bound to be more cuts (like RB Warrick Dunn) coming, so it's not totally hopeless for the Panthers. Speaking of which, Carolina signed G Keydrick Vincent to a 2 year deal. The Panthers are also reportedly close to a deal with former Eagles DT Ian Scott. The Panthers are also interested in former Falcons DT Rod Coleman. It's been pretty slow for Carolina as far as signing free agents, but be patient Panther fans, while San Francisco is overpaying for Justin Smith, the Panthers are waiting for the right guys at the right price to sign.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Expect to see lots more of this in 2008...



Muhsin Muhammad (87) and Steve Smith (89) celebrate. Moose because he's back in Carolina blue, Smitty because he can say bye-bye to double and triple teams every passing down.

Off Topic, Metal Gear Solid 4 is Going to be Epic...


Even though I will try and keep this blog strictly about Carolina, there will be other things that I talk about on here.

For example, Metal Gear Solid 4 releases for the PS3 on June 12 of this year. MGS, being my favorite game series and the main reason for my buying a PS3, is coming to an end with this installment. Snake's rapid aging puts him around 70 in this game, so there is no way that he survives (in fact, in one trailer, Snake holds a pistol to his mouth...). We all experienced the greatness of MGS, suffered through and somehow enjoyed the convuluted wackiness of MGS2, and experienced greatness once again with MGS3. We've come a long way since 1998.

All of the mysteries and questions raised throughout the series will be answered. We'll know the ultimate fates of series favorites Meryl, Otacon, Naomi, Col. Campbell, Raiden (who looks totally bad*** as a cyborg this time around), and of course, our friend Solid Snake. New Characters such as Drebin and Sunny. The Beauty and the Beast Squad. The whole PMC's "war that supports the global economy" bleek future as Kojima sees it. Raiden's showdown with Vamp. Solid Snake's final showdown with Liquid Snake (who is in possession of Revolver Ocelot's body through his right arm...don't ask...) And that's not even mentioning the outstanding graphics, new gameplay elements, outstanding Voice Over cast, and the return of Harry Gregson-Williams to give us another memorable soundtrack. There is simply no way that Kojima could screw up something so epic.

We've only got this long to wait...