Will the 2015 Carolina Panthers be better than the 2014 edition, which backed into winning its division despite having a losing record? Based upon what we’ve seen so far in free agency, I’m not optimistic.

As James Datar of Cat Scratch Reader puts it:

It’s my sincere hope we’re not destined for another barren few months and that Dave Gettleman’s talk of “not shopping at the dollar store” doesn’t become this year’s “the answer is on the roster,” but there’s a possibility that’s the case. It’s not like the Panthers need a lot to compete in 2015, but they need more than they had last year. So far the biggest questions [are] unanswered…

Yup.  The Panthers pretty much appear to be going sideways, resigning players (Greg Olson, Dwan Edwards, Ed Dickson, Colin Cole) from last year’s decidedly up-and-down squad. The big addition — in terms of size and paycheck — is offensive tackle Michael Oher of The Blindside fame (two years for $7 million total) as a replacement for Byron Bell, who won’t be back. Even that move doesn’t qualify as much of an upgrade. As Tyler Conway of the Bleacher Report notes, Oter isn’t a very good pass blocker — Pro Football Focus ranked Oter 50th of 54 eligible tackles in pass blocking last year — and only sporadically effective as a run blocker. His conclusion:

According to Pro Football Focus’ grading system, Oher has gotten progressively worse each season. More disconcertingly, Oher hasn’t been a net-positive player since that initial campaign. He has largely subsisted on his ability to stay on the field and football teams’ relative unwillingness to replace a perfectly healthy player; it’s no coincidence the Titans released him after his first major injury.

Carolina will hope Oher hitting the open market proves to be a wake-up call. He’ll likely compete for the starting right tackle spot while working on the type of deal where it isn’t too complicated to move on if necessary.

To be fair, the Panthers’ big issue remains their salary cap situation — the team has only partially put Marty Hurney’s slew of big, questionable contracts behind it. Perhaps that’s enough to allow the team to move from shopping at the dollar store to shopping some at Target. We haven’t really seen evidence of that yet though — and until we do, it’s hard to get too excited about the upcoming season.