NFL Free Agency Reactions - 8/1/11

The news has calmed finally.  Many of the better players have already made their moves.  We have reached the bargain hunter portion of the free agency period. Before we get to the analysis you can check out my reactions to Tuesday's player moves here (cuts) and here (signings), Wednesday's player moves here, Thursday's moves here, Friday's moves here, Saturday's moves here and Sunday's moves here.

And onto Monday's moves...

NFL "Signings" Reactions - Tuesday 7/26/11

I love the NFL.  Third blog post (of hopefully four) today made possible by the NFL lockout ending.  This is going to be shorter today than my earlier fantasy article about the Buccaneers and today's reactions to NFL cuts, but it's going to become much longer by the end of the week.  This is all about teams that have "signed" players.  I say "signed" in quotes because they can't officially put any deals through until Friday, but all of these players have reportedly agreed to new contracts already.....

Free Agency Starts At Home: The Carolina Panthers' Five Biggest Player Decisions

Assuming they get a new collective bargaining agreement done, NFL Free Agency is scheduled to begin on March 3, 2011.  I'm going to go through every team between now and then and identify their top five free agents and determine what should be done with each player, be it resign them or let them walk.  I'm going to go team by team in draft order, and that starts me with the Carolina Panthers.

The Panthers have the first pick in the draft so it's safe to say their last season was a disaster.  They went just 2-14 and finished last in the NFL in points per games, yards per game and passing yards per game.  Making matters worse for them, of the little talent this team has, many of the better players are without contracts for next year.

New Head Coach Ron Rivera has a big job ahead of him trying to identify the talent level of this roster.  He has to decide if he can improve his team by just adding a few guys, or if he should go the route Pete Carroll went with the Seattle Seahawks and overturn most of the roster.  I've identified their five most important free agents and will decide whether these guys are worth keeping or need to be jettisoned from the roster.