Let me see if I get this straight: So the Panthers are one of only two teams to draft a punter this year, using the last pick in the 6th round to take Brad Nortman from Wisconsin. Now the interesting thing about Nortman is that he wasn’t even the second best punter on many draft prospect ratings. (See here for example.) His career average in college was only 42.1 yards and his leg may be maxed out at that. Which is to say that the Panthers almost certainly could have signed him — or an equivalent talent — had they not used a draft pick on him.
So what do the Panthers do then? They go out and sign veteran punter Nick Harris to compete with Nortman for the job… Which means that Nortman is the guy except when he’s not the guy. And that changes within three weeks. Oh, and Harris’ NFL punting average is 42.5 yards.
It’s exactly these sort of bizarre, head-scratcher moves that make you question why Marty Hurney still has a job.
