Carolina homers..... (1 Viewer)

[xenon]

I am a fantasy football junkie who is Lions fan, so I only really pay attention to their off-season info.

Having said that, and being far removed removed from most other football info (since the season ended), I was wondering what (if/any) insight you Carolina homers have on Delhomme and the Carolina offense.

How is he progressing from his injury?

What is the running game going to be like and what impact on passing offense?

How is the O line? Strengths/weekness? Are they a cohesive unit?

Steve Smith should surely still be a stud.......

What impact will the signing of Hackett and Mushin's return have on passing game or Smith in particular?

Just starting to think a bit about the upcoming season as having owned Delhomme in 2004, he seems interesting to me for 2008.

THANKS

 

[Yitbos69]

in many drafts he will be he SOD...............the arm is looking good from all I have read he has the most depth at WR he has have and the running game should be better with Stewy(If healthy) HE will easily out produce his current ADP on 109 overall and the 16th QB

 

[Jerry Lawler]

Even though Carolina's not my team, I'm living in NC and like to follow the team. FWIW, here's what I think:

Delhomme - It's tough to rebound from Tommy John surgery in less than a year. The reports on his injury recovery have been positive though. Even though he will start, I'm guessing he will have reduced velocity, and I'm not projecting him to finish as a top 15 QB. Nevertheless, Delhomme's skill has always been in getting his best receiver the ball despite tight coverage. I think he will continue to get the ball to Steve Smith fairly consistently. Delhomme's stats should benefit from Smith's playmaking ability, as usual. As a result, I expect Delhomme to be a QB2 who occasionally puts up big numbers. He will lock on to Smith continually, so as long as Delhomme and Smith are healthy, all of the other receivers, including tight ends, have minimal value in this offense.

The running game was actually pretty good last year, considering Carolina couldn't put together an NFL level passing attack after Delhomme was injured. The line seemed to open up pretty good holes, and DeShaun Foster took what was available. I think Carolina will run the ball well this year, but that doesn't necessarily mean Stewart will put up big numbers. Looking at John Fox's history of sitting Foster for years behind Stephen Davis, then sitting DeAngelo for 2 years behind Foster, it's tough for me to see Jon Stewart living up to expectations this year. I wouldn't be surprised to see a pretty even split of carries, and DeAngelo should get more receptions as he is a good receiver out of the backfield (no reason to keep him in as a blocker, as he looks pretty inept in that capacity to me).

 

[omally]

Delhomme - It's tough to rebound from Tommy John surgery in less than a year. The reports on his injury recovery have been positive though. Even though he will start, I'm guessing he will have reduced velocity, and I'm not projecting him to finish as a top 15 QB. Nevertheless, Delhomme's skill has always been in getting his best receiver the ball despite tight coverage. I think he will continue to get the ball to Steve Smith fairly consistently. Delhomme's stats should benefit from Smith's playmaking ability, as usual. As a result, I expect Delhomme to be a QB2 who occasionally puts up big numbers. He will lock on to Smith continually, so as long as Delhomme and Smith are healthy, all of the other receivers, including tight ends, have minimal value in this offense.

It has been noted that the recovery period for Tommy John surgery in football players is less than that needed for baseball players. It's also been reported that Delhomme's arm is stronger than it has been in years. I don't think he will only lock in on Smith. Smith is the play maker so of course they want the ball in his hands, but I think Delhomme will spread it around more now that he has Hackett, and of course Moose is back, which Delhomme has stated that he is very excited to have Moose back in the fold.

 

[Jerry Lawler]

I have to admit to ignorance when it comes to recovery from Tommy John surgery. What other football players have had it? omally, if you happen to have a source on football players and TJ surgery, I would be interested in reading it.

I keep hoping Delhomme will be able to spread it around more, but it never seems to happen. When Smith was hurt in 2004, Muhammad's receptions increased 72% compared to 2003 (93 vs. 54). Even though Muhammad had the ability to be a #1 fantasy WR that year, and had been a 1K yd receiver in the past, Delhomme rarely threw him the ball before Smith was injured. Things have been substantially different since then. However, maybe Hackett is the guy who will turn it around, and I hope he does.

 

[H.K.]

June 06, 2008

Smith: Jake stronger than ever

Who better to talk about the recovery of Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme's right arm from Tommy John surgery than wide receiver Steve Smith, his favorite target?

Asked following Thursday's OTA workout if he thought Delhomme's arm was stronger than before, Smith said, "Yeah, I think so. I can tell he worked out real good; you can see the difference in his body. I'm going to say he looks better.

"It seems like he has a stronger arm; he's not showing any signs of weakness with that major surgery."

Delhomme's arm has looked strong to reporters in the practice session. There's occasionally some rust, but he appears to have the ability to make all the types of the throws an NFL quarterback needs to make.

A little more zip on those passes, Steve?

"Uh, you know, he can't out-throw me; he's never really out-thrown me, so that hasn't changed," Smith said to general laughter.

-- Stan Olson

Link

 

[H.K.]

It has been noted that the recovery period for Tommy John surgery in football players is less than that needed for baseball players.

Probably not enough data to say, but the Panthers' trainer said that TJ recovery is estimated to be much harder on a pitcher than a QB. Why? QB's do not utilize the same throwing motion, nor do they need to put the same stress on their arms required to throw breaking balls. Also, the quantity of pitches and velocity required for a pitched ball are not comparable to a the 25-30 passes a QB will throw each week, either. A positional player in baseball can return from TJ surgery in less than a year, and it is believed a QB should be in a similar window.

 

[cheesteak]

Besides Delhomme, Wikipedia lists the following as the only football players to have had Tommy John surgery:

Craig Erickson

Chris Hunter

Sebastian Janikowski

Rob Johnson

Ericson, a QB, was said to recover. Rob Johnson couldn't get velocity the first season post surgery but felt he recovered by the second year, though he couldn't latch on to a team there after. Janikowski recovered from a football standpoint, but his arm and fist are now thought to be less effective in bar brawls.

 

[Jerry Lawler]

Wow, surprised to learn that TJ surgery has been so infrequent in football players. It looks like Rob Johnson and Craig Erickson never regained their pre-injury effectiveness, but they weren't doing much before being injured anyway. Delhomme is the best QB to ever have this surgery, so he might be the first to recover well enough to be a starter quality QB again. I actually found an article in the American Journal of Sports Medicine (2007, issue 35, pages 575-581) that reviewed 68 MLB pitchers undergoing TJ surgery 1998-2003 and found that they returned an average of 18.5 months (range: 10-49) after the surgery, with no ill-effects on performance.

I had thought the problem with the first year after TJ surgery, besides the risk of re-injury, was reduced velocity. Unfortunately, the best source I've found so far is this: http://www.athleticprecision.com/Radio%20S...n%20surgery.pdf. It states that a damaged UCL will reduce the velocity and that while pitchers can return medically after a 12-15 months, it often takes longer to return to form (whatever that means). This wouldn't affect a position player in baseball nearly as much as a pitcher, because plenty of postion players have weak arms and still contribute in other ways. While QB's don't need to throw breaking balls, velocity is important.

What can we take from all of this? Not much, in my opinion. We still don't have any confirmation that his velocity will be lower early in the recovery process. I believe Delhomme will be back, and I'm encouraged by the reports. Still, to the extent that TJ surgery is associated with reduced velocity in the first year of post-surgery, I'm guessing Delhomme's effectiveness will be diminished, but not enough to make him play as badly as David Carr.

 

[gman8343]

Janikowski recovered from a football standpoint, but his arm and fist are now thought to be less effective in bar brawls.

Awesome.

 

[xenon]

any updated CArolina news that can be shared?

 

[PSULions]

I have Panthers season tickets and I like the moves they have made this offseason so far. Back in January, Hurney and Fox met with the Big Cat (Jerry R.) to show him their plans for the team to make it back to the playoffs this year. They had lost their way over the past few years and were not set up to be a power running team that can control the clock, like Coach Fox likes to do. In fact, if you look at the T.O.P. for each of the games last year the only game that they lost when they controlled the clock was the Indy game and the only game they won when the opponent controlled the clock was the Saints game, landing them in the middle of the pack with a 7-9 record.

The outcome of that meeting was that they wanted to go back to Panthers football and install an power running game that can grind out yards and make the play action more effective. Foster was never an effective power runner between the tackles so they issued him his walking papers and grabbed JStew as their newer, younger version of S. Davis. They went out traded to get Otah to start at RT, moving Wharton to LG and from out I heard after OTAs, Fonuti was running with the ones at practice, so they are getting a lot bigger on the OL to really try to run the ball more effectively this year. I think eventually JStew will take the starters job with DW being the change of pace back. Adding, Hackett and Moose is a big improvement for the WRs and Rosario has been doing very well at practice so far this year too. The offense with Delhomme at the helm will create many more problems for the defense and take pressure off the pass blocking because they should be able to mix things up better this year so the DL will not be able to pin down their ears to get after the QB as much this year. I think the return of an effective running game will make the passing game better and Steve Smith will have a very big year.

If the offense is much improved from the junk we saw last year, it can only help the defense stay fresher later in the games and help notch a few more wins this year. I think the OL will be much better this year compared to last year, but until they lace them up in September, they will likely not get many accolades from the experts because each of the 5 OL slots will be manned by a new player this year.

Hope this helps you guys out with any Panthers players you may be considering in your upcoming drafts.