Sports betting had the Carolina Panthers releasing quarterback Jake Delhomme. It is the end of an era for Carolina as Delhomme was the quarterback that led them to the Super Bowl. Delhomme has not played as well recently though and the Panthers struggled in online sports betting this past season when Delhomme played.
Sports betting had Carolina extending the contract of Delhomme just a year ago but that turned out to be a mistake. Many people couldn’t understand what the Panthers were thinking when they gave Delhomme a five-year, $42.5-million deal. Delhomme was coming off a disaster against Arizona in the playoffs in 2009 but Carolina gave him the money. Now they are going to pay for it. That mistake cost Carolina $12.7 million dollars as they released Delhomme.
Getting rid of Delhomme was really the only choice for Carolina. Matt Moore had taken over the starting job and Delhomme simply wasn’t going to get the magic back. Moore actually led the Panthers to a 4-1 record in his five starts and Carolina seems ready to turn the job over to him.
Delhomme was really the face of the Carolina Panthers for many years so his release was not without emotional moments. “Change is tough, but change is inevitable,” offensive tackle Jordan Gross said. “Changing a quarterback is almost as big as changing a coach, because it affects the whole program. It’s the kind of thing that can make or break a team.”
Delhomme was a very popular player in Carolina and he led them to a lot of online sports betting success even though it did not happen last year. “We’ve made the decision that Matt Moore’s our starter and we’ll move forward.” Head coach John Fox said.
Carolina will be an interesting team to watch in the NFL off-season as they could go after some free agents. The Panthers are now going to be led by a young quarterback so they may want to get him some offensive line help and another receiver to complement Steve Smith. The Panthers still have a great running game so they are capable of bouncing back with a good year in 2010 against the sports betting odds. Carolina finished last season at 8-8 straight up and they were 9-7 against the spread. The Panthers were just 21st in the league in points scored a year ago.