Were you surprised by the length and the money involved in the contract, especially the $20 million in guaranteed money?

0ANo, Head Coach John Fox and General Manager Marty Hurney are confident that Jake Delhomme is the guy at quarterback, despite some criticism from the fans.  This contract allows Delhomme to end his career at Carolina, and the $20 million guaranteed is well worth keeping him, considering his is amongst the handful of active quarterbacks who have lead a team to the Super Bowl.

What do Panthers fans think of Delhomme? It sounds like opinions are somewhat split. Secondly, what do you think about him?

I think that with Delhomme you either like him or you don’t.  Delhomme isn’t the most accurate quarterback in the league, and makes a lot of stupid decisions for a veteran quarterback, but his does manage to win games.  Personally I think locking up Delhomme through 2014 is the right move, one because the Panthers still don’t have a clear successor, and two because he is the life of the team.  When Delhomme was lost for the season two years ago the Panthers barely managed to collect seven wins.  Delhomme does have bad games every so often, but he has one far more games for the Panthers than he has lost.

The Panthers had a surprising season, by ma ny accounts, last year, with their 12-4 record. Then came Delhomme’s horrible playoff game. Are his detractors thinking about that one game too much, and forgetting about the total body of work from last season?

Perhaps a bit, but rightfully so, six turnovers, at home, during a playoff game is inexcusable.  Delhomme played terribly yes, but he also had quite a few great games during the season that put the Panthers in that position, particularly three game winning drives late in the fourth quarter against San Diego, Green Bay and New Orleans, without those drives I don’t know if the Panthers would have made it to the playoffs last season.

At 34 years old, do you think Delhomme can lead the Panthers to a Super Bowl again?

Yes, but not by putting the team on his shoulders.  Right now the Panthers have one of the best running games in football.  That combined with a solid defense and Steve Smith still makes the Panthers contenders in my mind, the key will be if Delhomme can realize when he’s having a bad day and be content handing the ball off to DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart.

The story on Jake Delhomme’s contract extension can be found here: http://www.football.com/article/jake_delhomme.html

Tags: delhomme, fotoball, panthers