SCO96

I'm against trading down. I'm in favor of staying put and picking the best defensive player/contributor for our woeful defense. However, if we could move down only 4 spots in round 1, come away with a midround 2nd round pick, and only have to give up a 4th round pick (which we'd probably use to pick a JAG), then I could actually stomach that. That would give us 4 picks in the top 100 instead of 3! If we can't find 3 starters with a first round pick, two 2nd rounders, and high 3rd round choice for the worst defense in Panther's history, then it's time to get a new GM.

No offense taken. I was just pointing out that a solid team is not going to miss on their 1st and 2nd round picks for several years in a row. They may have a bad year...but not a string of successive failures. If they did that year in and year out...then they'd be us. Here's what is disheartening. The Eagles have been competitive for most of this decade which means they are typically picking later in the draft and almost always after us. This means we probably had a shot at most of those players while we were on the clock. In hindsight I tend to agree that our 2024 draft could have been better. I'm still willing to give Morgan the benefit until the end of the 2025 season to see if last year's rookies (Legette, Sanders) show significant improvement in the upcoming season. I like what he did by addressing the interior o-line. I don't think Clowney was a bad acquisition. Jalen Coker was a steal as an UDFA. What really tainted our 2024 class was the Brooks selection in round 2. He probably won't be ready until 2026 which means he'd be halfway thru his rookie deal before he can make an impact. I can see taking a day 3 gamble on an injured RB, but not on day 2 when you have so many holes to fill. I'm just glad Chuba really hit his stride last season to give us a viable running game.

Ask yourself this question, based on our trade history on draft day and our history of day 2 picks, do you really trust this front office to make a deal to move up and grab the right player? If the Panthers decide to move up to grab a guy the first thing in my mind is "this guy is going to be a jag" If a team feels like there isn't a big talent drop off moving down to the end of round 2, then may be we should use similar logic. I'm of the opinion we can find a defensive starter in rounds 1, 2, and 3 if we just stay put, and also find a prospect in round 4 to play center. I'd could understand moving down from 8 to the mid teens to pick up an extra 2nd or 3rd, but outside of that I'd be afraid to make a big deal on draft day to move up.

What can of deal can you come up with that would convince a team to help us move higher in the draft? I'd hate to lose our 3rd round pick in the process. There's no way I'm parting with a top 10 pick in the 3rd round with all of our defensive needs. Do you swap 2nds and throw in a 4th and/or 5th? And once again...if most of us value the higher choices, why do we think a team wants to give away high picks to move down to accumulate later round picks?

It sounds good in theory to trade/package lower round picks to move into the higher rounds. However, as you pointed out, the odds of finding quality players drops dramatically on Day 3 of the draft. I don't see why a shrewd GM would give us a 2nd or 3rd draft choice just so they could receive 4th and 5th round picks you mentioned in return. Based on the stats, neither you nor I, would get hoodwinked into such a move as a GM. If we don't take a WR in round 1, we should come away from the draft with 3 defensive starters in rounds 1-3, unless some offensive stud at WR or TE unexpectedly drops. I think it's a bad idea to go into the 2025 draft "assuming" we're going to be able to make some deal to move up on Day 2. I think we're better off doing some in-depth scouting (not a sure thing with our scouting department) on those Day 3 prospects and see if we can come up with some steals that dropped into the lower rounds. And, we need to study which positions have a higher likelihood of being filled in the later rounds. From 2017-2021, over 1/3 of the starting centers were found in rounds 4-7. That doesn't mean that every center is really a starting caliber player. But, if we aren't sold in Cade Mays as our future...and we fail to land a good center in FA, then we should/could use one of those 4th and try to get the highest ranked center on the board.

I'd even be ok with a LB at #8 if we could draft a Luke K, Beason, or even a Dan Morgan (who still holds the record for most tackles in a SB game BTW). These are guys teams have to plan around. We only have 2 of those guys on our defense (Brown and Horn). A LB who can drop into coverage and blitz would be an awesome acquisition.

Take a look at the below Eagle draft classes since 2020. Compare those classes to ours. This is the reason why they're at the top of the NFL and were floundering at the bottom of it. They are killing it in the first 3 rounds of the draft. The same cannot be said for our woeful Panthers.

I was talking more from a theoretical perspective about picking a starter higher than his projected grade. You have clearly analyzed this current draft class more than me. I have to agree that you're right about using # 8 on a blue chip player and not just a guy. If #8 came down to a blue chip DE and blue chip WR you have to take them DE. IF the only blue chip player on the board at #8 is WR I think you have to take him. Maybe you need to be working in the front office

That's a good point. Big time pass rushers just wreck game plans for the opposing team. As someone pointed out, several rushers in this draft have low 1st round grades/high 2nd round grades. In this league you can never have too many pass rushers and defensive backs. If you could move down and pick 2 that wouldn't be a bad thing. I just don't have enough faith in our FO to think they'd pick the right players if they traded down. I think if all of us who are replying to this thread got together to make the pick(s) we'd have as much of a chance of making solid pick(s) than the current brass.

I may be in the minority, but I don't think we need to focus on getting Bryce a #1 WR this draft. Last season we almost beat 3 playoff teams (KC, TB, Philly) in consecutive weeks with our current group of WR's. Legette and Coker should be better next year and it appears Theilen is coming back. We may able to find a FA this offseason to improve the WR core. On the other hand, our defense was arguably the worst in Panther history. It's got to get better or we have no chance of making the playoffs. Anything to improve the front 7 or the secondary has to be the top priority in the draft. I'm also not overly concerned with "draft value". If we could find a DE who could set the edge and get between 8-10 sacks in 2025 he'd be worth picking at #8, even if he had a low 1st round/high 2nd round grade entering the draft. Brian Burns just got a $30 mil per year deal and he can only do one of those things.

I personally would go with an edge player because of our d-line issues. But, I wouldn't be upset with this selection. If JC Horn sticks around we could have one of the top 5 CB duos for the next 3-4 seasons, one of whom would be on a rookie deal. Then you could spend the rest of the draft loading up on d-lineman, LB, S or whatever position had the highest draft value when we're on the clock. If D. Brown comes back healthy in 2025 we'd automatically get better b/c of his presence alone. We my even be able to acquire a starter in FA. We have so many needs that any draft pick that could come in and play well immediately would be a huge boost to the defense.

Anytime you can draft a versatile defensive player its always a positive. Back in the 90's the Cowboys would take S Darren Woodson and move him all over the field. Sometimes he'd be at S; sometimes he'd play the slot; and sometimes he'd be a Dime or Nickel LB. I've seen some d-lineman who were almost equally affective playing DE or DT. It never hurts to have a LB on can play in a 3 point stance or a lineman who you can standup or have him drop into coverage. You can only come up with exotic schemes like that if you have the right players and a coaching staff that know how to make the best use of their talents.

As a GM of a team that was abysmal on defense I wouldn't draft him at 8. But, I do understand the logic if he's the best player on the board. If Warren turns out to only be "really good" he'd be better than anyone we've fielded at TE this decade and would undoubtedly help Bryce in the passing game. I could only see doing that if we had already acquired a starter (or 2) in FA prior to the draft & used every mid round (2-5) pick on the best available defensive players on the board.

There's not a player in this draft worth tanking for. I don't see a big difference between Carolina picking in the top 5 or at 8 based on this draft class. We've got 10 draft picks. Our biggest need is on the defensive side of the ball. There's no reason why the Panthers wouldn't be significantly better by simply picking the best defensive player on the board (at any position) when we're on the clock. If we went all defense in the first 3 rounds we should come away with 3 starters. We should be able to find a possible starter...or a at least a significant contributor...in rounds 4-7.

On this you and I are in complete agreement. I don't know if: 1) we have bad scouts that mislead the front office, or 2) a bad front office that ignores good scouting. 3) a bad front office and bad scouting. I don't think any of us would be offended if Tepper decided to hire an entirely new team of scouts going forward.