Panthers Want Insurance?
By John White
When Dwayne Jarrett earned his DWI earlier this week, the Carolina Panthers had to be asking themselves if they could really count on the second-year wideout.
On Wednesday, they scheduled a meeting with D.J. Hackett for this Friday. However, the team says that the two are in no way related according to the Rock Hill Herald.
"While the timing makes it hard to not be skeptical, both sides insisted — some in more forceful terms than others — that one had nothing to do with the other.“We’re being as straight with Dwayne as we can be,” a perturbed Panthers general manager Marty Hurney said. “But to connect those two would be false. We’ve been tracking him (Hackett) for more than a week.”Hackett’s NFLPA-listed agent, Kevin Robinson, said Tuesday afternoon he hadn’t had substantive conversations with the Panthers. Wednesday, he confirmed that the Seattle wideout would come here Friday after making trips to Washington and Tampa Bay — an East Coast swing for the California native.Robinson’s partner Tom Mills, who represented early free agent pickup Tyler Brayton, said he was their point man in talks with the Panthers.“They expressed an early interest in D.J., and asked me to keep them in the loop,” Mills said. “When we started lining up trips out that way, we let them know, and they said they wanted to bring him in.“All that happened before Jarrett got arrested, though. It sounds crazy, but it was a coincidental deal.”Jarrett’s agent, Darin Morgan, said he didn’t want to comment when asked if they perceived the move as a message by the Panthers. Hurney denied that, saying: “That’s not the case at all.”"
The Panthers may be in an even more difficult situation since Jarrett may now be viewed as a liability despite what the team is saying publically and Hackett, while talented, has had problems with injuries.
Questions still persist about who will be the team’s number two wideout to take the heat off of Steve Smith. The Panthers have a choice to make.
On the one hand they can utilize a young, inexperienced receiver who has had trouble learning the playbook and was inactive for much of his rookie campaign. The same guy who just got busted for running a red light while driving with a .12 blood alcohol level.
On the other hand, the Panthers can choose to go with a talented yet often injured player who found himself on the outs in Seattle. This is the same receiver who will likely take any offers he receives back to the Seahawks to allow them to match.
Do I smell a wide receiver coming in the draft?
Free agent cornerback
Chris Carr
of
Oakland
visited with the team on Monday but Marty Hurney would not comment on the substance of the talks.
Carr has played on defense but would probably be counted on as a return man.
More in Quick Hits…
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The Texans have entered the bidding for free agent LB Chaun Thompson.
Free agent Quinn Gray left Oakland Wednesday without a contract.
The Bears hosted free agent TE Aaron Walker on Wednesday.
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