The Carolina Panthers have key free agents to analyze to see which they will attempt to bring back for the 2018 season, including Julius Peppers and Derek Anderson.
The Carolina Panthers are heading into a pivotal off season, just like many other organizations across the NFL. The Charlotte-based team made the playoffs for the fourth time in five years, putting together an 11-5 season. However, there’s a lot of room for this group to improve. The Panthers have a strong roster but there are a few key free agents that are question marks as to whether or not they should be re-signed to this team.
Two names jump off the list when looking at all the players that are unrestricted free agents. Julius Peppers and Derek Anderson stand at the top of the list as two players that the Panthers should look at keeping on the roster.
In Peppers, Carolina has a veteran that over-performed at a very cost effective price. He ended 2017 with 11 sacks and that came with playing a very limited number of downs for this team. At 38-years of age and 16 years of NFL experience, the talking point is whether or not he can keep that production up.
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But if Carolina can re-sign him at an extremely limited cost for even a portion of that type of production, the team wins in the end. Peppers’s presence opened up the field for Mario Addison and Kwann Short to end the season with 11 and 7.5 sacks, respectively. That’s an impact that can’t be ignored.
Then there is Anderson. Anderson’s position on this team is up in the air. Cam Newton is clearly in the driver’s seat when it comes to the quarterback position for this organization. This is understandable because Newton, a former MVP, has proven himself time and time again for this team. Even though 2017 was perhaps the worst year for the former Heisman winner from a statistical standpoint, the organization has faith in his presence on the field.
That leaves Anderson on the outside looking in. Anderson hasn’t had a lot of success as a starting quarterback. His overall record is 20-27 when he’s under center. But in a league where teams are throwing large contracts at any player with proven experience, there’s reason to believe that Anderson could fetch a large deal with another team.
At almost 35 years old, it would not be a surprise if Carolina chose to go another direction with their backup. Garret Gilbert seems to be the man tagged with that job, but questions still persist around his abilities as an NFL quarterback. It will be interesting to see if Carolina uses one of their draft picks to pick up a quarterback late in this year’s draft. If they do, that will put the writing on the wall for many when it comes to Anderson’s tenure on the Carolina Panthers roster.
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Carolina has to make some important decisions around the players the new free agents coming into this off season. There are a few names on this list that can continue to have a positive impact on this organization. In the business since of the conversation, it will be intriguing to see who Carolina deems as valuable to re-sign to a new deal.