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Cats Cornering Offensive Line Market

By Brinson | March 28, 2008

I don’t want to say that the Panthers are overdoing it on signing offensive lineman, because it’s really tough to do that, but jeebus…how many are we going to have on the roster by the time we head into camp?

It’s fine though - over the past few years, we’ve definitely had issues with injuries on the line that caused us to play people out of position. And Mittens or no Mittens, it’s obvious that we needed help at that position.

In that spirit, Fox and Hurney have picked up two more offensive linemen. First, Milford Brown, who as ITP points out is extremely versatile, something we clearly need.

Brown, 28, has played with Houston, Arizona and St. Louis over six seasons. He had 16 starts over four seasons with the Texans, then started 12 games for the Cardinals in 2006. With St. Louis in 2007, Brown started nine games at left guard, four at right tackle and two at right guard. The Panthers like linemen with that kind of versatility.

In addition, we inked Toniu Fonoti, who has been cut by Atlanta and Minnesota over the past two years, because, well, he’s not “slim”, apparently clocking in at around 390 (!) while with the Chargers. You better believe this contract is loaded with incentive clauses, and Fonoti has a ton of upside. Worse case is, he gets addicted to barbecue and we cut him.