Panthers Find No Takers; Cut Foster

by Jaxon on Feb 22, 2008 10:36 AM EST in News Comment 3 comments

After shopping RB DeShaun Foster around the league the Panthers obviously could not find any takers so they cut him loose yesterday.

"We had talked to some teams and basically had talked to DeShaun and told him we're going to go in another direction at this point," general manager Marty Hurney said from the NFL scouting combine. "We're kind of re-working our look on offense."

By "reworking our look" I believe he means they want to move towards a power running game. The question that begs now is will the Panthers address the need via free agency in the form of a Michael Turner or will they look to the draft where a RB like Rashard Mendenhall should be available?

There was a time when I thought DeShaun was going to be all-pro but injuries always seemed to crop up at the worst time. Here’s a list of his accomplishments.

FOSTER'S HIGHLIGHTS
• He's Carolina's all-time leading rusher with 3,336 yards.
• Has the second- and third-longest runs from scrimmage in team history: 71 yards at Kansas City (Sept. 19, 2004) and 70 yards at Atlanta (Jan. 1, 2006).
• His one-yard touchdown run that included four broken tackles at Philadelphia in the 2003-04 NFC title game is among the most memorable plays in team history.

His most memorable run in my view was the 33 yard TD run in the 2003 Super Bowl.

Best of luck to you DeShaun! You’re a class act and I hope you find what you’re looking for.

Poll

Which power RB would you prefer for the Panthers?

Johnathan Stewart

18 votes

Rashard Mendenhall

19 votes

Other FA

3 votes

Other draftee

6 votes

Michael Turner

30 votes

TJ Duckett

3 votes

79 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

the memories

Although Foster had barely over 3,000 yds in his career, he is the Panthers all-time leading rusher. He passed Biakabutuka earlier this year. I loved Foster and thought he was the best back coming out of college the year he was drafted, the same year as Clinton Portis, William Green, and Arlen Harris. He was a great back when healthy because his injuries never had any long term effect on his play. When he came back from an injury, he came all the way back. His run against the Patriots in the Superbowl was the longest run against the Patriots that year.

The turning point was when he broke his ankle against the Bears in the divisional playoff game. We won that game and went on to lose in the Championship game to Seattle. In that game, Goings had a powerful run, and had a concussion. Jamal Robertson was our leading rusher in that game.

Foster was never the same after that injury. He came back and just couldn't cut the same way. Stephen Davis was always hurt and Eric Shelton couldn't get on the field at 6'4", 246 lbs.

So now it's time to see D-Will get 300 carries, 1500 yds, 14 TDs, 65 catches, 550 yds, and 5 more TDs.

You heard it hear first.

I hope Foster can get on with another team and continue his career.

by usana_gaines on Feb 22, 2008 10:59 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Yeah he was never the same

At times he ran with power this past season and he had a good burst, but he couldn't cut the corner like he did on that run in the SB.

I'm not sure the Panthers want to give D-Will that many carries. They prefer a tandem so I expect more like 180-200 carries with another back getting 80-120.

What an offseason so far. The Panthers are really shaking things up.

by Jaxon on Feb 22, 2008 11:44 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

offseason

This offseason has been incredible. As for D-Williams carries, I think he should get at least as many as Foster got last year, but maybe less if he can catch more passes out the backfield, and we have more receiving options overall. Our personnel are very versatile, and I hope to see us take advantage of that. For example, we line Rosario up at FB in front of D-Will with Carter and Smith on the same side. Rosario goes in motion and gets set at TE and King goes in motion and goes out wide on the opposite side of the receivers. We can go from a power run formation to a spread offense without changing personnel. Add a power back and a better O-line, and we should be more explosive than our SB team of 2003.

So far we've cut Wahle, Morgan and Foster. We resigned Harris, Lewis and Wharton. We franchised Gross. Jake's feeling good. Overall we've been very active, and I think the draft is going to set us apart from other NFC squads.

The Packers run is over, the Cowboys are now too old, the Giants lost that fire, I hate the Eagles, Bucs and Saints, and the Seahawks are done, so the Superbowl is waiting for us.

by usana_gaines on Feb 22, 2008 12:18 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs