Panthers Trade Ponderings. Submit your grand schemes!

The Falcons are pretty high on Stephen Nicholas. I don’t think you’d see any movement there. How about Julius Peppers for Champ Bailey and a late round pick?

From a “what do the Panthers have to trade” perspective, I tend to look at our areas of depth on the team and try and determine who we could package in a trade…because, those are the guys we can afford to let go. The rest, we need to hang onto. So, here’s the most likely areas where I could see Carolina getting creative with a trade:

Linebackers – I agree that Na’il Diggs or some other LB (i.e., maybe Landon Johnson if he’s still got trade value?) makes a lot of sense to trade. Our LB depth is perhaps the strongest in the league. But, Fox loves LBs and likes keeping a lot of them around. He’s also very familiar with Diggs, whom he coached at one point with the Giants, didn’t he? And Fox is so loyal to his veterans, that he’s stuck with Diggs far longer than I ever imagined he would. Landon Johnson had some pretty high value back when we acquired him, but now people are saying his gaudy numbers were the benefit of the system the Bengals ran…and not necessarily any huge talent he possessed. Still, if someone out there has a huge LB need, maybe he’s tradeworthy if we can get something for him?

Tight Ends – I hate to say it, but we’ve got a couple of good-to-really-good, pass-catching TEs (i.e., Dante Rosario and Gary Barnidge) who don’t really fit our run-blocking scheme. Rosario was a flash-in-the-pan last year, but got enough media attention that someone who wants an athletic pass-catching TE might pony up a decent pick for him. Granted, he’s coming off back surgery now, but everyone expects him in camp. So, maybe there’s trade value there? As for Gary Barnidge, I’m disappointed we haven’t had a chance to see more of him. They say he’s bulked up and gotten stronger since joining the team, so maybe that makes him a better run-blocker for us down the road…and he’s already regarded as maybe the better pass-catching TE out of all of them. But, if we’re never going to use him…i.e., he’s never broken out of the third-string and we don’t even put him in on multiple TE sets…then maybe we should dangle him as tradebait? We just signed Jeff King to a contract extension, so it’s not like we’re expecting Barnidge or Rosario to claim the starting role anytime soon. RIght now, they’re both there more as insurance and for including in obvious passing formations.

Julius Peppers – I can’t really say we have any depth at the DE position. But, we do have an obvious superstar in Peppers who wants out of town. He’s the biggest opportunity for a trade that Carolina has going right now. The only question is what can we get for him? Two #1 picks? Unlikely. A #1 and #2? Probably not even that. A #1 and a #3? Now we’re getting more realistic. But throw in a #5 pick with that #3 and #1 and I’d think a deal gets done fairly quickly. The cold reality, however, is that we can’t look for any of that to happen until Peppers and his agent get serious about working a trade…and not just with 4 preferred teams who don’t want to pay him that much money or give up that much compensation. I think any team that’s interested in him right now, is probably waiting for the Panthers to not franchise-tag him again…and then just negotiate with Peppers as a UFA.

Other than those three areas, I don’t see a lot of trade opportunities looming. And I’m not even sure I see any of these coming to fruition. The Panthers haven’t pulled off much trading since Fox and Hurney took the reins. So I’d actually be a little surprised to see them do much now. I think they have a tendency to just release whomever they’re not interested in signing again…keeping their core nucleus together for those they can afford…tapping the occasional veteran free agent at bargain prices to fill holes here and there…and mostly using the draft to pick guys they hope will become a part of their core nucleus down the road. That just seems to be their philosophy so far. And they seem intent on riding it out until they win a Superbowl or someone gives them their walking papers.

But that’s just my two-cents,
—Neil

but you don’t trade with division rivals. Now, sending The Nail to Denver or Detroit or some such LB-starved place would make some sense, but you’re really only looking at a 4 in return. He’s going to be 31 years old this season, he’s not got the kind of trade value teams look for. And I’d rather have The Nail this season (and next?) than a 4th rounder.

The problem, as I see it, is that we don’t have a lot of excess parts. We don’t have the levels of depth at most positions that we’d prefer. We’ve got who we’ve got, and we need them all to play. Our depth on the O-line is barely adequate. Depth at receiver and running back is the same. We might not have enough CBs for our own needs, and there’s no extra safeties. We don’t have extra D Tackles, we might have an extra DE, but that’s making assumptions about Peppers that we can’t make right now.

Linebacker is the only place where we’re legitimately over-stocked and could possibly make some moves. Beason and Conner are keepers, Landon has no real trade value, and James Anderson has very little since he’s in the last year of his contract and has yet to challenge for a starting spot.

Now, where I could see getting real value would be in Thomas Davis. He’s 26, he’s finally starting to feel his oats, and there are a bunch of teams who’d love to have him. But he’s a first-rounder, and we’re not going to get a first round pick for him. We could almost certainly get a 2, but I think you’ve got to look at that trade as a net loss for us. But if picks are the goal, trading Thomas Davis for a 2 and a 4, or a pair of 3s, with New England or Denver or Detroit (that’s just mean) would be interesting.

It’s actually Coy Wire, and they had no problem letting him start four games last year. Further, they have Stephen Nicolas, who they like and will let compete.

Diggs won’t garner a fifth if we try to trade him, much less a third. He’s the 3rd-best LB on any good team, and the Cowboys aren’t going to get anything for Greg Ellis, who has 20.5 sacks in the last two seasons. The one thing he has going for him is that he’s cheap (under $1 mil the next two seasons), but that’s a boon to us with our current cap situation. Don’t know why you’d let go of a starting-caliber player (if an average one) who’s that affordable.

As for Connor vs. Johnson: Johnson has been a successful starter at all three LB positions. It might not be time to give up on him yet. I honestly wouldn’t feel bad about either one replacing Diggs before Week 1.

As for legit trade possibilities, I just don’t see that many options. NFL trades just very rarely happen, and it’s even more rare for it to happen for spare parts. Perhaps we could get something out of our WR glut at the bottom of the chart, but that’s probably something along the lines of a 7th-rounder. I suppose a guy like Brayton could get traded too, if they decide the combo of Johnson and Brown will get it done across from Peppers and they don’t need him on the inside.