Are you Gettleman?

Yeah, I'm Gettleman. You?

You are SO Not Gettleman....

The Carolina Panthers recently re-signed WR Stephen Hill to a one-year contract. He's young, he's fast, he's tall, and he's big. Are you at least a little happy by the news? Signed for how much, you ask? 

You are SO Not Gettleman....

That's okay, look here: We still have our draft intact, a first-round pick, and even an artificial little tiny boost via larceny of air by the New England Deflatriots in the form of a vaporized draft pick from somewhere around #28. I've learned in life sometimes you just take whatever dime rolls your way and smile and be thankful for the little things when you can get them. One less body to consider up top.

That is sooooo Gettleman.

But hey, the draft is so deep in defensive tackles and we're stacked with two outstanding young starters and Short could be a budding superstar, he's that good and has so much upside. Star has played great when healthy, and the team has needs elsewhere.

Also, now that Carolina has more room under the salary cap than expected, they could actually sign any one free agent of the group and afford to spend some big money again now that "Big Money" is gone. If only a few plays were different, Carolina would have won the Super Bowl. Certainly a couple of proven players at chosen spots would have been enough to have changed the outcome. 

When the team drafts at #30, a lot of players they wouldn't have wanted in the first place are going to get drafted anyway so you have to factor that in. After all is said and done, they're probably down to looking at only about a dozen kids that could get drafted first and if you think any of that,

You are SO Not Gettleman!

Not sure that you can handle the truth, Mr. Nicholson, but I'm thinking a bit more brutally realistic:

Paragraph One - Yeah, so? Hill's never done it on the field in anything on this level. Outside shot we got something here, worth throwin' a buck at. It's a little one-year deal, get a life people, seriously. Get excited when you see him do something in a game that counts. I'm on to the guy after the next guy already so get a grip.

Paragraph Two - You take care of your own and you have to spend 90% of the cap money anyway, but you have to keep a little powder dry.  Maybe can keep Star on the lower side but Kawann is gonna cost us. It's more hit or miss that a "Big Money" free agent actually earns it. Ironically, CJ largely did but it's a biz, we're a rising team and he's a sliding talent with a decade of wear. Thanks for the memories, Chuckie.

Neither team deserved to win that ugly @%^# piece of....game. Rampant Nepotism running through the referee ranks that it does, they're loyal to the NFL and wanted The Peyton Manning Storybook Ending. Why?

You are SO Not Gettleman if you don't know that one: 

Money. Gobs of it directly or indirectly off the story before and after. A Super Bowl 50 -- landmark of the NFL's "future history" can't have a better ending than that of the all-time passing leader winning his last game before riding off into the sunset. League says one thing in public and who knows what in private, but that's okay. The NFL could only go so far with the calls on the field but they sure pushed it as far as they thought they could get away with. Heck, even most of the outside press saw that much.  

So, that means even if we spend the money and drag someone's expensive carcass in here from the outside, it won't be enough. It's never enough because of injuries. Our 2s should fight the 31 other teams' 1s to gridlock. Our 1s should beat the snot outta theirs no matter who they are, and it shouldn't even be all that close. Make it so our guys maul their guys in every way every place every play so it won't matter. We can't afford to be just a little bit better than the others. We have to be a LOT better than the others. Keep put the young drafted kids that turn out well. Free Agency is for fixing your own mistakes now, NOT for building a team. Let the old ones on the way down be paid by Dan Snyder.

As for the draft - This is not rocket science, but people keep makin' it so. It's a matter of finding cheap talent, and the draft is the perfect place because we get 'em 4, 5 years to shape into those snot-beating starters and the best next-man-up around 53 different ways. Don't make it harder than it is and let the draft come to you. But we aren't sacrificing the future for the present like the last guy did. 

I am Gettlein' like a Heavy Metal fan, I am sooooo Gettleman.

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