So Which UDFA's Have the Best Chance to Crack the Roster?
/With the rookie mini-camp over and the other offseason workouts approaching, I wanted to pose a question to Panthers fans: Who will actually make the final roster out of the ten priority UDFA's (undrafted free agents) the team signed after the draft?
Carolina has signed "10" so far......
Over at Black and Blue Review you can find a list of players signed as priority UDFA's this season. There is a mix of players composing the list, ranging from Southern University DE Arthur Miley to jitterbug speedsters like former South Carolina WR Damiere Byrd . Interestingly enough, 7 out of the 10 UDFA's are on the defensive side of the ball (correction now 6, following the release of UDFA DT Darious Cummings after rookie mini-camp). Its an opposite makeup compared to last season's UDFA signings, where the offensive side got the priority thrown its way.
Dean Marlowe high on teams radar......
Dean Marlowe, a safety out of James Madison, I think has a real shot at cracking the 53-man roster coming out of Spartanburg this summer. The Panthers chose not to use a draft pick on a DB in the 2015 NFL Draft, but instead packaged those errant extra picks to land players they felt were valuable enough move up to get them. In doing this, they left them selves with limited picks and where excited to see Marlowe (whom they had a draftable grade on) fall to them in the ranks of the UDFA's. Bill Voth shared these sentiments on WFNZ Primetime earlier in the week. Now my reasoning on Marlowe is pretty simple. Besides Tre Boston, competition at the safety position is truly wide open. Roman Harper, Kurt Coleman, Lou Young, and Colin Jones have nothing cemented contractually. Carolina can let anyone of these players go with limited financial damage. Marlowe displayed enough talent from a ball skill's and tackling standpoint when suiting up in a Dukes' jersey to have a legitimate shot at pushing any of the aforementioned players for a spot, especially a declining veteran in Harper or a player of Jones talents who is more suited to be a special teams ace than an every down back end defender.
UDFAs have vitally contributed to this team's success the last two seasons.....
In the first two season's under the Dave Gettleman regime, this team has started "7," that's right "7," UDFA's signed directly after his first two drafts as or GM. All seven played meaningful minutes that season. Can you name them? Let me help jog your recent memory.......Corey "Philly" Brown, Andrew Norwell, Adarius Glanton, and David Foucault from the 2014 post draft class. Then you add in Wes Horton, Robert Lester, and Melvin White from 2013, and you see that's a lot of valuable minutes tallied by UDFA's in the past two seasons. Gettleman has shown us that he has an eye for finding talent overlooked in the draft. He's further shown he's willing to have that same "said" talent come to Carolina to compete and ultimately help to improve the teams roster and contribute throughout the season.
So Carolina fans let's hear who you think can come in and take a roster spot on the final roster????
By Smokewagon
Follow me on Twitter @SamSslater96