First Steve Beuerlein was surprised. Then he was upset.
The question is why?
|  | | Steve Beuerlein, left, was released after making 44 straight starts for the Panthers. |
Beuerlein is one of the brightest, most experienced players in the NFL and
it didn't take a Mensa candidate to read the handwriting that has been on the
Panthers' locker room wall since the end of a very disappointing 7-9 season.
Perhaps Beuerlein was seduced by his overwhelming popularity in Charlotte,
a Dale Earnhardt-like approval rating that included high marks from even team
owner Jerry Richardson. The only other possible explanation for Beuerlein's
reaction to first being dangled as trade bait and second being released by
the Panthers is that he purposely ignored the warning signs that his 44-game
run as the team's starting quarterback was over.
But if it wasn't clear before, it is now. Coach George Seifert has seen the
future of the Panthers and it doesn't include a 36-year-old quarterback who
has had eight surgical procedures in the last 14 months. Especially when
there is a young quarterback -- Jeff Lewis -- waiting impatiently in the wings who will never receive a proper audition as long as Beuerlein is around.
"Steve can certainly still play, but for what period of time?" Seifert
told reporters. "We're thinking about the future as far as the club is
concerned. We do have three young quarterbacks and we have to put ourselves
on the line and put them on the line to see exactly where we are (with them)
as far as the club is concerned.
"It's just time to put our feet to the fire."
While the Panthers are roasting their toes, let's get one thing straight.
Beuerlein is still a very capable NFL starter, although he needs a better
line than the one the Panthers were able to put in front of him the last two
years.
Beuerlein is mad because he thinks he could have found an available chair
had he been allowed to participate in the NFL-wide game of musical
quarterbacks this winter. Now, it might be too late for him to land a
starting job.
The one in Carolina has been handed to Lewis, Beuerlein's understudy the
past two seasons, with Dameyune Craig and Matt Lytle hoping to challenge.
Since Lewis has never started a regular-season game in five NFL seasons, and
since Seifert has indicated he won't bring in another high-priced
quarterback, it is clear the Panthers are entering a full-fledged
rebuilding mode for the first time in their brief history. Salaries are being
dumped, veterans are being released.
Carolina, which entered the NFL in 1995, was built to be instantly
competitive and it was. Briefly.
But after trying to restock their defense with expensive veterans last
season to go with an already explosive offense, the Panthers' plan never got
off the ground. Injuries, age and personnel mistakes on both sides of the
ball ruined their season.
Now, after two years of the Seifert regime, the Panthers are blowing up the
team and starting over. Defensive end Reggie White has retired (again), cornerback Eric Davis, linebacker Lee Woodall and fullback William Floyd have
been released in salary-cap moves and Beuerlein has received his pink slip.
The first order of business is to find out if Lewis is worth what the
Panthers gave up to get him in a 1999 trade with Denver. The cost was a
third-round draft pick in 1999, a fourth-rounder in 2000 and a four-year,
$11.2 million contract -- since renegotiated -- that the Panthers gave Lewis
upon his arrival.
Beuerlein said he was released because he never fit Seifert's image of a
mobile, Steve Young-type quarterback. Others have looked at Beuerlein's
$4.985 million cap figure for 2001, the $1.2 million bonus he was due April 1
and concluded that it was a cap-related move. Seifert says neither is true.
If the move was cap-related, it has less to do with Beuerlein's effect on
the cap than it did Lewis'. Lewis has two years remaining on his contract and
will play for a paltry $800,000 base salary this season. However, Lewis'
salary will jump to $3.75 million next year and his cap figure will increase
to $5.2 million.
The Panthers have a huge financial decision to make on Lewis a year from
now and they need to have some evidence before they make that decision. The
only way they can gather that evidence is to put Lewis in the line of fire.
And the only way they can do that is to get Beuerlein out of town.
Beuerlein is too expensive and too popular to be a backup. Plus, Seifert
has been unable to make himself play Lewis because he knows Beuerlein gives
him the best chance to win. Last season, after the Panthers dropped from the
playoff race, Seifert still didn't use Lewis much, in part because Beuerlein
was so territorial about the starting job.
"Jeff has not been in the line of fire," Seifert said. "He got into two
regular-season games, and you don't know how hard that was to do."
If Lewis shows promise this season, the Panthers will keep him and probably
try to restructure his contract. If he bombs, however, he could become a cap
casualty after the 2001 season.
After serving a five-year apprenticeship in the West Coast offense behind
John Elway and Beuerlein, Lewis feels he's ready for the job.
|
“ |
I need to get
out there and play ... this is big. This comes at a time when I was starting
to wonder, 'Man, am I ever going to get that chance?' But all this is is an
opportunity. ” |
|
|
— Jeff Lewis, new Panthers starting QB |
"I've learned everything there is to learn about the offensive system," he
said. "Now I need to go out there and use what I've learned. I need to get
out there and play ... this is big. This comes at a time when I was starting
to wonder, 'Man, am I ever going to get that chance?' But all this is is an
opportunity."
It may only be a one-year opportunity, but Lewis' diligent work during this
offseason indicates that he's prepared to give it his best shot.
"I don't want to let anybody in the locker room down," he said. "I'll sleep here if I have to. I want to take advantage of this opportunity. I just want to win games for this organization and help the team win."
In the past, Lewis has looked jittery and indecisive on the field. The
knock on him is that he doesn't see the entire field well. He's
inexperienced, having thrown only 55 passes in 12 games in his career, but he's very mobile.
Lewis' most impressive performance came during the 1997 preseason with the
Broncos, when he threw five touchdowns and no interceptions. He did
little in preseason last year, however, barely beating out Craig, whose only
claim to fame is a strong season in NFL Europe in 1999.
Lewis was also unremarkable during the 2000 regular season, completing 16
of 32 passes for 120 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. His longest
completion was a 16-yarder and his interception was returned for a touchdown.
Is Lewis ready to replace Beuerlein?
"There's only one way to find out," Beuerlein said.
That's exactly Seifert's point.
Giants build new fearsome foursome
When the Giants reviewed the videotape of the Super Bowl thrashing they
took from the Ravens, they weren't just lamenting their performance.
They were learning.
| |  | |
| Holmes |
The Giants, like the rest of the NFL, saw the effect the Ravens' dominant
front four had on the game.
This week, the Giants acted on that information when they signed former
Titans defensive end Kenny Holmes to a five-year, $20 million contract. After briefly considering ex-Cardinal Simeon Rice, the Giants concluded his salary demands were too high and opted for Holmes, a rising star who was Tennessee's first-round draft pick in 1997.
To make room for Holmes, the Giants cut defensive end Cedric Jones, the No. 5 pick in the first round of the 1996 draft. Jones had only 15 sacks in five
mostly disappointing seasons.
To the Giants, Holmes is a better pass-rusher than Jones and a better
run-stopper than Rice.
"He's the type of player we want to bring into this program, one that loves
to play football with high energy and great athletic ability," Giants coach
Jim Fassel said.
Potentially, the signing gives the Giants a quick, explosive defensive line
that is every bit as good as the ones in Baltimore and Tampa Bay. End Michael
Strahan (9½ sacks) and tackle Keith Hamilton (10 sacks) will return in their starting spots while promising second-year man Cornelius Griffin (five sacks) will
supplant Christian Peter at tackle. Holmes, who had eight sacks and forced five fumbles last year, will round out a foursome that could be pretty fearsome.
Mamula being rushed out of Philly?
It appears that defensive end Mike Mamula's days in Philadelphia are numbered.
Mamula, a pass-rushing specialist who never lived up to the promise that
caused the Eagles to trade up and make him the seventh pick overall in the
1995 draft, is being squeezed out by the offseason moves of football
operations director Tom Modrak.
| |  | |
| Mamula |
In the last two weeks, the Eagles signed restricted free agent Brandon
Whiting, a converted tackle who started 13 games at left end last season, to
a six-year contract and added undersized pass-rush specialist Ndukwe Kalu via
free agency from the Redskins. Kalu will make up to $9 million on a
five-year deal.
With Mamula (foot) and former starter Greg Jefferson (knee) expected to be healthy following surgeries, the Eagles could go into training camp with a
four-way battle for playing time at the left end spot opposite Pro Bowler
Hugh Douglas.
"We had success last year rotating defensive tackles," Eagles coach Andy
Reid said. "We want to do the same thing at defensive end. We want to be able
to keep throwing fastballs at the quarterback."
Whiting moved from tackle to end when Jefferson blew out a knee just before
the start of the season and replaced Mamula as the starter after three games.
Whiting continued to play end on first and second downs, often moving inside
on passing downs, when he was replaced by Mamula.
Mamula does have a solid 14 sacks over the last two seasons and he will be
playing for a modest $825,000 this year, but the Eagles love Whiting's
versatility and are intrigued by Kalu. The latter, who has added 25 pounds
and is up to 265 since he was drafted (and cut) by the Eagles in 1997, was
buried behind Bruce Smith and Marco Coleman in Washington last year.
If the Eagles view Kalu as a younger, healthier and potentially more
productive Mamula, it is unlikely that Mamula will be with the team much
longer.
Tom Oates of the Wisconsin State Journal writes a weekly NFC column every Thursday for ESPN.com. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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