Carolina lucks out on Manning deal

By Connor Byrne  |   Wednesday, April 26, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

Carolina Panthers
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On Sunday night, former Carolina Panthers cornerback Ricky Manning, Jr. was arrested for an assault charge in Los Angeles. At the time of his arrest, Manning, 25, was a restricted free agent who had just signed a five-year, $21 million offer sheet that included $7 million in bonus money from the Chicago Bears. The Panthers were pondering whether or not to match the offer, but as soon as the news came in, they immediately declined. Now the Bears get themselves an expensive problem, while the Panthers exit the proceedings after making an easy decision.

Even if Manning didn't commit this extraordinarily boneheaded crime that he's accused of, there's no guarantee that the Panthers would have brought him back anyway. As it stands right now, they're already set at the starting cornerback position, where they have third-year rising star Chris Gamble and one of the most underrated corners in the league, veteran Ken Lucas. The Panthers' combo of Gamble and Lucas is truly one of the elite playmaking tandems in the league, as the pair abused opposing quarterbacks for a whopping 13 interceptions last season. Gamble is just 23, and Lucas is a relatively youthful 27, so the duo has a lot of time on their side to continue to develop their already keen ability of forcing turnovers.

At this point, it seems that Manning is still living off his three interception performance in the 2004 NFC Championship Game against Donovan McNabb and the Philadelphia Eagles. It was Manning's performance that was among the most important for the Panthers that day en route to their 14-3 upset victory. Since that game, Manning has come back to earth.

Last season, he came up with just 33 tackles and two interceptions in 16 games played. Without question, the Panthers can get that kind of production from a much less expensive nickel corner, which they signed this offseason in soon-to-be 29-year-old Reggie Howard. Howard spent the first four years of his career in Carolina, intercepting four passes. He then went to Miami for the last two years, intercepting only one pass. Still, now that he's back in his original NFL setting, Howard should return to his solid form of old; in doing so, he'll greatly help the Panthers' secondary playing the nickel.

Since John Fox took over as the Panthers' head coach in 2002, his team has been one of the best in terms of the character of the players on the team. There have been virtually no incidents involving a Panthers player committing an embarrassing act off the field, until Manning did five days ago. Fox wants to keep character as the focus of his football team, so it was certainly time for Manning's positive, memorable three-year run in Carolina to conclude. The Carolina Panthers will wish him all the best as he moves forward with his career, but their defense will continue to tick smoothly without him.

--Connor Byrne can be reached at cbyrne@realfootball365.com
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