Panthers Gab

Despite a loss in Super Bowl XLIV, the Colts have the inside track on winning Super Bowl XLV according to bodog.com. The Panthers are right now 40/1 to win the SB in the 2010 season. Below are all the odds on all the teams making the Super Bowl in Dallas in 2011:

Indianapolis Colts 13/2
San Diego Chargers 8/1
New England Patriots 10/1
New Orleans Saints 10/1
Pittsburgh Steelers 11/1
Dallas Cowboys 12/1
Green Bay Packers 12/1
Minnesota Vikings 12/1
Philadelphia Eagles 16/1
Baltimore Ravens 20/1
New York Giants 20/1
New York Jets 25/1
Tennessee Titans 25/1
Atlanta Falcons 30/1
Cincinnati Bengals 30/1
Arizona Cardinals 35/1
Chicago Bears 35/1
Houston Texans 35/1
Carolina Panthers 40/1
Miami Dolphins 45/1
San Francisco 49ers 45/1
Seattle Seahawks 45/1
Denver Broncos 50/1
Jacksonville Jaguars 50/1
Washington Redskins 50/1
Buffalo Bills 100/1
Cleveland Browns 100/1
Detroit Lions 100/1
Kansas City Chiefs 100/1
Oakland Raiders 100/1
St. Louis Rams 100/1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 100/1

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports there is mounting evidence the Panthers will not tag defensive end Julius Peppers thanks to the cost of $20 million a year this year and he will test free agency. The Panthers insist they’ve not reached a decision. “That’s definitely true,” said one NFL source with knowledge of the Panthers’ thinking. “Their owner [Jerry Richardson] has told people they’re not planning to keep him.” The Panthers have from Feb. 11 through Feb. 25 to designate Peppers as their franchise player; if it is not done by then, it cannot be done at all.

The Gaston Gazette talks today about how the future of John Fox and how it could affect how free agents pass on coming to the Panthers because of it:

Players like stability, so don’t be surprised if some unrestricted free agents pass on visiting Carolina simply because of owner Jerry Richardson’s lack of commitment to head coach John Fox. Fox is only guaranteed one season and that, according to former coach Dan Reeves, who was once in a lame duck situation, puts the Panthers in a tough position in terms of “recruiting” players. As for how he feels about his situation, Fox isn’t talking.

Panthers’ Middle Linebacker Jon Beason has accepted an offer to play in this year’s Pro Bowl in Miami this Sunday, he will be leaving for Miami Friday afternoon. He will replace 49ers Patrick Willis, who backed out due to a knee injury. Earlier, Beason said he was bitter about not making the original Pro Bowl roster and wasn’t sure if he wanted to be a replacement player.

A report states that it doesn’t look as if the Panthers will keep QB’s AJ Feeley and Josh McCown:

The Panthers enter next season with quarterbacks Jake Delhomme and Hunter Cantwell under contract. Matt Moore will likely to return as a restricted free agent. Josh McCown and mid-season fill-in A.J. Feeley are both unrestricted free agents and probably won’t be re-signed.

Impactful midseason acquisitions are not common to high school football…until now.  Thanks to the POWERADE “Coach for a Day” program, one Charlotte area high school team will add a coach that definitely knows what it takes to get to the next level.  That’s because he’s at the highest level possible.  POWERADE partner Steve Smith will help pick a winner in an online essay contest, and subsequently visit the winning entrant’s school to serve as an honorary coach for their varsity football practice.

The “Coach for a Day” program provides the rare opportunity for local high school athletes to learn from one of the top wide receivers on the circuit.  To enter, student-athletes are asked to tell POWERADE in 89 words or less why their high school would benefit from having Smith as their coach.  Submissions must be made online at POWERADE-CoachfortheDay.com by September 25.

The winning individual and team will create quite the campus stir on October 13, as they will welcome the speedster to practice where he will share tips that have helped make him among the game’s best.  Smith will participate in drills, teach the athletes some of his personal workout routines, and speak to the team about topics including work ethic, staying in school, proper nutrition and the importance of hydration.

This is the second year of the POWERADE “Coach for a Day” program in Charlotte. Sully Shidler and his Lake Norman High School Wildcats from Mooresville were the beneficiaries in the contest’s inaugural campaign

Panthers running back Jonathan Stewart is having surgery today on his left foot, the same foot that has given his problems and kept him out of practices throughout the 09 season. Stewart posted on his Twitter account early today that he was having surgery later in the day.

It comes after chronic pain in his toe and left Achilles’ tendon. He tweaked the injury in the season finale against New Orleans and was knocked out of the game.

Stewart played all 16 games and rushed for a team-best 1,133 yards and 10 touchdowns. Stewart and DeAngelo Williams combined to become the first set of teammates since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger to each rush for over 1,100 yards.

Longtime Panthers assistant Richard Williamson has announced his retirement:

Richard Williamson, who was hired as wide receivers coach by the Carolina Panthers even before first head coach Dom Capers was named, is retiring, the team announced Monday. Williamson, 68, joined the Panthers in 1995, the year they started play, stayed on through the entire tenures of Capers and George Seifert and was with the Panthers since John Fox arrived in 2002. He even did a stint as offensive coordinator under Seifert, but Williamson was best known as one of the top wide receiver coaches in the NFL. “I have enjoyed being with the Panthers since the beginning,” Williamson said in a statement released by the team. “It was great to be part of the development of the Panthers from an expansion team to a Super Bowl contender, and I appreciate the way [owner Jerry Richardson] does things. This organization is the class of the NFL and I have tremendous respect for him.”