Pending 'winter storm' slant routes
My thoughts on the Panthers, Hornets, a former GM and the lifeless Charlotte 49ers.
Charlotte may or may not see some winter precipitation roll through the area on Wednesday. Instead of going to the circus, I mean the grocery store, I opted to write some thoughts on various topics in the Charlotte sports world.
THE LEAD
In March of 2024, I was standing in line at a Bojangles in southwest Charlotte. Although it wasn’t football season, this particular Bojangles still had their Panthers themed “Big Bo Box” on display behind the counter.
As I pondered between getting the southern gravy biscuit combo versus the sausage & egg biscuit, the lady directly ahead of me in line blurted out loud “The Panthers are such an embarrassment.”
She wasn’t wrong. The Panthers were coming off arguably their worst season in franchise history. You know the story. They went 2-15, gave up the number one pick in the draft and looked like they took the wrong quarterback after trading up to the top spot in the 2023 draft.
Eleven months later, there’s optimism around this franchise once again thanks to Bryce Young’s finish to the 2024 campaign.
There was some optimism after 2022 of course. The Panthers hired a new coach and felt they were a quarterback away from competing for the division and more.
Hopefully the Panthers have learned from their mistakes that offseason. They still aren’t a player away, but they are in much better shape than anyone could’ve imagined after Young was benched after two games in 2024.
We’ll see how Dan Morgan attacks free agency and the draft. I’m not going to declare Morgan’s first draft a complete bust. As Bryce Young showed, progression for each player is different.
However, Morgan has to get viable contributions out of his early draft picks. Using a second round pick on injured running back Jonathan Brooks was not a sound process for a team that had very limited draft capital and wasn’t going to compete for a Super Bowl.
I imagine there a lot of focus will be placed on the defensive side of the ball in free agency. They still need offensive playmakers as well. Although the offensive line was a strength last year, they should still continue to build that group. At the end of the day, football is won in the trenches and you need all the ass kickers you can get.
QUICK SLANTS
I find myself more detached than ever from whatever you want to call this bastardized version “college” athletics. Perhaps it would be different if the Charlotte 49ers showed a pulse. Dormant volcanoes have more life than the men’s basketball program. Perhaps Tim Albin will win big in football. The hire on paper seems like it was a good one. However, Athletic Director Mike Hill’s decision history with big hires doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.
Long snapper J.J. Jansen will be back for a 17th season. When you have a reliable long snapper on the roster, you should never take one in the sixth round of the NFL Draft.
Andy Dalton is also back with the Panthers. There’s nothing wrong with having a reliable backup quarterback to spot start some games. Ask the Miami Dolphins.
The Charlotte Hornets need to play Mark Williams on Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Lakers. Everybody deals with setbacks in life. If he truly wants to stick it to the Lakers and anybody else that’s written him off, it’s up to him to write that story.
I saw that former Panthers GM Marty Hurney got into the horse racing business. Hurney was a perpetual punching bag for many in Charlotte during his separate stints with the organization. Hurney’s story is well documented, where he started as a sports writer and ultimately transitioned into the league. The thing I’ll respect about Hurney is he always answered questions from the media and even went on a local radio station once to answer complaints from fans. Like any GM, Hurney had his fair share of misses. However, he nailed his first round picks for most of his tenure in Charlotte. When fans clamor for someone to be fired they seem to forget it can always get worse. Hopefully Dan Morgan can channel his inner Hurney with his first round picks going forward.