I really like Armanti Edwards -- as a person, as a college legend at Appalachian State and as a role model.
I don't like him, however, as an NFL player, and I think it's time for the Panthers to give up the ghost on the Edwards experiment.
Our Joseph Person has a fine story on Edwards in today's newspaper, one that previews what could be Edwards' final snaps for Carolina in tonight's exhibition against Pittsburgh.
Edwards, in his third year, has worked hard. Unfortunately, I don't think he is ever going to be an NFL-caliber receiver. He might make the Panther team again this season -- a spot has opened up for at least the first six weeks since David Gettis has been slow to come back from injury -- but if so, he will be inactive every game unless Joe Adams gets hurt.
Rookie Joe Adams is a better punt returner than Edwards, and the Panthers have at least three players who are far better receivers (Steve Smith, Brandon LaFell and Louis Murphy).
Edwards was a risk when the Panthers drafted him in the third round in 2010 (giving up a second-round 2011 pick to do so), and it hasn't turned out well. He was one of GM Marty Hurney's second- and third-round misfires, like Everette Brown, Corvey Irvin, Dwayne Jarrett and Jimmy Clausen.
To give Hurney credit, his first-round picks have been remarkably good and now form the nucleus of the team (Newton, Stewart, Beason, Kuechly, D. Williams, Thomas Davis and Jordan Gross among them). He has not done as well in the rounds after that (although Ryan Kalil and Charles Johnson were second- and third-round picks in the Panthers' 2007 draft -- one of the best in club history).
Edwards was a noble attempt. But his incredible elusiveness in college just hasn't translated to the pros. He looks small on the field and just not that fast anymore.
Edwards ultimately reminds me of Nick Maddox, who was the best high school running back I ever saw, but also somewhat slight of stature compared to NFL players. Maddox's phenomenal career at Kannapolis's A.L. Brown High never quite translated at Florida State, when the linebackers on the other team suddenly could keep up with him.
Edwards was better than most anyone he played in college -- including the Michigan defense in that famous App State upset -- but the speed caught up to him in the pros and he just hasn't found his niche.
I'm sorry he hasn't. Armanti is a great guy. I've known numerous fans who have had personal contact with him and come away better for the experience.
But let's be honest -- he's not going to help the Panthers if he stays on the roster this season. Better to give that roster spot to someone who can.
We're moving!
9 years ago
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46 comments:
Scott - well written and sadly, as an App grad, very much on point. My hope for Armanti is that he was wise with the money his NFL experience brought him and can transition to "normal" life with a nest egg in place.
It seems Marty Hurney has yet to master trading up on Draft Day. We gave up a 2nd round pick (33rd pick) to draft Armanti Edwards in the 3rd round. We gave up a 1st round pick to draft Everette Brown in the 2nd round. I would be happy if the Panthers never traded up & only considered trading down.
I still think it would be worthwhile to give him a shot at the third quarterback spot. It was a bad idea to put him at reciever in the first place, and it's not like he could be any worse than Jimmy Clausen. Sure he's small, but Russell Wilson is too and he's an NFL starter now.
I agree, he has never found his niche at Carolina playing out of position. Love his work ethic but could not catch. needs try at another team. Did not help that Foxy hated him.
"I still think it would be worthwhile to give him a shot at the third quarterback spot".....somewhat a decent thought but honestly Clausen has QB experience and knows the position. To cut Clausen and promote Armanti to 3rd string would be absurd at this point. Then trying to bring him along in the position for another 3-5yrs as a 3rd string project? Time to cut him unfortunately. He can go be QB coach at App St, enjoy life and help other young players. Jerry Moore would take him in a heartbeat.
App. State grad here, FWIW. I graduated in '08 and literally saw every one of Armanti's games. He never struck me as a true NFL talent. Never passed the eyeball test. Thought on draft night we gave WAY too much for him and it seems I'm right. Oh, well. Here are the players who went around the 33rd pick (which we would've had) Ras I Dowling, Andy Dalton, Jabal Sheard, Ryan Williams, Akeem Ayers, Bruce Carter, Jarvis Jenkins,Brooks Reed. Meh.
poster above comparing him to Russell Wilson is hilarious...Wilson was dominant at NC State and Wisc.
he wasn't playing high school college football.
this was a bust deluxe from day 1, time to end it.
There can't be anybody on this board in their right mind that thinks Armani can be any worse than Clausen as 3rd string Qb. I loved the Clausen pick, but Fox killed his confidence. He needs to be traded to Green Bay for a 5th or 6th rounder and learn behind Rogers. That way we could get our pick back for Murphy. We could use Armani like Buffalo is using Brad Smith. Emergency 3rd qb. Steelers did it with Hines Ward. Randel El did it as well. If you make it to the 3rd string guy you are screwed any way. I would rather had Armani than Clausen. Armani can provide something useful, even if it is just running the Scout team as a mobile qb. He can also field punts and kickoffs if something happens. He isn't a starter at any position in this league, but he can hold the clipboard as well as Clausen can.
I hate to see him go, but perhaps Armanti could help another team if the Panthers decide to give up on him. One thing for sure, if AE is cut, then Hurney has absolutely no leg to stand on keeping Jimmy Clausen. If you think AE has been a bust, then what has Clausen been? Plus, Clausen has not had to make a position change and he's still the worst 3rd string QB in perhaps this history of the NFL.
The Panthers coaching staff has expressed disdain for the HBO series "Hard Knocks", but this has not deterred the Observer sports writers from using Armanti Edwards's 2012 pre-season to mug up a low-rent prose version of the show.
Nor has it stopped Scott Fowler from engaging in some sneakily ("I really like Armanti Edwards...") mean spirited piling on at AE's expense. Fowler has given us one thing and one thing only in this smarmy attack piece--a slick, professional version of the rants that amateur "haters" have decorated Observer articles with since AE joined the team.
Edwards (or any of the other 22 players who will depart without so much public attention) may or may not make the cut this year with the Panthers, but fortunately it will be the coaching staff--not Scott Fowler--who will make the decision. And when this happens, hopefully it will be based on a rational assessment of team needs and player performance in THIS pre-season, not the half-baked ruminations of a columnist stuck on the wilted career of a local HS star who couldn't make it at Florida State.
Personally, I am satisfied with the summing-up of Coach Rivera quoted in Joe Person's piece today: "The big thing for Armanti is to make the plays he's been making in training....He's had a solid camp. He's had good performances. Now it's to see the consistency."
This is the real Armanti Edwards story tonight and tomorrow. Person got most of it in his piece by not pre-judging the player or the outcome. Fowler, on the other hand, tries to show what a smarty he is and misses the point miserably.
He should take Clausen's place on the team. Cut Clausen and make Armanti the third string QB. It was stupid to try and make him something he wasn't. Do you go to an Italian Restaurant known for their delicious pasta dishes and order a hamburger? He's a freakin QUARTERBACK. RECOGNIZE!!!
Armanti has one more game. Just like Rocky Balboa said....."I didn't hear no bell"
The Carolina panthers screwed this experiment up...they never gave him a chance.
When he ends up in Canada or Arena League, or the new USFL I've heard rumors about AS A QUARTERBACK and sets the world on fire comes back to play in the NFL and kick Panther ass, you're going to ask in a headline, "Who saw this coming?" and you're going to forget I saw it coming and I'll be here shaking my freaking head in amazement.
Regardless of where he ends up after tonight, I will always respect the way Armanti handled the B.S. treatment he received from John Fox in his rookie season. To use a player as your pawn in the "I don't wanna be here anymore Jerry Richardson" game was disgusting. Edwards continued to focus on getting better and ignored being screwed by Fox. I have a lot fo respect for this young man, and I strongly feel that he will inevitably be successful in anything that he does.
But how do we know? He's had the ball thrown to him just a handful of times this preseason. According to the media, he's been fantastic in practice. The problem has been it hasn't translated to the games. But how can it translate if he's not getting the ball thrown his way?
Cut Clausen and Armanti and there will be no arguments
WOW SCOTT! Talk about throwing someone under the bus!!! I think this article was a very low down right dirty blow to the writing of journalism!!!!
Edwards was a QB, so how was he to adjust to a position he naturally never played???? WR or Punt Returner??? And also Jimmy Clausen is awful, are we gonna see another article saying the panthers should cut him too? It will only be fair!!
Cut Armanti and Clausen and be done with it!
All the app state homers need to just stop. Yes he was great in fbs football but he is just not an nfl talent, he has not even shown a shimmer of potential. The only reason we have decided to hold on to him for so long is because we spent a pretty high draft pick to take and we did not want to embarrass ourselves by cutting him after a year. Its a shame that the situation did not turn out better for him, it is not his fault we gave up what we did to get him but nonetheless he is not a competent player and needs to go. Just like in any profession when you cannot make any contribution to the company that employs then you get fired, thats the way it is and armantis time is now.
If I hear one more AE lover say the Panthers didn't give him a chance, I'll scream. (Not that you'll hear me.) He got his chance the day he was drafted, just like everyone else in the draft. Was it his fault he was taken WAY too high? No. But saying he didn't get a chance after being in the league for 3 years is just ridiculous. It's the NFL, not pee wee league where you play because daddy knows the coach or played down the road. Now if they would've cut him after the 1st year, then you would have all the reason in the world to say he didn't get his fair shot.
Panthers, please, please, please CUT Armanti Edwards & Jimmy Clausen. BOTH players are terrible. Jimmy is the worst excuse for QB I've seen in a long time. He was built up in Cali, he was a bust at ND and, now, he's our problem. AE is tiny. He can't play QB in the NFL - grow a brain. He cannot return balls and barely catches passes. It's over Marty McFly, cut 'em. Mr. Hurney should take a whipping for these awful picks. But, it's time move on!!!
asCan't wait to read all the fine comments when Armanti has a nice night against the Steelers and makes the cut tomorrow and they isn't anything you can do about it, hahaha.
I bet they keep him at least until David Gettis returns. Clausen is probably gone after this season. I don't think they'll offer him a new contract. Maybe they could get a 7th round pick for him but I doubt it. I trust Rivera and Hurney to do what's best for the team.
I have nohing against Edwards, it's not his fault we stupidly gave away a second round pick. Edwards was indeed ignored by the Fox regime, but Rivera and his staff have given him chances. He just can't play - he needs to go, so does that clown Clausen. Fire Marty Hurney while theyre at it.
Say what you want to about the kid as a football player, but he makes some great suits.
Armanti Edwards is a quarterback. End of story. He had the misfortune of getting caught in the middle of a grudge fight between Richardson and Fox. Trying to turn a first rate college quarterback into a receiver is one of the dumbest moves any NFL team has attempted in the history of this league. That he has gone along with this plan and given it his best without having an attitude about it speaks volumes for his character.
Edwards has never been given a shot at quarterback. No Scott, putting him in the wildcat formulation for a couple of plays doesn't count as a fair shot. I was at the humiliating loss to the Bears a couple of years ago. They put Edwards in for one wildcat play and he ran the ball up the middle for a 7 yard gain. Fans were literally screaming at Fox to put Armanti in at QB in the second half. But no, the Clausen and Moore experiment continued, generating one or maybe two first downs the entire game. Most Panther fans had cleared out by the end of the 3rd quarter, leaving the fans from Chicago the run of the stadium. One of the most humiliating spectacles I have ever witnessed at BOA stadium.
Edwards deserved a lot better than the Panthers have given him. If you are one of the top 5 greatest college quarterbacks the state of NC has ever produced, then you deserve to be given a shot at NFL QB. My hope is that Armanti will head to Canada to play QB. And that someday he will end up with an NFL team willing to give him the chance at QB that he deserves.
You do not get to show what you have if you do not get on the field and when you do, they throw the other way. Put him out there with some other sets to see him play. I agree he can't do worse than Clausen. Let him go and keep Edwards as the third string QB but also put him in to other sets.
This article was on point - he was a good college QB that didn't work out as a conversion WR.
The people who think he can be the 3rd QB are out of their minds. It's over just let him go.
Scott you fail to point out that AE was a victim of NFL politics. Fox knew he was a lame duck so he stuck it to Hurney using Armanti as bait. Then came the strike, which derailed his progress, then the Can'thers drafted Cam making AE's Wildcat abilities obsolete..I won't even mention the woeful blocking and blocking n the back penalities that called back his best returns he suffered when playing PR, something Rivera mentioned.
AE has his degree with honors,(how many NFL palyers can claim that?) plus he can coach...In addition I am hearing the Redskins are watching the waiver wire for his name. Despite the hard dose of life he was fed n Charlotte he will survive. Armanti has the heart of a Mountaineer, and Mountaineers do not go down without a fight.
I said when they drafted him that he has no business being in the NFL. Like somebody else said, he doesn't even pass the eyeball test. I also said he would not be in any 53man roster come 2012 season...that time has come.
One question for Scott and everyone else calling for Armanti's head:
Is Armanti really any worse than Seyi Ajirotutu?
I say no. Ajirotutu had dropped everything thrown at him. It is beyond me why he survived the first cut. He is complete garbage. Cut Ajirotutu and let Edwards keep working until Gettis comes back. IF Gettis comes back, that is.
The biggest bust of all is the adult fan walking around in an NFL jersey.
I simply can't understand the man-crush that many fans have on Edwards. Seriously, if you don't get it by now that he's out of place in the NFL then you really have no business claiming any NFL knowledge!
It's simply an excercise in futility. Football is like a pyramid and the true talent pool narrows quickly as you advance towards the top. Clearly, Edwards has failed to make the move to the next level and is as much a waste of a roster spot as Olindo Mare!
The problem is not that he hasn't been given a chance at receiver or that he should be a 3rd string QB. If he was ever gonna make it the NFL they should put him at defensive back and tried him there from day 1. There is a saying in the league that those who can't catch play DB! He is plenty athletic enough and he should be a able to read a quarterback pretty well. If he stays on this team it will only be until gettis comes back. If you're really an edwards fan pray that the panthers cut him and another team puts in the secondary where he belongs!
Does anyone remember the wide open TD pass from Cam to Armanti last preseason? No? That's because Cam absolutely blew it. Overthrew him by 10 yards on a 10 yard pass. I think if that had been completed, it would qualify as a "shimmer of potential". He also led the team in receptions during last year's preseason, but no one remembers that. He has not been given a fair shake, in my honest black and gold tainted opinion. He's had all of two snaps with the second team in preseason.
One thing is obvious tonight... we CANNOT afford to start the season with our current Special Teams coach!
Armanti will be on the 53 roster clowns!
Cut Tutu, Edwards and Clausen
Tutu and Clausen probably end up in Miami.
Edwards would be a nice backup for Seahawks. Sitting on the bench behind Flynt should do him good.
It's all over now. You unbelievably STUPID fans of Armanti actually think he's some hero of football. That was back in a small college town, in a small college conference...not even in the FBS. What on Gods green earth made you think he could be a NFL player, based on his success at his little school?
Armanti is not a professional quarterback and he never will be. I believe you should just be thankful that he was able to use his God given ability to earn a college degree. No one ever knocks a person for trying, but you fans are absolute idiots. Armanti could not have started at Southern Cal, or at Texas, or at Nebraska, or at Oklahoma, or at Miami, or at Virginia Tech, or at Ohio State. Armanti was a FCS QB...and that was all he was.
Armanti wasn't better in college than Troy Smith, Andre Ware, Matt Leinert, Vince Young, JaMarcus Russell,or Brad Smith. Oh, but Armanti is supposed to be better than all of them at the Pro level, even when Armanti never consistetly played the level of competition in college these other players did.
You homers need to stay at home.
To the poster above who said "comparing him to Russell Wilson is hilarious...Wilson was dominant at NC State and Wisc."
You are right. It is hilarious because one of them (AE) dominated an entire division of football, whereas the other was so dominant that NCSU showed him the door for his senior season. You lose.
hey 8:37,
I'm the guy you are talking too.
Is Armanti starting for a NFL team????
NO he is being discussed for being cut....yet Wilson is a starter.
You lose.
Shove your Crap State Diploma up your Armanti-loving A and stop talking about the NFL, go back to watching your high school college games up in Boone.
Should have picked Jacoby Ford.
Um, AE sells tickets, like it or not. He's staying.
Well well Scott....I guess somewhere in Charlotte Armanti is askin' "How do you like me now?
Im glad the coaches make the cut decisions and not the media.
Don't feel bad. AE has often been underestimated yet defeated the odds. He was a premmie. His dad is in jail for manslaughter. Both Clemson and South Carolina looked past him.....even the "old ball coach" will not talk about it when asked.
And from ASU he graduated with HONORS after only seven semesters, just hours after his last college at Montana.
He does need work. I saw the touchdown drop. But for some reason Im not hearing anyone talk about the very next play where he took a slant route to the five yard line, to make up for his error....also as I recall he did not muff any punts last nights and had the usual sorry blocking.
But guess what...Armanti will only improve...and you get watch it!!
As it turns out Scott Fowler has some thing in common with everyone posting here, an opinion that carries no clout.
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