And I think the #1 priority is to resign both free agents to be, Julius Peppers and Jordan Gross. If Peppers isn’t resigned (the unimagineable), then I think management should look at free agency to get atleast one big name defensive player (Asomugha or Haynesworth comes to mind).

they dramatically fixed their offense last year and it turned out well…obviously with the exception of this past weekend. I think this offseason the focus should be on the defense and getting a ravens or steelers-like defense. i know its highly unlikely to be accomplished in one offseason, especially if we lose peppers, but it would be nice to start working on it. getting rid of lucas and finding another CB and finding some good backup lineman is a start. oh and getting rid of tyrgovac.

i would also look into a new QB. Maybe give Moore a chance next year. But at the very least draft someone, or through free agency (Matt Cassel??), get someone who could be a viable backup if he doesn’t shine. I would love to have a QB in Carolina that could compliment the running game with the efficiency in the passing game with the likes of Manning or Brady. Unlikely, but hey I can dream.

Also, a WR would be nice. I’d keep Moose, he’s the best blocking WR I’ve seen and did good. Keep him another year. We’ll have Robinson and Carter back so we can see how those guys do, maybe they’ll be great. If not I’d say free agency is our best bet at a new WR, the draft is too much of a hit or miss. I’d say drop Hackett, maybe trade him and Lucas and someone else as a package for someone, go for Houshmandzadeh, or try and get a 1st round draft pick back.

I think we should go for what we definitley know we need now. Get a good DT like we use to have in jenkings. Haynesworth would be the best but may be too expensive for us and probably will be resigned by tennessee. next get a QB that we can sit for maybe one season behind delhomme. unless moore proves himself a starter now. otherwise we should draft someone like a chase daniels in draft and give him a year or two to develop. the other choice we have is to give moore one year or (gulp) give delhomme another year to try n redeem himself, n then draft a qb like Tebow next year.

top needs: DT, QB, CB, a defensive coordinator

We’ve got to get some more players, but we need to do something with the guys we have. We need another really big DT to stuff the run. We need a QB to develop because I don’t believe any QB can come in and outperform Jake next year except guys who already have big contracts. You gotta think that Foxy wasn’t totally surprised by this. He brought in David Carr, Matt Moore and Josh McCOwn over the last two years for a reason. None of those guys are as clutch as Jake (please try and forget the last game as you read that.)

As for LB, TE and WR, what’s really going on? We signed Landon Johnson, drafted Dan Connor and Gary Barnidge in the 3rd rd, brought in Moose and Hackett, and have Carter, Robinson, and Jarrett on the bench. Some of those guys have to go. Connor was injured for the season, and I think he can be a star in this league, but how can he get on the field with Beason playing so well. Would it be too hard for him to move to the outside? I think Hackett, Robinson and Jarrett have to go. That leaves us Moose, Smitty and Carter. Maybe we keep Jarrett, too.

Barnidge is the smoothest and fastest TE on the roster. I read that somewhere but I never saw him make a play.

And what’s up with Brett Basanez?

We have a lot of personnel issues, but I think we have a strong nucleus in place to be competitive for years to come.

Special teams is a fairly easy thing to teach. Lots of coaches out there to teach that. Those three blocked punts in the beginning of the year were beyond frusterating. Helped cost us the game against the Vikings.

Ken Lucas will get the boot this year. You can count on that. DJ is gone. Landon Johnson never lived up to his hype so he’s gone. If we can’t resign Peppers, Gross is expected to walk unless we sign him to a contract because we will give Peppers a franchise tag.

 TJ Housh should get a look. He’s been a great wideout for many years now, and he’ll be a great addition to our passing game if we don’t overpay too much. Our biggest need is a defensive tackle. Anyone on the defensive line coming into FA should get a look, especially in the DT position. I’d love to see a mass DL signing similar to the mass OL signing we had last year to fix the O-Line.

Irreguardless of what anyone says, I like Matt Cassel. I think he could find a home here if we can get him. He’s never going to have the arm to throw an accurate ball downfield, but he can convert on 3rd down. That’s all I really want in a QB.

I think the two biggest changes that have to be made are to the defense and to the receiving core. The defense was without a doubt below average this year. We ended the year at 20th in the league and I know stats are for losers but this stat can not be denied. I think we resigned the wrong guy in keeping Gamble, if we are going to force him to play a soft zone all the time then we are wasting his talents. Same thing with Richard Marshall who did seem like he regressed this year. I have never seen so much confusion in the secondary than I saw this year. I think the biggest change is going to have to be a defensive coordinator. Regardless of whether he deserves it or not, Trgo has to go. The defense is much more talented than they are showing.

I think another receiver is a great choice as well. To activate only three receivers for a game is just very odd to me. As much as I like Dwayne Jarrett and Moose, we need a guy that can actually take pressure off Smith. Most of all, I think Jeff Davidson needs to design plays to get the ball to Smith, there is no excuse for Smith not running reverses and other plays designed to get him the ball. Those are the two biggest things I think need fixing.

One other thing that irriates me is that when we go to a 4/5 wide receiver set, there is either one/two tight ends out there. I would feel much better if we actually had 4 competent wide receivers on the roster.

but I think I just get tired of 2 TE in a 5 WR set. I think we should spend draft picks on a cornerback, a DT, and apparently we are going to need a DE. I was beyond disappointed in the defense in the second half of the year. I felt like it was worse than it really showed too. Too many miscommunications in the secondary (and I don’t think it was all attributed to having a rookie safety) and I just felt like teams could run the ball against us.

It makes me upset to hear Larry Fitzgerald quoted as saying we ran the same scheme the first game as the second game and John Fox in essence saying the same thing, then saying they do not shadow receivers with a safety/LB. I feel like it is shortsighted because as it showed Sat. night and even against the TB on Monday night, that is a real area of weakness for us. I feel like the defense has underachieved a lot and I am not sure if it is Fox’s fault or Trgo’s fault. I just remember a John Fox defense being more aggressive than the one that showed up the last part of this year.