Panthers take another step back

The Carolina Panthers announced a couple moves Wednesday that prove they’re not only refusing to move forward, they’re going backward.
Carolina let go of last year’s botched quarterback signee David Carr after one horrific season — seriously, the Panthers were more comfortable handing the offense to 44-year-old Vinny Testaverde than this guy.
That move’s understandable, but combined with the re-signing of former star receiver Muhsin Muhammad, the Panthers are looking more 2004 than 2008.
Granted, Muhammad was a pretty darn good receiver at one time — in his last season with Carolina, he hauled in 93 passes for 1,405 yards and 16 TDs. But he’ll be 35 by the time next season starts and didn’t reach 900 yards or a half-dozen TDs in any of his three years in Chicago.
Next thing you know they’ll re-sign Stephen Davis (Actually they’re planning on doing just that later this week so the once-great back can retire a Panther).
Why don’t they just dig up Steve Beuerlein or Kevin Greene?
The biggest step forward Carolina’s taken this offseason is a cut — oft-injured and inconsistent running back DeShaun Foster was let go last Thursday.
The real problem is the change at the top that needed to be made but wasn’t.
It’s not that John Fox isn’t a good coach. In fact, I think he’s one of the better ones in the NFL right now.
But the Panthers aren’t going anywhere, haven’t been in years.
They’re a .500 franchise.
Carolina finished 7-9 or 8-8 in three of the last four seasons — in fact, the Panthers have finished with one of those two records in eight of their 13 seasons.
Outside of two deep postseason runs, including one trip to the Super Bowl, they’ve been a non-factor come playoff time.
The last several years, it’s been with largely the same cast.
It’s time for a change — a real change — not an attempt at recreating one great season.

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