CHARLOTTE – It’s time to begin trimming the fat from NFL rosters.
The Carolina Panthers, like other teams around the league, are free to begin releasing unwanted players Monday morning as the NFL waiver wire picks up. The cuts will come for various reasons – age, overall ineffectiveness, injury concerns and high salary cap figures.
After finishing 7-9 in 2007 and failing to make the playoffs for a second straight season, the Panthers are likely to see plenty of turnover. As owner Jerry Richardson said last month, the Panthers can’t afford to have a “ho-hum” off-season.
That means the team will be looking to make changes. And to make room for the new, the Panthers in many cases will have to part with the old.
And while the cuts won’t all come Monday – and, in fact, some may takes weeks or months to make as the team makes certain it has a replacement in place – you can bet the Panthers roster will look very different when they report to training camp in July.
That said, here are a number of players who should be a little concerned with their job security over the off-season:
QB David Carr
Reasons to cut him: Carr looked frightened in the pocket and his teammates quickly lost all confidence in him. By the end of the season coach John Fox was even afraid to play Carr, demoting him to third string. With a cap figure of more than $4 million, keeping Carr would be, well... ludicrous.
Reasons to keep him: Can’t think of any.
My take: To me, this is easiest cut in franchise history. I would anticipate the team will waste little time parting with Carr.
The Carolina Panthers, like other teams around the league, are free to begin releasing unwanted players Monday morning as the NFL waiver wire picks up. The cuts will come for various reasons – age, overall ineffectiveness, injury concerns and high salary cap figures.
After finishing 7-9 in 2007 and failing to make the playoffs for a second straight season, the Panthers are likely to see plenty of turnover. As owner Jerry Richardson said last month, the Panthers can’t afford to have a “ho-hum” off-season.
That means the team will be looking to make changes. And to make room for the new, the Panthers in many cases will have to part with the old.
And while the cuts won’t all come Monday – and, in fact, some may takes weeks or months to make as the team makes certain it has a replacement in place – you can bet the Panthers roster will look very different when they report to training camp in July.
That said, here are a number of players who should be a little concerned with their job security over the off-season:
QB David Carr
Reasons to cut him: Carr looked frightened in the pocket and his teammates quickly lost all confidence in him. By the end of the season coach John Fox was even afraid to play Carr, demoting him to third string. With a cap figure of more than $4 million, keeping Carr would be, well... ludicrous.
Reasons to keep him: Can’t think of any.
My take: To me, this is easiest cut in franchise history. I would anticipate the team will waste little time parting with Carr.
