|
|
February 1, 2004
NO PATTERN: Panthers just want good football players
By John Delong | JOURNAL REPORTER
The Carolina Panthers have three players each from Utah, UCLA and Georgia.
They have two players each from Nebraska, Florida State, Boston College, Stanford, Auburn and Arizona State.
They have 13 players from Southeastern Conference schools, 10 from the Pac-10, eight from the ACC, five from the Big East, four from the Big Ten and just three from the Big 12.
They don't have anyone from such traditionally prominent programs as Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas, Notre Dame, Penn State or Michigan.
They have 25 players they have drafted over the years, 28 they have signed as free agents, six they claimed off waivers and just one they acquired in a trade.
They have only three of their own first-round draft picks and only three others who were first-round picks elsewhere.
They have eight rookies and eight players with 10 or more years of NFL experience.
They have one Heisman Trophy winner, and only five players who were considered consensus All-Americas while in college.
They have eight players 6-5 or taller, and three players 5-9 or shorter.
They have some players with tattoos, some without. Some bald, some with long hair and beards.
Some married, some single.
Have you noticed a pattern yet?
Well, if you haven't, there's a reason. There is no pattern.
The roster that Coach John Fox and General Manager Marty Hurney have put together this season defies any discernible trends. The Panthers are not a bunch of crusty old veterans such as the old Washington Redskins. They're not a bunch of renegades and outcasts such as the old Oakland Raiders. They're not built specifically around local favorites, such as some of the old Cleveland Browns.
The Panthers' approach to roster building is this: If you can play, you can play here. If Fox and his staff think a player fits into their system, and if Hurney can make it work within the framework of the salary cap, then that player becomes a Panther.
"Our philosophy here has been that you really try not to fall into any particular pattern," Hurney said recently. "You don't want to cross any avenue off as far as finding a good football player. You want to find (the) player who you feel fits your team, fits your organization and is a talented football player - and it doesn't matter if he's from a Big Ten school or Division II.
"There's only one way to define a John Fox football player. He has to be a smart, tough, good football player, and he has to be accountable, and when he goes on the field he has to do what we ask him to do. That is what we have on this team right now."
The Panthers have changed approaches from time to time during their 10-year existence. There was a major emphasis to build around star veterans early on, and the team went hog-wild into free agency. Later, there was a corporate decision to cut back on the free-agent signings and get the salary-cap situation back under control.
That's another issue.
The point is, if the Panthers feel that Player X is the right guy, they're going to take him whether he won a national championship in college or never played in a Division I game.
"If we have more players from the Pac-10 than the Big Ten, it's basically just a coincidence," Hurney said. "People have talked about us drafting two players from UCLA in the third round last year (tight end Mike Seidman, cornerback Ricky Manning Jr.), but I can tell you without hesitation that it's a total coincidence that they were both from UCLA. They were very productive players that we liked, but it just happened to be they were both from UCLA."
The one thing Hurney will concede is a comfort level with players from certain programs. The general thinking is that if a player can succeed in a big-time program such as Florida State or Georgia, and if he can succeed against the caliber of competition played in the SEC or ACC, he may be able to make the adjustment to the NFL more easily than others.
That might be the tie-breaker if it comes down to choosing between two relatively equal players in the draft.
All seven players taken in last year's draft - tackle Jordan Gross (Utah), guard Bruce Nelson (Iowa), Seidman and Manning (UCLA), safety Colin Branch (Stanford), defensive tackle Kindal Moorehead (Alabama), receiver Walter Young (Illinois) and fullback Casey Moore (Stanford) - played in major conferences.
And the top three picks in 2002 - defensive end Julius Peppers (North Carolina), running back DeShaun Foster (UCLA) and linebacker Will Witherspoon (Georgia) - played in major conferences.
"The one thing is, with your draft choices, you want your draft choices to contribute immediately," Hurney said. "Whether it's on special teams or as a backup or as a starter, you need them to contribute in that first year, because the system has changed. Before, you had time to develop them. Now, you need your draft choices to contribute right away - they're free agents after three years.
"So while we don't really have guidelines as far as where somebody comes from, we do feel if a guy's successful playing against Big Ten competition or SEC competition, it plays a role in our thought process."
Hurney stresses that the Panthers haven't reinvented the wheel with their approach.
"Everyone knows their draft choices have to contribute right away," he said. "Everyone wants quality players. Everyone wants accountable players. So, it's not like we're sitting here in the Super Bowl because we suddenly have all the answers. We just go out and try to find the guys who fit our system. We're just looking for good football players."