As the Carolina Panthers have dismantled a large part of their foundation brick by brick this offseason, I keep wondering how this fits into the future of head coach John Fox.

Fox is under contract through 2010, but that's all. He badly needs a good year.

The Panthers' personnel moves, on the other hand, have been dominated by fiscal conservatism and a "go young" mission. The Panthers' front office appears to be at peace with the notion of taking one step back now to take two steps forward later.