What do the Carolina Panthers need?

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Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Grainger. For the ones who get it done. This is gonna be Victoria during this upcoming football season, losing her mind up in here. I guarantee that.

Because I saw it all during this past 2023 football season. Yeah. Yep.

If I have any mind left to lose. Thanks Panthers. You know, you're gonna be playing the Pixies, where's my mind? Yeah, exactly. That's gonna be you all this upcoming season. Keep pounding my brain. It's ridiculous. Dennis Cox sitting in for Adam Gold this afternoon.

He'll be back tomorrow. Victoria producing us. I think Adam's all dug in, you know, with the NHL trade deadline and all that stuff coming up. The Carolina Panthers had the worst team in 2023 in the NHL. That is undisputed fact. That's the reason why they would have had the number one overall pick, but they had traded that away already to Chicago. 2-15 last season. And the roster is not very good. One of, if not the worst in the entire NFL, understandably so. That's one of the reasons why you had one of the worst teams this past year. Coaching was terrible. A lot of it was bad. But they're gonna struggle to put together a good roster in 2024.

And here's the reasons why. They have tons of holes to fill. Just look across the board of what this team needs to add.

You need at least probably two starting interior offensive linemen. Taylor Moten was solid. Ikki Kwanu up and down at best this past year. I'm gonna give benefit up and down at best. Trying to stay as positive as much as I can here, Victoria. It's rough.

It's a stretch when we're talking Ikki. But we saw Austin Corbett go down. We saw Brady Christensen go down. Those guys might be healthy and back this upcoming year. But Bradley Bozeman, I didn't think really got the job done as a center. I also think, again, guys coming off injuries, you need more competition. You need more depth in what you had this past season. So you need at least a couple starting offensive linemen. We know that they need a number one wide receiver at least, right? Because Adam Thielen was the number one receiver this past year. He's not a number one.

DJ Shark just did not work out. Jonathan Mingo was just a rookie this past year. We'll see what he develops to be. They also released Hayden Hurst. Honestly, before you release Hayden Hurst, you needed a tight end anyway and don't be shocked that Ian Thomas also gets cut. You needed another corner, at least on the defensive side of things. You needed at least one corner because J.C. Horn can't stay healthy. But with the upcoming release of Dante Jackson, you're probably going to need two corners. You need probably someone to play the slot as well. Alright, you also need the franchise tag Brian Burns.

You still need Edgerusher opposite him. Didn't see anything from DJ Johnson, your third round pick this past year. Etor Grossmatos, decent against the run. He's going to be a free agent. If you're going to bring him back, it's going to be for cheap.

But you still need to upgrade there. Off-ball linebacker, especially if Frankie Louvou is not brought back. Shaq Thompson's coming off an injury. You do need someone at defensive tackle. I know Shai Tuttle makes a lot of money, but you need someone at defensive tackle, at least on the interior of that defensive line, next to Derrick Brown. That's a ton of holes to fill. And you just don't have the resources to make it all happen.

They just don't. Even with the salary cap jumping drastically, over $30 million from 2023 to 2024. That's how much the cap jumped. All the bad things that we see and we hear about on TV are happening many times inside your portfolio you don't see. So you need a financial exterminator. Well, for the next 10 of you to call, we'll put together for you your very own total retirement plan at no cost.

Call 888-843-0013 or text Adam to 600-700. The Carolina Panthers, after the franchise tag of Brian Burns, had about $11 million left. The $24 million franchise tag. So they were already pressed up against the salary cap this past season.

So a ton of bad contracts, right? I mentioned Shai Tuttle. I mentioned Hayden Hurst.

I mentioned some of these other guys. So they had actually kind of a little bit of an older roster because of failed drafts. Look at the 2022 draft class. The only three guys from their 2022 draft class are actually still on the team.

One's Icky Iquanu. One's Cade Mays. And the other is Amari Barno. Cade Mays gave you nothing last year as an interior offensive lineman. Amari Barno, solid special team.

I love what he does in special teams. But that's it from your 2022 class. So your roster is not very young. You're pressed up against the salary cap. You only have six draft picks this upcoming year. That's it.

That's all you got. Now, I said $11 million in cap space. Now, the release of Dante Jackson coming up is going to free $5.9 million. So you're looking at about, let's just round up to $6 million. You're looking at $17 million in cap space.

You tell me you're going to fill two starting offensive linemen, starting wide receiver, number one, a starting off ball linebacker, two starting corners with $17 million in free agency? Good luck. Exactly. Good luck.

Good luck doing that. Oh, and you don't have a first round pick. You don't have a pick until pick number 33. There's that too. There's that too.

Exactly. You only have six picks this upcoming year. A lot of people will say, oh, well, you know, you just got hit on those draft picks. When's the last time you saw the Carolina Panthers hit on a lot of draft picks in one class? It's been a minute. Long time.

It's been a minute. Now, I don't know the draft strategy that Dan Morgan is going to bring them what Scott Fitterer had, but I also know that Dan Morgan was also part of the regime under Scott Fitterer. When Scott Fitterer was like, oh yeah, let's go get DJ Johnson. We heard Dan Morgan say, yeah, good football players. Go get them.

I'm sorry. DJ Johnson didn't cut it as a third round pick. This team has wasted and traded away so many draft picks over the last several years and have gotten no value in return for them.

So how do you get this done? Well, to fill your roster, you're going to have to use undrafted free agents and guys signed to veteran minimums, which means you're going to like the older guy who's 34 years old, like old by NFL standards, who's still hanging on, that just wants one more contract, one more year, and they get that veteran minimum of like just over a million dollars. That's how you're going to supplement your roster this season. The mismanagement of this team, this roster over the last several years is biting this team in the ass.

And it's all coming to fruition right now. This team, I'm sorry, is not going to be able to put together that much better of a roster than what we saw in 2023. Yeah, there's going to be a couple upgrade pieces here and there. Now, there are some different ways that you can create some cap space if you're the Carolina Panthers. You rework the contract of Taylor Moten, that can clear up some money, but guess what? When you rework his contract, yeah, it reduces the cap hit next year or this upcoming year, 2024, but in future years like 2025 and 2026, that money comes due then. Okay, you can also release Ian Thomas.

You could save some money there. Terrace Marshall Jr., by releasing him, you're going to save about a million dollars. There are some other small moves that you can make, but again, you still have to fill those roster spots, right? Now, it's one thing if you had, hey, we got 12 draft picks coming up because of different moves that you've made. All right, you got 12 draft picks coming up. You draft decently and seven of those guys are on your roster the upcoming year or eight of them.

Carolina Panthers don't have that. So this is where a lot of people will argue why you trade Brian Burns. Because yes, you trade with Brian Burns, you're leaving a massive hole on the defensive side. But can you take one problem of Brian Burns, or not having Brian Burns, and solve three others? If a team is willing to offer you late first round pick and another pick and maybe even a player to go with it. Yeah, you just have to play good chess and Scott Fitterer was not good at playing chess.

He was terrible at that. But this is also where a guy like Brant Tillis also comes in, the guy they brought in to be the salary cap guy. But this is Brian Burns. This is where you have to make a decision about Brian Burns this offseason. Because if you're in a situation where Brian Burns, you don't work out a long term contract with him, and he plays the season on a franchise tag, you're going into 2025. Same situation with Brian Burns. And if you don't get a deal done with Derek Brown, you're going to go into 2025 with no deal for Derek Brown, nor Brian Burns. You can only franchise tag one of those guys, and the other could walk. That's the situation that you're facing right now as the Carolina Panthers.

This offseason is vital, not for 2024, but for 2025 and 2026 and 2027. If you don't get the deal done with Burns, you're cooked. If you can't get the deal done with Burns, then you should trade him. If you can't get it done by the draft, then you should look to trade him. Unless you lock up Derek Brown right now. If you lock up Derek Brown right now, which by the way, Christian Wilkins, the defensive tackle from the Miami Dolphins, his contract is going to do a lot about setting the bar for what Derek Brown is going to ask for.

I guarantee you that. Because Christian Wilkins is going to be a free agent. Calling all North Carolina sports fans. Soon enough, DraftKings Sportsbook will be live in your state. Starting March 11th, you'll be able to bet on all your favorite sports from the comfort of your own home with DraftKings. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now and sign up with code 999 to get up to $300 in bonus bets when you place a $5 bet once mobile sports betting goes live. Only on DraftKings Sportsbook coming soon to North Carolina on March 11th with code 999.

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Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Grainger, for the ones who get it done. So you're going to have to sit there and play the market. Whatever Christian Wilkins gets, Derek Brown's going to be like that right there, that at a dollar, whatever it is.

And you're going to have to be willing to match that. Because if Derek Brown says, no, I want more, and he balls out and has another 100 tackle season again this year, the price tag is only going to go up. You can't afford right now to keep both those guys or have both Derek Brown and Brian Burns going into 2025 with neither one of them having a long term deal.

You must get at least one of those done right now. Because if you sign Derek Brown to a long term deal this offseason, well guess what? You can go into next year, you can re-tag Brian Burns if you want to. But this is not going to be that great of a roster. They do this in 2024. They have too many holes to fill and not enough resources to do it. They're going to have to make some magic. Simple as that. But you know what?

If Dave Canales can help establish a culture with the guys that are in the locker room right now, if we see growth and development from Bryce Young, fine. Yeah. Figure out your identity and run with it. Actually stick to it. Figure it out. Only on DraftKings Sportsbook coming soon to North Carolina on March 11th with code 999. The crown is yours. and eligibility restrictions apply, terms at DraftKings.com slash sportsbook slash NC.