Carolina Panthers: Rebuilding with a “now and later” mentality
By Alex Duran
A whirlwind of aggressive moves over the last few days shows that the Carolina Panthers are serious about creating a winning team for this season and beyond.
One day before the Carolina Panthers announced the official partition of business with their franchise quarterback the team traded his backup for an upcoming fifth-round draft pick. These moves were sandwiched in between the acquisitions of wide receivers Pharoh Cooper and Robby Anderson.
Preceding the signing of Anderson were the additions of undefeated XFL quarterback, P.J. Walker, and former New Orleans Saints backup quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater. They don’t call this period “free agency frenzy” for nothing.
The contrast of remaining competitive while at the same time removing keystone pieces begs the question of what are the Panthers true intentions. The answer is actually twofold, the first is to begin the creation of a winning system and the second is to secure the right players for a sustainable future.
Rather than suffer ten more years of trying to create a working offensive scheme that fits multiple quarterbacks while also having a stout defense, the Panthers have opted to get started on the development of both right away. The outcome of this season should provide enough metrics to create the long-term outcome Carolina wants, and it might come quicker than we expect.