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YUP! But also for me, remember, this wasn't about me doing research on a player and really wanting him. I'm an Arizona alum and T-Mac is arguably our best player in school history, this was huge for me. I still don't have much of a voice right now from how much I was screaming that night (although part of that is also from all the celebrating Wrexham's big win this weekend for 3 straight promotions).

Yea I thought it could be taken 2 ways, I just think that might be where he heard that

Yes when I heard it I wasn't sure whether they meant the knew their guy would be there at 8 or Graham was first and tmac second. I'm just saying that might be where it came from

Time will tell, but this seems like a home run draft as of right now. I don’t spend my time analyzing 200 prospects pre draft like some of you, but after learning more about these guys post draft these all make total sense and it seems like the team did an exceptional job matching BPA with areas of need. Starting with Tmac, the team came into the draft needing a couple different types of receiver: a true X and a speedy vertical threat. Tmac is a true X receiver and the clear top dog of this receiving draft class. He is capable of being the X from day one with this team and will allow all the other receivers to fit into more natural roles and play to their strengths. Just a truly perfect fit that changes the whole receiving corps. Scourton I think is capable of being a 3 down OLB/Edge right out of the gate, though as of right now I see him in more of a rotation with Clowney still on the roster, which is a great spot to be in. He plays the run well and has a couple really good pass rush moves (a spin and a chop) that he can rely on while he develops his full tool kit. I’ve seen some speculation that his busy hands could lead to some increased penalties early in his career so that could be something to watch but overall I’d rather have a guy who has to learn a little more restraint than a guy who has to learn to work and fight harder. Umanmielen is a taller, leaner Edge who I have seen described as very bendy. He should be able to contribute right away on pass rush downs and has the frame to fill out and develop a little more strength against the run. I was originally a little disappointed in the Etienne pick as I know many on the Huddle were as well. Part of it for me is just philosophical in that I’d rather just draft o-linemen every single year and make sure that depth is always refreshed with the knowledge that even bad running backs can look good behind an excellent OL. But, after learning more about Etienne’s game, I get it and he seems to compliment our RB room very well. It sounds like he will be the best receiving back on our roster day 1 while also adding value on special teams. I also like that he has relatively low mileage from college. I think this is where it is helpful to not be tied to pre draft mocks and big boards because this and especially late round picks in general the teams just maybe valuing completely different things. So if you liked x running back better, you may be right and that might be a better running back from a pure run the ball standpoint, but that guy may have been a completely wasted pick for our team and what we were looking for. Etienne seems like a very complimentary back for our roster. The TE (Mitchell Evans or Evan Mitchell I forget which) also seems like a great compliment to our current TE room with a lot of upside. He is more of a true inline TE than either Tremble or Sanders (especially Sanders), and should be a great combo with Sanders for years to come. His 2024 season he was returning from a torn ACL and his production increased as the year went on so we may have gotten a total steal here. Ransom I know may have some redundancy in skill set with Moehrig, but it’s late in the draft you just have to go BPA and realize we are more than likely drafting backups at this point. Love the 5th round DT, just a huge body run stuffer. It’s late round and size plays. And the 6th round WR is just another skill set that we needed more of in the WR room who can play special teams. All in all, I love this draft. Sure, it would have been nice to add another CB, or a free safety, or an OT or Center, but you can’t realistically do everything in one draft. I thought they did a good job sticking with BPA, making moves when necessary to secure highly rated players with high emphasis on doing that in earlier rounds when it mattered most, while also getting guys who could fit specific roles that we needed. It felt like they had a very good feel and understanding of how the draft was playing out and when runs would start happening as there were a couple times (Scourton and Etienne I noticed very clearly) that the team got ahead and selected the player at the beginning of the position runs. A+ from me.

I actually completely understand this, sadly lol. I had the same reaction when we drafted Luke. I did so much research on him and wanted no one else in the 1st round. He was the guy. When Goodell read his name on the card, I lost it. I called my uncle (another diehard Panthers fan) and got lost in celebrating until I looked up and 10 picks had gone by.

Just went and checked the presser, the quote was... "The 5th pick was a big moment for us, what was going to happen here that was going to help us get our guy at that point, with Cleveland taking Mason Graham there, the board kinda felt like Tet's gonna make it and we're holding our breath there for a few picks" And the response he had right before they asked the question that got the above quote, he said "unless someone really blew us out of the water, we weren't going to let our guy get pass" I can see how people took this as saying they wanted Graham first and when he was gone it became T-Mac, and sure, maybe they're just talking up the guy they did take in the end, but it very much sounds as if T-Mac might have always been the selection even if Graham was there.

I would’ve taken that 49ers deal drafted Walter Nolan picked up another second and drafted Higgins or Noel

Now I am even more curious about what all happened during the interviews. I just read an article today that said last night he went to a club with a suitcase full of 100s to celebrate and was accompanied by 5 or 6 rappers and partied till the place closed at 4am. Not that I blame anyone for partying with some ladies just seems like a poor time to decide to do this with all his image issues.

I'll be honest, I thought I was going to have to jump ship after the first two games of last season. Which sucked because I don't usually get MASSIVE and UNSHAKEABLE conviction about a lot of guys in the draft, but Bryce was one that I did. The only other pick I wanted more than Bryce was Luke.

The official Panthers prayer!

It's coming out that a whole bunch of players got pranked this draft, saw one player got a bunch of prank calls saying he was picked. I wonder if the league did something different this year with how that all works or if these things have always happened and they were just kept under wraps in the past and the Sanders family putting this one out there publicly then made all the other players who got pranked come out and say something too. But it does remind me of a great calling of a draft prospect prank a few years back. A friend of the player, who was at the draft party, called him to mess with him, but since he saw on the ID who it was, he laughed it off right away as a "why would you call me right now" as opposed to trying to prank them as pretending to be a GM.

Just like we're coddling Jaycee Horn by bringing in defensive linemen and safeties. SMH

all about if he still has that quickness. Hunter Renfrow isn't built to of slowed and really pull it off. I didn't watch a ton of him after his Pro Bowl season....but I do know his route running got really popular after that. The Renfrow routes. Wonder if some of it was teams just really started respecting him and studying his routes.....and that lead to him coming down a peg as it became somewhat less effective. But even if his routes were more studied and respect, his game still will work. You still going to guess wrong on them.

Eh, not so much, it's not like some random stranger on the street was able to get it from them, that would be concerning. Do you lock your computer at home when you go to the kitchen to get a snack or go to the bathroom? Of course not. This is no different, unless this kid had done something in the past to make his dad think he'd do something like this, he'd have had no reason to think he needs to lock his computer/phone/etc in his own home if he was just in another room.

I agree but you could interpret that they valued both equally. Once one was gone, there was no choice to be made.

I think that’s very fair and I sincerely hope it does. I can’t believe I have turned in to a BY defender.

Maybe in a year or two, but for this year, T-Mac needs to almost exclusively line up on the outside. Yes, T-Mac very much excels in that power slot role, and it would be smart for us to use him that way. But right now we basically have T-Mac and a whole bunch of guys who are probably best suited to line up out of the slot. We need to develop XL and Coker more so they can slide our there when T-Mac slides into the slot for a snap.

I thought it was hilarious.

I mean, even if Graham was their A and T-Mac was their B it's not like they'd say anything different after the fact. They're going to act like they got "their guy" either way. Without someone with legit sources chiming in its impossible to know the truth and even then, people are gonna choose whether or not they want to believe that "truth".

I actually put my phone on airplane mode around the 5th pick. While I know my friends, if we took T-Mac, they'd have let me have the moment and would have kept quiet. But if they saw we took someone else on Twitter before it was shown, I don't think they'd have been able to hold back from sending some half cryptic text. In the end, I was right, if they did see it beforehand, nobody texted me, but I'm still glad I did it as it gave me a moment that I'll kinda never forget. And I say kinda, because while I won't forget Thursday night, in a way, I kinda blacked out for the next hour, at one point I looked up and saw they were on like the 12th or 13th pick at that point, I had zero idea what had gone on, my head was still spinning.

I'm not on the fence at all, but I think INDIVIDUAL stats that SHOULD silence the critics would be something like: 60+ completion % 3500 yards passing 25 TDs 10 Ints 150-200 yards rushing and 3 TDs

They made a comment in the presser, something like "as soon as Graham went off the board we knew it would tmac." I can't remember the exact quote

I’m hoping the Panthers use McMillan much like the Broncos use Sutton. McMillan excels over the middle of the field with digs/crossing routes. So hopefully they move McMillan around and allow him to be a power slot

Based on what? Directly leading up to the draft there was a rumor that the team was split on whether Graham or Nolen was their top DL. It's hard to know what the intentions were simply because for the first time in seemingly forever we didn't just advertise the hell out of our 1st round intentions. I like it and I hope that starts a trend.

A lot of times I turn the volume off until they’re announcing the pick on the podium. The announcers tip picks all the time and it’s annoying as hell you see them look at a screen once the pick rolls in and then say something about a position of need or what they think X team is about to do after talking about a different position 5 seconds earlier