Hello all! Today I am going to take a look at the 2012 quarterback roster. I know, Cam Newton isn't losing his job anytime soon. However, the Panthers have an interesting group of backup quarterbacks, which raises the question: What will the Carolina Panthers do if Cam Newton goes down with an injury?

There are only 3 quarterbacks on the Carolina Panthers' roster at this time, all of which have been with the team at least one year. However, neither Jimmy Clausen nor Derek Anderson are remotely threatening running with the football. Therefore, the whole "Option" dimension is greatly diminished, along with the packages that include our two running-backs and Cam Newton.

For a look at the 2012 roster and more scenarios, read on!

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I have to give a hat tip to Joe Person for a very informative Q&A with Head Coach Ron Rivera since we tend to give Joe a hard time every now and then. With many of Rivera's answers in this Q&A we get a real sense of the 'deep thinker' part of his profile coming into the job. With now a full season to get his feet wet he has studied film and tape ad nauseam. He now can explain in nutshell what the bigger problems really were and what issues don't concern him as much as some might think.

Let's start with one of the obvious sore spots, the safety position:

Q: Was safety a sore spot for you last year?

RIVERA: It was for us. In what you do defensively, you have to have a guy step up. But at the same time, you’ve also go to have a guy in front of them that’s a communicator. I love Dan Connor, but Dan Connor’s not a communicator. He’s a hard-nosed, grindstone type guy. And that was tough on our safeties. But now you’ve got Jon Beason, who communicates like you can’t believe. You’ve got Luke Kuechly, who shows he knows how to communicate. So right through the middle of our defense we’ve gotten better...

So Dan Connor may have been a shooting star on Twitter but he apparently didn't talk enough at MLB. I didn't see that one coming. So the main problem was communication...huh, it is amazing how that same problem crops up in so many aspects of life...but I digress.

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Boy that didn't take long. Apparently the Bucs traded Kellen Winslow to the Seahawks:

The Bucs announced late Monday night that Winslow had been traded to the Seattle Seahawks for a seventh-round draft pick in 2013 (that can rise to a sixth-round pick if Winslow meets certain playing-time and statistical requirements in Seattle) and they quickly turned around and signed veteran Dallas Clark to replace him.

Apparently Winslow didn't score any points for not showing for voluntary OTA's and decided to nip things in the bud:

Schiano is in the process of cleaning up Tampa Bay’s locker room and Winslow follows safety Tanard Jackson, who previously was released, as another player that didn’t fit the team’s new personality.

Apparently Shiano places a premium on being a true Pro, on and off the field. I hate that the new Bucs coach sounds like he is doing things right.

Cam Newton may not get his chance to bust the Madden Curse myth this season but he will definitely get his chance to bust the 'sophomore slump' myth. Busting that myth though may not actually mean much:

Quality rookie starters like Cam Newton and Andy Dalton are in greater danger of being eaten by Big Foot or drowned by the Loch Ness Monster than falling victim to some imaginary NFL curse like the Sophomore Slump. Don't let ESPN or Pro Football Weekly fool you. It does not exist.

In fact, over the past 20 years the vast majority of NFL quarterbacks who started and played well as rookies noticeably improved in their second year.

One player missing from the the analysis that I thought of who might be an example of the slump is the Bucs Josh Freeman. Wrong! Actually he had a great 2nd season but fell off last season, his third. I guess just wishful thinking on my part. More after the jump...

Hat tip to jcbouche for being the first to post this on CSR via fanshot!

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In what can best be described a curious move, the Panthers released DT Jason Shirley today and signed undrafted WR Hubert Anyiam. There's not a lot of information on this move at the moment, but I'm sure that Rivera has a good reason for releasing Shirley and replacing him with what is now the 26th WR on the 90 man roster.*

* - Ok, that could be a slight exaggeration, but still - how many WR's do we need?

I guess that answers the question "Where does Shirley fit in the 2012 Panthers defense?" as we now know that he doesn't fit anywhere. I find this move strange at best, because I thought Shirley would be a near-lock to make the final 53 man roster this season. I guess I was wrong.

Anyway, here's a little information on Anyiam, per CBS.com:

Listed at 6-0 and 204 pounds, Anyiam went undrafted and initially signed with the Chargers. At Oklahoma State, Anyiam appeared in 38 career games, recording 83 catches for 1,052 yards and nine TDs.

Maybe the Panthers hope they'll catch lightning in a bottle and figured Shirley was worth letting go to see what this kid can do on the field? I have no idea, but I'm sure we'll have answers soon enough. Stay tuned to CSR for any updates to this breaking story.

Let me begin by saying that this top ten list is based solely on my opinion. I didn't use any complicated formula to determine who belonged on the list, but I did value certain criteria during the process. Although a large portion of my player evaluations relied on production based metrics such as statistics and accolades, I also took into account their leadership skills and character. Sustained success over a period of five or more seasons was also important when I was rating each individual, but I didn't necessarily penalize someone who was only in Carolina for several seasons. Ultimately, everyone has their own unique perspective, and that is what makes this type of exercise so enjoyable to me. Be sure to grade my list in the poll after the jump, and don't hesitate to share your own top ten with CSR in the comment section that follows. Let the debating begin.

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Typically I detest the constant stream of ‘We should sign ____!' ideas every time a player is cut, or made available- but in the case of Buccaneers TE Kellen Winslow there's a schematic precedent and relationship with Rob Chudzinski that makes it an interesting scenario.

We are reaching a point in the NFL where teams are starting to realize that tight ends can be as valuable as wide receivers. It's a cheap, easy mismatch that can be had at a decent price, and always causes headaches for defenses that need to decide to match size with a linebacker, or athleticism with a defensive back. Thus, we're seeing good offenses invest in two stellar tight ends, daring a defense to find a way to cover them. New England does this with Gronkowski and Hernandez, the Colts just spent two high picks on Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen; last season our own Panthers ran a two TE system, and it helped Cam Newton greatly.

It all depends what the Bucs are looking for- but could bringing in Kellen Winslow Jr. really put the Panthers' offense over the edge, and give that final piece that turns a nasty offense into a filthy one. At 28 years old Winslow still has enough in the tank, and he was a legitimate 700 yard TE last year. If the Panthers were to pair Greg Olsen with Kellen Winslow with their current weapons I can't help but feel the defense could falter and the offense could pick up the slack.

Reports are that Greg Schiano has already told Winslow they're trying to move him- and there's a chance they might not get anything more than a 6^th or 7^th round pick (or end up just cutting him). Given he was a 1,100 yard receiver with Rob Chudzinski in Cleveland, and he's a player Chud has a deep rapport with, this really could be something to watch. This is a team built to bring in players they've had past success with, and this is the kind of savvy, low-risk move that adds a lot. If nothing else it fits the current Panthers' MO.

Joe Person has a two part Q&A with Ron Rivera with the first part posting today. The theme in this first one has to be the 'carrot on a stick' analogy which obviously applies to all Panthers. Rivera in particular singles out one player who he hopes focuses on the carrot and doesn't get the attitude that he has arrived:

I guess to me, Brandon LaFell encapsules who we are. And that is, we’ve got to keep the carrot in front of us. We’ve got to keep striving and working to get the carrot. To me, I think that epitomizes who we are. We have not taken the next step. We have not arrived, in any fashion or manner. I think it’s Woody Hayes who said: ‘If you give a man something he hasn’t earned, you’ve lessened who he is.’ And I don’t want that. I don’t want us to think we’ve arrived. I don’t want anybody telling us, oh, you guys are going to the playoffs. No, you’re not. You don’t know who’s going to the playoffs. That’s why you play them. You play 16 games, and you play all 16.

We do know that last training camp LaFell was in the dog house a bit, we guess for dogging it a bit, maybe acting like he had 'arrived' already so to speak. I'm really just guessing with this. I don't know LaFell personally to say whether this is a proper read on the situation but the fact Rivera makes note of LaFell again in this context of not getting a big head seems to imply he not out the woods yet.

One guy he doesn't have to worry about as far as the carrot is QB Cam Newton. Newton continued to work out after the season as if it was not over, all the way through the Super Bowl. His thinking was he needed to train like he is going to the SB. You gotta a love the way he thinks. We know Rivera does:

When the season was over, one of the things he said was he wanted to find a way to make sure he didn’t have one. I think the less we talk about it, the less we get caught up in it, the better. It’s like the Madden curse, he really wanted to be the cover. I think that’s the thing. Instead of running from it, saying, oh, I hope it doesn’t happen – it’s not going to happen. I’m not going to let it happen. I think that’s his approach to the sophomore slump.

If any player is preparing to avoid a sophomore slump its Cam Newton. I'm not even worried about it. It's the rest of the league that better worry.