The Panthers got some players with nice upsides last April.  It all started out with DE Everette Brown out of Florida State (2nd round, #43 overall).  Brown played in 15 games for the Panthers last season and he made 22 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, forced 2 fumbles, had 2.5 sacks and he defensed 2 passes.  The other 2nd round pick the Panthers made was safety Sherrod Martin out of Troy with the #59 overall pick.  Martin played in all 16 games for the Panthers last season and he made 23 tackles, forced 2 fumbles, defensed 4 passes and he had 3 interceptions.  RB/KR Mike Goodson was selected in the 4th round (#111 overall) by the Panthers out of Texas A&M.  He played in 8 games for the Panthers last season and he carried the ball 22 times for 49 yards (2.2 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 15 yards (7.5 avg).  Goodson also returned 17 kickoffs for 352 yards (20.7 avg) last season for the Panthers.  Fullback Tony Fiammetta was picked in the 4th round (#128 overall) out of Syracuse.  He played in 10 games but he didn’t touch the ball as he was blocking a lot.  He also had 2 tackles as a rookie.  CB Captain Munnerlyn (7th round, #216 overall) out of South Carolina was a solid player for the Panthers last season.  He played in 15 games for the Panthers last season and he finished up with 44 tackles, 1 forced fumble and 1 pass defensed.  He also returned 1 kickoff for 15 yards and 31 punts for 278 yards (9.0 avg).  Munnerlyn was quite a find for the Panthers.  DT Corvey Irvin was the 3rd round pick (#93 overall) out of Georgia but he spent his rookie season on I.R.  OT Duke Robinson was selected in the 5th round (#163 overall) out of Oklahoma last season and he didn’t get onto the field at all as a rookie.

GRADE FOR 2009:  C

GRADE FOR THE FUTURE:  B

Jake Delhomme struggled this season before it ended with a broken finger on his throwing hand.  Then Matt Moore led the Panthers to a very impressive finish.  They will battle it out in training camp for the starting job.  34-year old Jake Delhomme played in 11 games for the Panthers this season and he completed 178 of 321 passes (55.5%) for 2,015 yards with 8 TD passes and 18 INTs (59.4 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 17 times for 60 yards (3.5 ypc) this year.  Delhomme has now played in 97 games in his NFL career and he has completed 1,630 of 2,755 passes (59.2%) for 19,892 yards with 123 TD passes and 94 INTs (82.1 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 167 times for 330 yards (2.0 ypc) with 7 TD grabs.  Delhomme better come to training camp ready to play or Matt Moore is going to take his starting job away.

25-year old Matt Moore was outstanding this season for the Panthers.  He played in 7 games for the Panthers this season and he completed 85 of 138 passes (61.6%) for 1,053 yards with 8 TD passes and 2 INTs (98.5 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 12 times for -3 yards (-0.3 ypc) this year.  Moore has now played in 16 games in his NFL career and he has completed 148 of 249 passes (59.4%) for 1,783 yards with 11 TD passes and 7 INTs (84.5 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 15 times for 2 yards (0.1 ypc) in his career.  If all things are equal next season I think Moore will be the starting QB in 2010 for the Panthers.

30-year old Josh McCown injured himself in his only game of the year and he will likely be replaced as the #3 QB by A.J. Feeley.  McCown played in 1 game for the Panthers this season and he completed 1 of 6 passes (16.7%) for 2 yards with 0 TD passes and 0 INTs (39.6 QB Rating).  McCown has played in 47 games in his NFL career and he has completed 610 of 1,058 passes (57.7%) for 6,584 yards with 35 TD passes and 40 INTs (71.3 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 127 times for 569 yards (4.5 ypc) with 3 TD runs in his career.

32-year old A.J. Feeley will likely be the #3 QB for the Panthers in 2010.  He did not get into any games for them last season.  He has played in 23 games in his NFL career and he has completed 372 of 665 passes (55.9%) for 4,070 yards with 27 TD passes and 29 INTs (69.6 QB Rating).  Feeley has also carried the ball 34 times for 45 yards (1.3 ypc) with 1 TD run in his career.

The Panthers pushed the Saints around yesterday.  Matt Moore was in game manager mode as he completed 14 of 23 passes for 162 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 INTs.  Jonathan Stewart led the way on the ground for the Panthers yesterday with 125 yards rushing on 16 carries (7.8 ypc) with a TD run.  Mike Goodson pitched in with 13 carries for 44 yards (3.4 ypc) in this game.  Mushin Muhammad led the way in the passing game for the Panthers with 7 grabs for 85 yards (12.1 avg).  Dwayne Jarrett had one of his better games of his NFL career yesterday with 5 grabs for 68 yards (13.6 avg) with a TD grab.  The Panthers finished up with 327 total yards in this game (178 rushing, 149 passing).

LB Na’il Diggs (10 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss) and CB Richard Marshall (6 tackles, 1 pass defensed and 1 fumble recovery) led the way for the Panthers on D in this game.  DE Julius Peppers (3 tackles, 1 pass defensed and 1 INT) and CB Dante Wesley (fumble recovery) also pitched in with big plays yesterday.  The Saints finished up with only 213 total yards on offense  (111 rushing, 102 passing) in this game.  The Panthers finished the season with a 8-8 record which put them in third place in the NFC South.

The Saints don’t really need this game so the Panthers need to push them around early in this game letting them know that it’s going to be a very long day for them.  Look for the Panthers to lean on their running game as usual in this game as they are averaging 154.7 yards rushing and 4.8 yards per carry so far this season.  Jonathan Stewart could be in line for another huge game for the Panthers to end this season as the Saints are kind of soft in the middle on D.  The Panthers will be playing without Steve Smith in this game (broken forearm) but that doens’t mean that Matt Moore won’t take some shots downfield off play action.

Defensively I think the Panthers should key on stopping the run as I don’t see the Saints risking Drew Brees’ health by throwing the ball a lot.  Julius Peppers is likely to be pretty inspired in this game after being elected to the Pro Bowl during the week and that is bad news for Drew Brees and Mark Brunell. 

PREDICTION:  PANTHERS 27, SAINTS 17

Despite the Panthers having a rough season they are still sending 26-year old RB DeAngelo Williams and 29-year old DE Julius Peppers to the Pro Bowl.  Williams has played in 13 games for the Panthers this season and he has carried the ball 216 times for 1,117 yards (5.2 ypc) with 7 TD runs.  He has also caught 29 passes for 252 yards (8.7 avg) this season.  Williams is hoping to be healthy enough to play in the Pro Bowl as he has been nicked up as of late.  Julius Peppers started the season slowly but he finished with the vengeance.  Peppers has played in all 15 games for the Panthers this season and he has made 39 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, forced 5 fumbles, defensed 4 passes, has 10.5 sacks and he intercepted a pass that he returned 13 yards for a TD.