More injuries were seen as the season passed on. The other teams having younger and inexperienced players started doing better than the Panthers.

Panthers then traded for Louis Leonard, Tank Tyler and Hollis Thomas.

Leonard and Tyler did showed some upside during their first season with the club. On the other hand Hollis Thomas never sustained an injury and he in fact turned to be in the best season of his career when he was in the Philadelphia Eagles.

Other players who are returning this season from the previous one are Corvey Irvin, Derek Landri, Andre Neblett, Ed Johnson and Nick Hayden.

The club has got in the deal the reserve linebacker Jamar Williams. Harris goes back to Chicago within 3 years after he was traded to the Panthers. He was deemed expendable following his struggle in 2009 and the Panthers had added depth at safety.

Marty Hurney, the general manager of Carolina, said: “Chris is going back to an organization where he has familiarity and we wish him the very best… He has done everything we have asked and has been a valuable member of our team. Right now we have some young safeties who will get the opportunity to continue to earn playing time.”

Harris now joins the starters Jake Delhomme, Muhsin Muhammad, Brad Hoover, Damione Lewis, Na’il Diggs and Maake Kemoeatu. All of them have moved on because of Panthers’ youth movement. The club had even let Julius Peppers, the Pro Bowl defensive end, leave in free agency.

Williams, 25, had played all the sixteen games in each past 3 seasons with the Bears. Last season he had a career-high of 43 tackles. Well, he was not able to win a starting job with the Lance Briggs in front of him. He was finally a restricted free agent.

Hurney said, “Jamar is a versatile linebacker who brings experience, athletic ability and can help on special teams as well as compete for time at linebacker.”

The draft was just the opposite. Carolina Panthers did not chose the crop of defensive tackles. not All the fans had a believe that defensive line was a weakness for the team last year and it was solidified after the signing of Hollis Thomas to fill the gap at NT.

From the last years defensive line there is only one solitary starter returning back. It is DE Tyler Brayton and it is said that the remaining spots will be filled with DE Charles Johnson, NT Louis Leonard and DT Tank Tyler. Leonard and Tyler were being traded for during the last years season. However, from a broader view, it appears that the piecemeal defensive line will be a headache this season for Carolona Panthers. Well, still the situation may not be so bad as the fans think of.

The roster of the 2010 Pro Bowl players that are included in the All-Decade team became available on Wednesday. In the history of the past 15 years, Peppers is one of the three Panthers that was added to an All-Decade roster.

After coming off a dreadful season of 1-15 in 2001, Peppers was overall second pick in the draft of 2002 for the Panthers.

Peppers has a list of 81 sacks in his 8th season playing for the Panthers. He has become a machine force since his 2007 season when he only managed 2.5 sacks out of 14 games.

But yes, it will be just like every other expected playoff contender, there will be obstacles too.
For the Carolina Panthers, particularly three things could stand in the way of a return trip to the postseason in 2009.

First of all there is a tough division and of course an equally or more tough one. The next possibility is that the team is almost entirely new defensive coaching staff might not mesh with the personnel. The last is a key member of that personnel (Peppers) and also the possibility of a holdout.

Despite all these potential bumps, there are also many reasons to believe in this years Panthers.

For whatever reason be it an illness in training camp, or simply a down year, Peppers had an abysmal season last year, barely being able to put together a pass rush, and looking nothing like his usual pro bow self. Because of this bad season, Carolina can’t afford to pay Peppers. Sure it works out if he bounces back and records another 13 sack season, but if he doesn’t? The risk is just too great. Carolina could end up paying franchise money for a player that averages five sacks a season. Yes Peppers does have a career total of 56 sacks in six seasons with the Panthers, but in the NFL its “What have you done for me lately?”

Another reason that I think that Peppers can’t get paid is that not only has Peppers gone 16 games with only 2.5 sacks, but looking back into 2006, he only had 2 sacks in the last seven games of the season. That’s 23 games with only 4.5 sacks. This seems to be overlooked because Peppers had gotten out to such a great start in 2006, recording 11 sacks through the first 10 games, and lots of times, multiple sack games come in clumps, but for whatever reason Peppers cooled down, and it looks like that cooling down might have carried over into 2007. It could just be that Peppers cooled down in 2006, and had a down year in 2007, I hope it’s just that, but by looking at the numbers the Panthers just cannot afford give Peppers the big contract, not yet at least.

Meeks will be charged with taking up a defense which began the 2008 season as one of the best and also one of the most feared units in the league, and ended it with a blank stare after watching the Panthers do as they pleased while dismantling the them in an embarrassing 33-13 home loss in the NFC Divisional round.

Carolina Panthers are now looking forward with a new vision.

After Mike Trgovac, the former defensive coordinator, turned down the extension of the contract to take a job as the Green Bay Packers’ defensive line coach, the team realized that it was time to find for some answers.

When Tony Dungy retired from Indianapolis Colts, Ron Meeks stepped down from his position as a defensive coordinator. When this news of Trgovac’s departure from Panther came out then there were a few intriguing candidates for the Carolina to mull over.

Kansas City had parted ways with Herm Edwards, a defensive mastermind, and Jim Haslett was free from the St. Louis Rams. The Panthers ultimately stuck with a model of success in Meeks, who won a Super Bowl with the Colts in 2007.

Even though the expectations of John Fox, the coach of Carolina Panthers, Julius Peppers was not among the players who attended the 1st day — after his angry voice this off-season related to the franchise tag and a subsequent trade demand also.

The Carolina Panthers General Manager Marty Hurney said The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer this Thursday he has had positive discussions this week with Carl Carey, the agent of Pepper, but the 4-time Pro Bowl selection has said that he will never sign a long-term contract with the NFC South team.

The 2nd overall pick in 2002 NFL Draft out of North Carolina, Julius Peppers had switched off from left to right defensive end last season and recorded a career-high 14 1/2 sacks with 51 tackles.
In the 106 NFL games, all with the Carolina Panthers, Julius Peppers has 70 1/2 sacks and 344 tackles.

1st – Brian Orakpo of Texas — Brian Orakpo is a physical specimen, but can he play football? There is a legitimate concern as to whether he’s Mike Mamula or Terrell Suggs.
2nd – Tyson Jackson of LSU — Tyson Jackson is not as explosive, but with more teams switching to the 3-4, Jackson is in demand. He will be a higher pick than many imagine, based on being perfect for that scheme.
3rd – Robert Ayers of Tennessee — He is the Marlboro County product and has showed that he can rush from inside as well, and he is a late-riser on the draft boards.
4th – Everette Brown of Florida State — Seminoles pass rushers have disappointed before, but Everette Brown has the kind of speed to make it a tantalizing gamble.
5th – Aaron Maybin of Penn State — Aaron Maybin needs to be in the right system, because he is not built to be a 3 down lineman in a 4-3. But he is quick and productive.

The next five of the Carolina Panthers:

Michael Johnson, Georgia Tech; Connor Barwin, Cincinnati; Paul Kruger, Utah; Lawrence Sidbury, Richmond; David Veikune, Hawaii.

Many players have their say that they have been informed about all the changes coming to the Panthers defense, changes that will dictate the style of players they go after in free agency and also the draft.

With the just in defensive coordinator Ron Meeks, a Tony Dungy disciple, taking over, the Panthers are sure to lean more heavily toward the “Tampa 2″ style that Meeks is most familiar with. This in fact leaves them lacking pass rush from the front 4, and yes that will dictate their next set of actions.

The Panthers officials had also earlier said that a number of agents they will not be active in the first wave of free agency. However the Panthers have sent out feelers to a number of specific players, those players who of course fit what they’re hoping to do defensively.