Jeff Otah Traded

if the panthers get to the elite level it will be despite Hurney and certainly not because of him , the guy should have been gone as long time ago.

 

If Sorensen's take is correct I feel pretty good about him being gone. Not only the part about him walking at the end of the season but also the part (in the column) about other players working their butts off while he watches.

"Here’s what we know: Otah will be a free agent after the season. So will running back Jonathan Stewart. Each was selected in the first round of the 2008 draft (Stewart 13th, Otah 19th). Signing Stewart is a priority. Signing Otah was not, and he almost certainly would have walked after the season."

from Tom Sorensen in today's Observer: Sending Jeff Otah to N.Y. Jets gives Carolina Panthers a fresh start | CharlotteObserver.com & The Charlotte Observer Newspaper

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/07/24/3403049/sending-jeff-otah-to-jets-gives.html#storylink=cpy"​

 

I saw enough from DW in 2007 to have faith in him as our feature back but apparently the panther's brain trust did not. If Fox had turned him loose in 2007 and he had put up 1,300 yards then it might have convinced them that he was enough.

Honestly if Stewart were to go down I do not think we would miss a beat with both DW and Tolbert on the team. I hope he does not get hurt because he is a good player but he is definitely a luxury.

 

Didn't Fox and Hurney talk about wanting to emulate the 70's Steelers or some stupid shit like that during the '08 offseason? That worked for about a year.

 

Maybe having two feature backs made sense under Henning's offense. He did tend to use those guys up pretty quickly. We drafted Stewart in 2008 though at the start of the illustrious Jeff Davidson era.

 

Is this not true also?

 

It is true. I would not have wanted to see us draft DW if Stewart had already been on the team. Having two very good running backs on the team that you drafted in the first round does not make sense when you have glaring holes at several positions on the team. It also does not makes sense because running backs have short careers and are relatively easy to replace.

 

yep.

As for DW, there were suggestions that he could play, but 2nd backs that play in special situations often have a higher YPC as a backup and then don't hold up (I believe it was actually called the Deshaun Foster Index or something like that). I think his attitude, as attributed to both him and Testaverde, made a big difference, as did being pushed by a serious back, but I don't think it was a guarantee that DW was a rock solid back even in hindsight. Doesn't mean we had to draft a 1st rounder either of course, but it was no guarantee that Williams had undoubtedly earned the start. It was just clear Foster had nothing left by the time he'd actually learned to hit the hole inside.

 

Williams averaging 5.0 yards per carry on 144 carries meant that at minimum there was no need to take a running back in the first round. Regardless, they still got fleeced by Philadelphia on the Otah trade, and that only looks worse now.

 

Failed his physical with Jets..

they placed him on PUP