Choice time: Williams or Stewart?

TROJANPANTHER · Joined: 30 Apr 2007 Posts: 798 Location: NM

Whoever would cost less to cut and free up more space.

But if it's just on ability, give me Stewart.
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fraziafraze07 · Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8685 Location: Vandy

Tough for me to say, since Williams is one of my favorite Panthers of all time, but I'll take Stewart.

The age-difference is just too skewed in Stewart's favor. Stewart is every bit as capable of catching the ball out of the backfield and turning those screen plays into long gains and scores. He's harder to bring down, rarely getting stuffed in the backfield, which happens to Williams quite a bit. That's not really Williams' fault because it's often the offensive lines fault and the defender is in his face as soon as he gets the handoff, but when it happens to Stewart, he's more capable of escaping.

The only argument I'd see for Williams is that he is more capable of being a gamebreaker. It isn't that he's more explosive or much faster than Stewart, because they're not too far apart in terms of those attributes. But Williams is more of a threat to break long gains because his vision is better. The problem there is that the vision doesn't help him find a hole when the offensive line can't open one for him. So Stewart's bulk and leg drive allow him to pick up more yards in situations where the offensive line play is suspect.

And since our line isn't the best (here's to hoping they can at least take a step in the right direction/fix it), Stewart's a better fit for us. That being said, I'd choose Williams if he were 27 or 28 instead of 30, because Tolbert does provide us with a bigger, tougher runner. But he's not, so I'd go with Stewart.

As far as whether we are able to find a trading partner, I'm not so sure we will. I wonder if the new GM would decide to cut one of them to free up cap space if he's unable to make a trade. We are really hurting for cap space, so we're going to have to make some tough personnel decisions that we wouldn't otherwise make if not for the monetary situation.
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atown703 · Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 10:18 pm Post subject:

DWilly and Tolbert combo the best.. if only Stewart could stay healthy for one season
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Panthers27 · Joined: 20 Dec 2010 Posts: 20

Panthers11 · Joined: 23 Dec 2007 Posts: 22904 Location: Florida

rjkilla · Joined: 01 Jan 2008 Posts: 4193

i'll go with Tolbert and a late round pick. there's no reason to spend this much money when you can find serviceable RBs everywhere
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faccda01 · Joined: 25 Feb 2007 Posts: 2721 Location: Delaware

Without researching it, I'm willing to bet that Stewart has appeared on the injury report more than Williams has. He may have been active for games, but has been limited a lot more.

It's a tough decision for sure. We can all agree that Williams is more explosive, but I'd take Stew for the fact that he can get those short yardage situations a lot more consistantly that Williams, who is caught running east and west a lot.
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ericr0319 · Joined: 31 Jul 2006 Posts: 723 Location: Florida

boondock · Joined: 03 Jan 2008 Posts: 17604 Location: Waynesville, NC

I think that we have too much money tied up in the backfield period, especially that the fact that we don't have a feature back. I wouldn't mind paying Stewart or Williams the money they are getting if they were a true feature back getting 20-30 touches a game. The guys got paid because they are fan favorites, not because they were a feature back or one produced more than another, this is a problem.

We know both can produce if given the right play calls and the touches. Williams is going to give you that home run hitter type back, while Stewart is a grinder that's going to always get you positive yards.

If it's up to me, we would get rid of Stewart this year based on his age and the number on his contract, which makes his trade value higher. I would expect we could get anywhere from a 2nd to a 3rd for him and would be an immediate fit as someone's primary back. Teams like Packers, Dolphins, Steelers, Jets, Colts, and Broncos are all teams with questionable running games. A Jonathan Stewart would be an immediate improvement to what they already have there. This would also give the Panthers the most immediate cap relief; as I do not think that teams will buy into the contract that we gave Deangelo, regardless if he can still go with the best of them or not purely based on age and the horrendous terms of the contract.

With the pick we acquire for Stewart, I would look to find his cheaper replacement. Prospects like Giovanni Bernard, Andre Ellington, Eddy Lacy, and Montee Ball are all guys that would be available between the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Then again, we could always postpone finding the future RB to the 2014 draft and let Williams/Tolbert carry the load with a guy like Armand Smith being the 3rd guy.
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panther dude · Joined: 01 Apr 2007 Posts: 5592 Location: East Lansing, MI

OneBadCat · Joined: 24 Aug 2012 Posts: 624

BringinDaPain · Joined: 26 Dec 2011 Posts: 3100

Rays_Peeps34 · Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 4540

honestly, if DWill restructures, I can see him staying. Stew and Tolbert will both stay, I want Deangelo too stay, I just think he needs too restructure, he seems like a reasonable enough guy too want too do that for the team.
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ericr0319 · Joined: 31 Jul 2006 Posts: 723 Location: Florida

its simple.

get rid of one.
zero reason to find a replacement.
dont eliminate cam in the run game, thats plain stupid.
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boondock · Joined: 03 Jan 2008 Posts: 17604 Location: Waynesville, NC