With a growing group of listeners to the UTH podcast each week, it is getting more difficult to give all the submitted questions for the show their proper love on air. Doug and I enjoy the interaction as we get to think about what is on your mind and put on our analyst hats. This question was submitted by Travis (@TravisBillman) on twitter:
With ankle surgery and no wide receivers, how nervous should Cam owners be? Tavarres King and Marvin McNutt the best wide receivers right now….
The Panthers are in a tough spot with a franchise quarterback (due to be paid soon), enough money devoted to running backs for three NFL teams, and they have ignored the receiver position for far too long.
DeAndre Hopkins was a trendy projection for them in the first round of the 2013 NFL draft. That did not happen. They rode a strong defense and Steve Smith again to a playoff appearance last year.
Hakeem Nicks went to the Colts (hometown guy) and now they are officially out of legit free agent options. It is Greg Olsen and Cam Newton. Oh, and Mike Tolbert.
This is a very deep receiver class, so fortunately the Panthers could select a couple in the second through fourth round of the draft and be on their way to stocking the cupboard. The problem is they actually have to do that.
Newton has been making something out of nothing since coming into the league for the most part and, let’s face it, his rushing production is a major part of his fantasy (and dynasty) value.
More and more I am aware of the timing aspect of dynasty trades. Folks that deal away Julio Jones or Rob Gronkowski when they get injured, or Randall Cobb, or Jamaal Charles, or Adrian Peterson. The list goes on and on. When a star-caliber player is injured is the WORST time to strike a deal. There is a big gap between having some short-term reservations about a player and actually pulling the trigger on shipping them off your dynasty team. Newton’s projected recovery time is expected to hinder this offseason routine obviously, but not the start of the season at this juncture. Even if it was, this is dynasty. The impact of a few missing games for a young horse is not that significant.
Does Carolina need a weapon or two? Absolutely. If anything, use this sequence of news to buy Newton for non-elite quarterback prices (if the format warrants it) rather than selling for a discount because of the thought of a King-McNutt starting receiver combo.
Hope that helps, Travis! Thanks for listening to the show and checking out the first installment of podcast overflow.
