Vincent Jackson: Just What The Doctor Ordered, Or 6'5" Headache?

Q: The Panthers no longer pursue high-priced free agents. Do you agree with the strategy?

RICHARDSON: Of course. The times that we have gone out and been aggressive on free agents and paid substantial amounts of money I can’t really think of one player that has justified the money we spent or the cap room he took up.

Q: I’d like to throw out some names and ask your opinion. Wide receiver Brandon LaFell?

RICHARDSON: I think he’s got great potential and I think David Gettis does as well.

is if he’s very affordable. He seems like a diva off the field, and I would rather us not overpay for his up and down production.

Yes do it! This is how I describe our offense currently; say you go out to a restaurant, ok.. You order a big juicy burger and fries. After eating your burger and fries you are fulfilled, you are no longer hungry but there is just one thing missing to fully complete your meal and fill in the cracks.. A dessert! You order your moulton chocolote mouse cake, you eat it and it hits the spot and you are 100% content now.

Thats our offense. Our offense right now is the juicy burger and fries, it tastes great, it even fills you up and you really NEED dessert but you want it anyway to fill in the cracks. Thats how I view our number 2 WR situation and our offense, as good as our offense is now, i still have this craving for dessert, in this case i still have that craving for that legit number 2 WR.. Ive said all along it makes perfect sense to get Vjax, he would fit in this offense right away and a WR like him at number 2 would get our offense on the level of the Pats, Aints and Packers, just unstoppable. i say yes, sign Vjax!

We could get away with the entire offense we had this year and win a lot more games if we had a decent defense.

And there’s just no way it would happen. For one, we don’t have the cap space to pay him the big contract he obviously wants. And just because the chargers said they won’t franchise him, doesn’t mean they won’t resign him. I’d honestly be pretty excited if we did manage to sign him, but I just can’t see it happening

I would love him here. He’s big, would complement Smitty well, give Cam a great downfield target, and would perfectly fit our system. Furthermore, acquiring him would make our draft day decisions easier, and add immediate experienced talent ready to contribute. If he’s had a sour attitude regarding not getting paid by the Chargers, I could care less.

However, I really don’t think it will happen. He will cost too much. We will simply wallow with our low key signing Naanee.

Nah, I’d rather draft Jeffery (which would require a tradeback) than to get a guy like Jackson.

We have Wide Receivers coming out of our ears! Add to that our potent tight end corps, and Double Trouble being more than viable check down options, and I’d have to say that this is one of our least urgent positions to address this offseason.

Cam will make our current receivers better. Our #2 receiver is already on the roster, and Smith has 2-3 good years left in the tank. I don’t even have a problem with Jackson; I just don’t think we need him.

The whole fascination with “landing a huge free agent” has always bugged me. These guys became huge because another team drafted well, and developed that player into a star. As long as we draft well and take care of our own (see: Johnson, Charles; Williams, DeAngelo), the free agency period will become icing on the cake, not a desperate attempt to fill gaping holes at skill positions.

Either choice would lead him away from Carolina

1. Money wise Vikings Rams Jags Bucs Cleveland desperately need a reciever

2. winning wise Pats Ravens

3 Teams in that have a quarterback or drafting a quarterback could try to get a veteran reciever to enhance their signal caller….. Panthers Colts (whoever drafts RG3 and Tannehill in the early rounds)

My bet is he ends up in Cleveland or Miami

We have Wide Receivers coming out of our ears! Add to that our potent tight end corps, and Double Trouble being more than viable check down options, and I’d have to say that this is one of our least urgent positions to address this offseason.

all fans think that the 3rd and 4th recievers on their roster can be great number 1 recievers. You have to be careful that you step back and look at it without your fan hat on.

Personelly i don’t think he is going to be within price range because of the need for reciever and Luck and Griffin and Tanneyhill will warrent help… plus teams like Cleveland and Vikings Rams and Jags are desperate…

There is always a chance he could want to come play with Newton. This dynamic happen last year with Vick. But i see a player like Reggie Wayne doing that since he is a Vet that likely just wants a good quarterback if he doesn’t get resigned. (likely he follows Manning tho)

He has (somewhat) consistent high production. He is from an offense similar to ours, our coaching staff knows him, he would be a viable big target for jump balls, he would be a redzone playmaker, and his good blocking will help us break the big runs…..But it wont happen.
1- We dont have cap space to spend on someone who is going to demand money (whether it is deserved or not)
2- Hurney basically straight up said “No big name FA’s”

I would love to see it happen, but I think it’s unrealistic.

They really don’t need anyone else right now at WR. There are bigger areas of concern on this team. I really hate Gettis went down. He was making Clausen look like a real NFL QB. I truly believe they would have went 9-7 or 10-6 with him this year.

Nor do we need the headache he’ll bring.

He held out when they franchised him. $11M for one season and you hold out on your teammates? No thanks. Do not want.

They are pretty much the same guy.

…and we aint paying.

Sure up the secondary and defensive tackle spots. Jackson will want Fitzgerald $$$ ( around 10 mil a yr)

There are too many holes that need to be addressed first. There will be time to bring in another receiving threat in the next couple of years.

We need some serious depth on defense, and I wouldn’t mind us going into free agency to address it.

However, we need to do away with this “we don’t have cap room” myth.

We are currently $3 million under the cap, cutting and renegotiation Thomas Davis will save approximately $8 million, Dan Connor will leave and there are a host of 1-year deals that probably won’t be renewed.

Finally, none of us have any clue how front loaded the 2011 extensions were, nor do we know of the salary cap will rise in 2012.

There’s alot of latitude here and we’ll have at least upwards of $10 million in space.

I will say that everytime brings up a big name free agent on here and how we should sign him I see a lot of users here always say something negative. With VJax i hear people on here say “no he is a holdout and loves money too much” or " no his production isnt consistent." Then when Desean Jackson is brought up I hear similar arguments “diva” “immature” “do not want”. Then Dwayne Bowe is brought up “gives up on routes” “do not want”.

It almost sounds like that most on here that criticize the big name FAs are doing so because they know we most likely wont sign them so lets just bash them. Its kind of like the kid in high school who cant get the hot girl so he just starts bashing her “her hair is ugly anyway” “i dont like her teeth” but truth be told, if she threw herself at you, you would jump in a hot second.

Same holds true for Djax and Vjax, most of you know good and well that if we signed one of them you would be ecstatic like the kid on high school who got the hot girl. I love Gettis and Lafell also but lets get real here, they are nowhere near the level of a Djax, Vjax or Bowe and frankly, to think so is just being in denial.

I have one simple question for those that say we dont need another star WR.. If for example next year we go 5-0 and Smitty suffers an injury, who would you feel more comfortable with to lead us into the playoffs if Smitty went down.. David Gettis or Vincent Jackson. If you are 100% confident in Lafell amd Gettis beimg the guys that can make a huge impact if Smitty went down then i suppose we dont need another big time WR.

This is our problem. We have only one great player at each position and big question marks behind them. We have the great Chris Gamble but behind him we have huge question marks, we have superstar Steve Smith and while Gettis and Lafell are solid they are no Steve Smith. List goes on and on..

With teams like Saints and Packers they have stars all over the roster both as starters and back ups.

is Laurent Robinson. He would be a very good 2 or 3 WR here in Carolina. He could be a number one on several teams. Of course, though, I’d take Blackmon if he fell to us.

He’s a possible V-Jax/ Megatron clone and he announced yesterday that he’s foregoing his Senior season to enter the NFL draft. If you don’t know who he is, just ask Jaxon. He is/was a 6’ 5", 206 lb wide receiver from Georgia Tech. He averaged 29 yards per catch in a run heavy offense, and he doesn’t even turn 21 until the end of April. This dude is oozing with potential and we should think about using our 2nd round pick on him( or 4th, but I’m not sure he would fall that far).

We have 2 young talented WRs in Gettis and LaFell. I would say sign Jackson if Smith weren’t coming back, but he is. Let’s visit this topic next year. If Smith retires and there’s still a question mark regarding whether LaFell and Gettis can be #1 WRs, then bring in a veteran free agent to replace Smith. If it’s the same scenario but Smith stays, draft a WR.

Best case scenario would obviously be Smith sticking around for another year and LaFell and Gettis both stepping into the roles we need.

I totally agree that defense should be the priority. However, to say that we don’t need another receiver is one just plain low football I.Q. or two blatant homerism. I will say its the latter since MOST of you guys are very smart. 89 was left in single coverage once against the Saints. Result? Touchdown. Teams are still using the strategy that the Seahawks used against us in the playoffs. Take away 89. Dare others to get open. They still are not getting open on a consistent enough basis for defenses to feel threatened enough to single 89 on 3rd down or in the red zone. A legit compliment to Smith would put us in Saints and Packers territory on offense. I say get a known entity at WR. VJAX, Bowe, Wayne, and if you don’t care about character S.Holmes. I like Gettis but he has only shown flashes . All this being said we simply must improve too many areas on defense to justify splurging on offense.

As is Djax, but I would pass if it was up to me. As others have stated, I’d rather use that money on D.

We have too many WR’s that we need to get on the field. We need to see what Pilares and Edwards can do. Gettis, LaFell, Olsen, Shockey DblT, and Smith need to be on the field at all times. And then we have Naanee and Aji(whatever) on the roster.

If we really feel that we want that big WR, then I would like to get him in the Draft. It’s a role in a system that we need. VJ fits the role, but it’s the name that is attractive. We can draft a WR to play that role.

We might already have him though. Gettis is tall, very fast, and very athletic. If he can learn to play that role, we definitely have a future #1. Having the speed to beat a guy deep + the size to win jump balls = a force at WR. Maybe he can do it, maybe he can’t. We need to find out though.

I can’t say I would be pissed if we drafted AJ (or any WR that could fit this role) or signed VJ. It will only make us better. I would just rather see us draft DreK, Mercilus (somehow, someway), a real NT, OL and LB depth, and a S.

I would put my faith in Davis, Otah, our WR corp, and roll the dice. See what happens. That will leave us with only 3 to 4 positions to address in ’13 if all stated above fails.

We don’t neccesairly need to sign huge name talent, I just hope we atleast sign quality mid price free agents like a Pat Simms or Paul Soliai. Look at the Bucs, they also finished last year strong and decided not to sign any free agents to get more help and look how the season turned out for them this season.

If all you do is build through the draft then it will take years to be a elite team.

But I do think that the WR position should be addressed soon, one way or another. Smitty is 32, Lafell struggles to get separation, and Gettis is coming off of a major knee injury. Something’s got to give. Not to mention, beyond those three guys, we literally have nothing else at WR.

1. Trade for Jacoby Ford.

2. Draft Sammy Watkins.

Ryan Kalil is just plain better than him.. Nick Mangold is too.

Or is that always going to be a team known only thing?