http://peoplefuel.com

It was a tough year for Panthers fans I would assume as I was the unlucky owner of Steve Smith on more than one of my fantasy teams.  Despite the injury to Delhomme the Panthers failed to get Steve Smith the ball enough to even have a chance in many of their games, and as a surprise to very few, Mickey Mouse, or David Carr didn't quite pan out as their back up quarterback.  Carr made it unbearable to watch the games for me, so I'm assuming it was even harder for Panthers fans.  Vinny made things a little better but at his age the Panthers had no chance to rebound last season.  The good news, Dehomme has had arm surgery and should be back to 100% to begin next season and the Panthers should be able to nicely upgrade a position by having the #13 slot in this years NFL Draft.

The draft experts somewhat mixed but the majority favors the Panthers taking the highly rated offensive tackle of Boise State, Ryan Clady.  The Panthers are very likely to have free agency issues at tackle and although they have recently re-signed Travelle Wharton to a six year contract, there is still a high probability they take Clady.  The Panthers might slap their other free agent tackle Jordan Gross with the franchise tag, and could perhaps go wide receiver with this valuable pick.  If the offensive line issue is handled before the draft it is widely seen from the Panthers that they want another playmaker to pair with Steve Smith as last year all the pressure was on this receiver and he was fighting double and triple teams all season.  If they go with Clady it should be very hard to find a great wideout in the second as it is a pretty deep field this year.  Regardless of what the Panthers do, providing the main cast stays healthy, they should have a much better and more exciting year than last season.  And in case you're curious, yes Mickey Mouse has not been released yet but I surmise it will happen very soon and he'll probably end up as a back up somewhere else and hopefully for the fans sake never see the field again (just a little bitter about the Steve Smith thing).

The Panthers had an excellent draft this year netting running back Jonathon Stewart, OT Jeff Otah, and LB Dan Connor.  The only downside was that they traded away their #1 in 2009 to move up to get Otah.

2008 NFL Schedule

• Week 1-  Sep 7    @San Diego    4:15pm             
• Week 2-  Sep 14    Chicago    1:00pm             
• Week 3-  Sep 21    @Minnesota    1:00pm             
• Week 4-  Sep 28    Atlanta    1:00pm             
• Week 5-  Oct 5    Kansas City    1:00pm             
• Week 6-  Oct 12    @Tampa Bay    1:00pm             
• Week 7-  Oct 19    New Orleans    1:00pm             
• Week 8-  Oct 26    Arizona    1:00pm             
• Week 9-    BYE                  
• Week 10-  Nov 9    @Oakland    4:05pm             
• Week 11-  Nov 16    Detroit    1:00pm             
• Week 12-  Nov 23    @Atlanta    1:00pm             
• Week 13-  Nov 30    @Green Bay    1:00pm             
• Week 14-  Dec 8    Tampa Bay    8:30pm             
• Week 15-  Dec 14    Denver    1:00pm             
• Week 16-  Dec 21    @N.Y. Giants    1:00pm             
• Week 17-  Dec 28    @New Orleans    1:00pm          

1.  Steve Smith WR-  Smith is the consumate playmaker and despite having a rough year he will be back with a vengeance.  He rarely lasts very far in the first round but I rank him very high amongst receivers and definitely in the top tier.

2.  Jake Delhomme QB- I wasn't a fan of Delhomme, that is until he got hurt and no other quarterback could throw a catchable ball to Steve Smith (Vinny actually wasn't  bad).  Delhomme might slip late as people remember him having the arm injury and might stay away but I'd rather have Delhomme over other younger quarterbacks around his ranking.

3.  DeShaun Foster RB-  I'm assuming Foster will be the starter again last year despite Williams having a better ypc.  Really neither is a great fantasy back unless the other gets injured as they split too many carries with each other

4. DeAngelo Williams RB- Pretty much the same outlook as Foster.  Williams might be the better back but as coaches regularly do, the vet usually gets the starting nod for now.

5.  Jeff King TE-  After Smith and Delhomme there isn't much fantasy value on this offense however King might be a nice sleeper.  He only had 400+ yards and 2 touchdowns but depending on your starting TE and their bye week, King might be a viable bye week start depending on his match up.