I think a healthy Ian Scott will beat Damione Lewis for the starting spot. He was a starter on the Superbowl defense for the Bears, and Lewis hasn’t been a starter in a couple years. I think Landon Johnson can beat out Nail Diggs as well, but it’s harder to beat out the veteran as a LB or DB because not only do you have to be decidedly better than the veteran starter, but you have to learn your responsibilities in the various schemes we run. It’s not as complicated for a DT. Godfrey will take a few games to beat out Holt, but I think Holt has the skills to be the full-time starter, too. I also heard that Connor might start at MLB, and the OLBs will be Beason and Davis, but I think Beason needs to stay in the middle.

Either way, I like that we’re choosing between quality players who weren’t available last year. The biggest change for this team, though, is having a healthy Jake and, if he gets hurt, having a quality backup in Matt Moore.

The other newcomers will only make it easier, but with a healthy Jake, we could’ve won 10 games last year. We had no QBs with even 1,000 yards passing. So this year is going to be phenomenal.

It’s good to have a rotation with that much depth. Suppose Scott and Walker aren’t good enough to win a starting spot, they are definitely good enough to get PT in a rotation, and that will enable us to keep our line fresh. The same is true for our LBs. But let’s be honest, we have 3-4 personnel. Peppers, Kemo and Johnson on the front with L. Johnson, Beason, Connor, and Davis behind them. That would be awesome. We could even bring in McGlover sometimes and put Peppers as the OLB, and he could pick a lane to blitz through, or shadow the other team’s key player like a fast QB or pass-catching FB/H-back. Imagine the other team’s fear when Lewis goes out and Landon Johnson comes in as we switch from a 4-3 on 2nd down to a 3-4 on third down, and then Peppers blitzes on the same side as Charles Johnson.

Sorry…My imagination is running wild and you guys have to read it all.

I agree with you that the rookie Godfrey will have to do a heck of a lot to beat out Holt for that starting safety job just based on the experience and reads it takes to play safety (anyone remember T. Davis playing safety his rookie year!?) I think he will be an instant special teams star (now if we only had a special teams coach, but that’s another story!)
Johnson on the other hand is a veteran who led his team in tackles last year, I think that he was signed to start. What has Diggs done for us recently? Wouldn’t be suprised if he got cut in a salary cap move to sign all these free agents and draft picks. Seems like to me I read a couple of months ago that we were already 7 mil over the cap….

Not too long ago, our salary cap was a serious issue. Then Rucker retired, Foster and Carr got cut, Colbert and Carter hit the road, so that freed up a lot of money. The new FAs we signed like Moose had their contracts structured so that we’d be able to afford to sign other guys and our draft picks. We’re good on the money.

Diggs is good enough to be a starter, but good enough doesn’t win championships. He was kind of like another version of Chris Draft. He’s good, but we need the playmaker type. Landon Johnson is a good fit, and we’ll have plenty of depth. Our D-line will be better than last year, and our LBs and DBs are real strengths, so our entire defense is going to be a top 5 defense.

Minicamp is this weekend. I can’t wait to hear about it. Let’s be honest, our Panthers are stocked to win it all. We had the talent to win it all last year, but we made a lot of mistakes (Foster fumbles, Carter and Colbert drops) and had some serious injuries. Now we’ve seriously upped the talent level, and we have no glaring weaknesses. Last year, the safeties got exposed bad, and Foster’s 3.4 yards a carry made D-Will’s 5.0 yards a carry seem irrelevant. D-Will is going to get close to 5 a carry again this year, and Stewart will get his share. When teams can take no more, Jake can drop back with Moose, Smith, Hackett in a three receiver set with a TE in the flat or D-Will. I like the idea of Moose blocking downfield on a screen to Stewart. It’s going to be good.