Ron Rivera Era All Honest And Equal For Panthers

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Ron Rivera admits he is nervous. He's 49 years old. A career football assistant, he has just begun running his first NFL training camp for the Carolina Panthers. Rivera wants to get every detail right. He wants everyone at camp to like him but, even more importantly, to respect him. He wants to tell the truth and engage the fans. He wants to put a no-nonsense, play-hard stamp on his first NFL team.

But I think he also is nervous because he has a little secret in his back pocket:
Rivera thinks the Panthers can be good. I ask Rivera about linebacker Jon Beason's stated goal of this team winning nine games only a year after Carolina went 2-14. He doesn't blink. "I'm not going to put a number on it, but I think we can win," he says. "Yes, I do."

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5 Panthers Training Camp Story Lines

The most drama in Spartanburg this August will center around Carolina's quarterback situation with No. 1 overall draft pick Cam Newton battling second-year man Jimmy Clausen for the starting role.The team released Matt Moore, who started 13 games over four seasons, leaving Clausen as the most experienced with 10 starts in last year's rookie campaign that produced only three touchdown passes, nine interceptions and a lowly 58.4 rating.

Newton possesses an abundance of physical ability and his knack for making something out of nothing, both with his legs and strong arm, made him a winner in college but might not so easily translate immediately to the faster and more sophisticated NFL. He'll be the man in the fishbowl facing not only tight scrutiny from the locals, but from around the entire league.
Conventional wisdom has the team adding a veteran as a mentor to Newton sooner than later. Former Rams quarterback Marc Bulger and former Panther Jake Delhomme are among the possibilities.

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Panthers Will Not Trade Steve Smith

Sources have indicated to Pro Football Weekly that WR Steve Smith is expected to remain a Panther this season after rumors had circulated around the league that he would be traded this offseason.When reached for comment, Smith said he "and his family decided we wanted to stay" and indicated he would report to camp with his teammates as scheduled on Friday.

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Catching Up With Panthers President Danny Morrison

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The NFL lockout is over and the Carolina Panthers are officially preparing for the 2011 season. NewsChannel 36's Ira Cronin sat down with Carolina Panthers President Danny Morrison Wednesday morning to talk about the upcoming season, impact players on the this year's squad and much more.

"It's great to have the players back," Morrison said. "It was a lot of fun to see them back on the Bank of America campus -- a lot of energy -- it was a good day."

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Going Nowhere

Defensive end Charles Johnson has agreed to re-sign with the Carolina Panthers, a league source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.According to the source, Johnson's deal is for six years and $76 million with $32 million guaranteed. The first three years of the deal are worth $46 million, the source said.
The 25-year-old Johnson had a career-high 11½ sacks for Carolina in 2010 and led the team's defensive lineman with 51 tackles.

A third-round pick from Georgia in 2007, the Hawkinsville, Ga., native spent most of his rookie season on the inactive list as he tried to add weight and get stronger. He played in all 16 games a year later as a reserve and had six sacks, but those numbers fell to four sacks in 28 tackles in 2009 as he again failed to crack the starting lineup. But when Julius Peppers left for Chicago in 2010, Johnson knew it was his chance. Linebacker Thomas Davis said Johnson was one of the hardest workers in the weight room in the offseason. Defensive line coach Brian Baker said in training camp of Johnson that, "rather than slumping back in the meeting, he's on the edge of his seat now, ready to answer questions. He's a different guy."

Despite being slowed in training camp with a hamstring injury, Johnson won Peppers' old starting job ahead of Everette Brown. With a better understanding of blocking schemes and perfecting his moves, he leads all of Carolina's defensive linemen with 64 tackles and 24 quarterback hurries.

NOTHING FOLLOWS

DEAL DONE / NFL Lockout Ends As Owners, Player Reps Agree To 10-Year CBA

It's over, after four and a half months, the NFL lockout came to an end on Monday, with the player representatives and NFLPA executive committee agreeing to a settlement of a new collective bargaining deal, the terms of which the owners had approved last week.

"It’s been a long time coming, and football’s back, and that’s the great news for everybody," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a joint news conference outside the players’ association offices in Washington, D.C. "Having a 10-year agreement is extraordinarily great for our game, but most importantly our fans. I think this agreement is going to make our game better.” Although the players have been locked out for most of the 2011 offseason getting the deal done in late July ensures training camps, remaining exhibition games and the regular season will go on as scheduled.

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NFL Players Set To Accept Labor Deal Today

After differences were settled and language revised over the weekend, it appears the NFL finally has a labor deal that both sides can agree on. The NFL Players Association's executive committee, according to a person from the NFLPA with knowledge of the talks, is expected to meet today and recommend approval of the 10-year collective bargaining agreement, which would be the longest in league history, as well the global settlement of legal cases.

NFL.com reported that New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees e-mailed teammates over the weekend, saying, "The deal is almost done," and that an announcement would be made "sometime Monday."
If that happens, the 32 NFL teams might open their doors by Wednesday and training camps could open by the weekend, possibly as early as Friday.

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Richardson At The Heart Of Agreement

ATLANTA - Over the past three years, the only thing that could stop Panthers Owner/Founder Jerry Richardson from obsessing over the NFL's labor issues was a heart transplant that threatened his very life.Thursday evening, when NFL owners ratified a collective bargaining agreement (CBA), Richardson's fellow owners praised the heart he showed in getting what once seemed to be a dire situation to the verge of resolution.

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Mawae / 'We're Not Tied To Any Deadline'

WASHINGTON -- NFL Players Association president Kevin Mawae dismissed today's projected union deadline for approving a new collective bargaining agreement, suggesting that the goal of getting the best deal for his members trumps the calendar while hinting the entire process may take more time.

"Our goal today is to see what's on the table, discuss outlying issues that may or may not be there," Mawae said Wednesday morning outside union headquarters, where NFLPA officials and player representatives assembled to review a proposal in an effort to end the lockout.

"We're not tied to a deadline of July 21 (when owners will meet in Atlanta to potentially ratify a proposed CBA). Our timeline is getting the best deal for our players. So whether it's today or tomorrow or whatever it may be, we want to play football, we want to go back to work. But we're not going to agree to a deal unless it's the best deal for our players."

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Fans Shouldn't Give Their Love Back To NFL For Free

By all accounts, the NFL will be back in business by this time next week. There aren’t even very many i's left to dot and t's to cross, and the owners and players reportedly will get back to the table Monday in Washington to take more steps toward ending the lockout. So as that day approaches, let me make this gentle request to the fans: show some pride and self-respect. Don’t just go running back to the NFL, tongues hanging out, eyes bugging and — to steal a line from the late, great comic Robin Harris — begging so hard that your hands look like cups.

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Rosario Keeps Preparing

Dante Rosario sat on the sideline at Linfield’s Maxwell Field late last week, watching the kids at his “Dante’s Inferno” football camp run. As they scampered around the field in neon-green shirts, Rosario seemed relaxed, enjoying the camp and the sun.

Rosario, a fifth-year NFL tight end originally from Dayton, said he enjoyed coming back home because it was a way for him to not worry about the uncertainty surrounding his professional career. The NFL lockout has held Rosario in limbo because as a restricted free agent, he started the work stoppage without a contract with his team, the Carolina Panthers. He was tendered (temporarily put back onto the Panthers roster) for the duration of the lockout, but Rosario said he wouldn’t know his fate until after the negotiations were over.

“I could be with Carolina; there’s a good chance I will,” Rosario said. “Or, I could for another reason be with another team. That’s still unknown. Either way, I’ll be prepared.”

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How Much Will Charles Johnson Cost The Panthers?

One of the biggest free agents the Carolina Panthers must resign when the league year starts is defensive end Charles Johnson.  How much will Johnson cost the Panthers?  If Johnson requests a contract that is comparable to an elite defensive end like Jared Allen or Julius Peppers; should the Panthers pay it ?

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How Will Cam Newton Perfom In 2011 ?

NFL teams in general, especially those in transition, always have a hankering for a player to line up under center and deliver excellent leadership on and off-the-field, great composure, pocket presence, awareness, accuracy, mobility, durability and a sheer will to win and improve every day. It’s easy to see the NFL’s elite in Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and now Super Bowl Champion Aaron Rodgers, just to name a few—possesses the aforementioned must-have qualities that it takes to be among the league’s best.

Can Cam lead Carolina down the correct path and become a draft boom, or will he plunder to the bust status?

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Carolinas First Ever Draft Pick,Kerry Collins Retires From NFL

Quarterback Kerry Collins on Thursday announced his retirement from the NFL.

"The past several months have brought on much introspection, and I have decided that while my desire to compete on Sundays is still and always will be there, my willingness to commit to the preparation necessary to play another season has waned to a level that I feel is no longer adequate to meet the demands of the position," Collins said in a statement released by his agent, David Dunn. The 38-year-old Collins was the first draft pick (fifth overall) of the expansion Carolina Panthers in 1995 out of Penn State. He started the first game in Panthers franchise history and led Carolina to the NFC Championship Game in his second season.

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Panthers In Depth / Can Newton Start a Turnaround ?

The NFL lockout has dampened the usual offseason analysis of each team's comings and goings. But, lockout or not, the league will still be moving on at some point -- hopefully in time for the regular season to start on time Sept. 8. And during the labor impasse, USA TODAY will focus back on the field by breaking down the five biggest questions facing each team for the 2011 season.

Up today: The Carolina Panthers.

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American Sports Fans Need To Regain Their Civility

In this grand sporting nation of ours, home of noble Olympians, Little Leaguers with mint chocolate-chip moustaches, the late John Wooden and humble NBA millionaires like Grant Hill, solemn questions this Independence Day: Do we care too much about our games and our teams? And if not, then exactly what makes a fan of one team pummel a fan of another team into a coma?

It’s been more than three months since Bryan Stow, a San Francisco Giants fan, was beaten unconscious by two Dodgers fans in a stadium parking lot after a game. He remains hospitalized with brain injuries and one man, a known gang member, is in custody. While taking into account a perpetrator’s background — and the fact there are unruly fans and then there are just flat-out violent criminals who happen to have a ticket stub — it’s hard not to, at least in part, connect the dots back to an endangered species at the ballpark.

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NFL Network / 'Major Progress' Made Toward New NFL Labor Deal

NFL Network correspondent Albert Breer reports that the league and its players "made major progress on the revenue split" beginning during last night's collective bargaining negotiations and extending into this morning before this week's session in Minneapolis wrapped. So much headway was made on how to divvy up the $9-plus billion pie -- the inability to do so was the major reason the lockout began -- that Breer said that point of major contention "may not even be an issue anymore."

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‘Bizarre’ Twists Stifle NFL Labor Talks

Three weeks ago, as Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith broke bread in a midtown Manhattan restaurant, the leaders of the NFL’s warring labor factions projected a sense of mutual optimism. During a negotiation session earlier that day at a Long Island hotel, Smith and player representatives had suggested a new, “all-revenue” model for splitting up the billions of dollars generated annually by America’s most profitable professional sports league, and Goodell and the owners across the table seemed to embrace the idea enthusiastically.

Late Thursday afternoon, after another frustrating interchange between the two negotiating teams at a Minneapolis-area law firm that ultimately lasted past midnight, it was clear that labor peace – and an end to the lockout imposed by the owners on March 12 – won’t be achieved anywhere close to as seamlessly as numerous reports in recent weeks have suggested. Not only is the very definition of total revenue being debated, but each side also believes the other has tried to manipulate the negotiation process in its favor, and any semblance of trust has all but disappeared.

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