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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