Carolina Panthers – Let the Signing Begin

With the weather outside hot, yet not as humid as what training camp will be, the Panthers began their two-day rookie minicamp begin on Friday.  Hot weather brings sunshine and Carolina Blue skies, which was a nice change to how the recent weather has been in the Carolinas.  With the sunshine brought a ray of light on the field as well as three of the Panthers five draft picks had signed their rookie contracts.

First-round draft pick Shaq Thompson, fourth-round draft pick Daryl Williams and fifth-round draft pick David Mayo have signed.

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Offensive Tackle Williams will bring strength to the offensive line, keeping Cam safe, as well as opening huge holes downfield.  Having the two linebackers, Thompson and Mayo signed, only brings added strength to what is already the top linebacking group in the league.  In a true team effort, if one man were to go down, which is never a good case, the Panthers know a player of the same caliber is there to step in without missing a beat.

There will be challenges these rookies will face – signing a contract is only a name on a piece of paper and the amount of the deal – but with the group of veterans the rookies have surrounding them, the adjustment from college to the NFL for these guys is going to be seamless.  Many teams do not have that luxury, but that is exactly what makes the Panthers unique.

All the signing essentially does though is that these three stars will not have to go through any type of contract dispute, or holdout.  A major plus for any team.  The Panthers can now go into the summer knowing over half of their picks are signed.  Nobody likes it when a player, or players, holdout.  The Panthers can take a semi sigh of relief for now.