LinvilleGorge

butthurt USC fan When a school as produced as many skill position busts over the past 15 or so years as USC has, it's something you have to factor into your evaluation. I don't know what the root cause of it is, but it's real.

Did I say that? All I'm saying is that when you're assessing that individual ability, you also have to factor in the surrounding talent. There's an absurd history of USC producing busts at the skill positions.

You can say the same for USC skill position players. Bust after bust after bust after bust.

I don't trust them. That Bama OL is always dominant. Any decent RB looks like a monster there.

I agree that the Murray contract was dumb, primarily because of his injury issues (he's only played 16 games in one season and has missed a total of 11 games in 4 seasons). But, the reality is that he has nearly matched Stewart's 7 season career production in only 4 seasons. His per game production has been on pace to get to 1000 yards in every one of his seasons. Stewart has only been on pace for 1000 yards in one season - the season he actually got there. Murray is also a bigger factor in the passing game having surpassed Stewart's career receiving yardage in 3 fewer seasons. Again, I like Stewart, but Murray is just better. That's not a knock on Stewart seeing that Murray was the best RB in the NFL last season.

He fancies himself as some kind of NFL renaissance man. I don't care what era of the NFL you're talking about, 28 year old RBs with a long injury history and an ugly contract don't have much trade value. The reality of the situation is that due to injury restraints, Stewart has only one 1000 yard season in his 7 season NFL career and in the past three seasons, he has only played in 28 of a possibly 48 games. In the past 5 years combined, he has a total of 10 rushing TDs. This after having 10 rushing TDs in each of his first two NFL seasons. I like Stewart, but he isn't worth a ham sandwich on the trade market.

You can't talk about draft position with veteran players. Draft position ceases to matter after a season or two. At that point, the player is judged based on what he's done in the NFL. I agree that Spiller and Ingram proved to be unworthy of their 1st round draft positions, but they still proved to be valuable commodities in free agency. If you're gonna knock Spiller and Ingram for being 1st round picks, you have to admit that both McCoy and Murray would've been 1st rounders if those drafts were re-done today. We're okay for right now at the RB position, but are we still okay if Stewart gets hurt again? You're comfortable with Fozzy being the bell cow? What about next year at this time if (more likely when) Stewart is released?

Truth. At the time, I hated both the Beason and Kuechly picks. When we took Beason, I wanted either Greg Olsen or Brandon Meriweather. When we took Kuechly, I wanted either Dontari Poe, Stephon Gilmore, or Michael Brockers.

Yep, they're a dime a dozen. That's why Buffalo just traded a very good young MLB for McCoy and then gave McCoy a fat new contract. It's why Philly paid Murray big time. It's why Ingram got a decent contract from the Saints even though they're in cap hell. It's why CJ Spiller got $9M guaranteed. The media has overplayed the diminished value of RBs in today's NFL. Good RBs are still very valuable.

There are VERY few cornerstone defensive players in the NFL at any given time. Luke is one of them. The reason those types of guys are very rarely traded is because it's almost impossible to get the value you deserve in a trade. Even if you get two #1s, what are the chances that the combination of those two players proves to be a bigger impact on the field and in the locker room than Luke? Slim to none. The only way you move a guy like Luke is if you know you don't have the cap flexibility to keep him. If he was a Saint, I could see them making a deal to move him. Fortunately, we have cap flexibility moving forward. Luke is going to be a Panther for a loooooooong time.

This. I agree that we have other bigger immediate needs, but this is a deep RB class and we all know Gettleman treasures value in draft picks. While RB isn't a HUGE need immediately, it could be a huge need if you fast forward a year - or during this season if Stewart goes down. Kind of reminds me of how DE wasn't a huge need last year, but we took Ealy in the 2nd anyway. Imagine how big of a need DE would be right now if Ealy wasn't taken last year. Now, obviously it isn't fair at all to compare Hardy's situation to Stewart's, I'm just saying that Gettleman thinks ahead. He knew last year at this time that Hardy was probably playing his last season in Carolina and I believe he's thinking that same way about Stewart currently.

We've been linked to both Gurley and Tevin Coleman recently. Sure looks like we're taking a hard look at a RB early. Almost certainly not #25 early, but looks like a RB in the 2nd or 3rd round could certainly be in play. I'm not against it. DeAngelo is gone now and this is very possibly Stewart's last season as a Panther too. You can't count on him staying healthy anyway. I'm not sure why RB as a need hasn't gotten more talk.

We have that guy in our fanbase too. He posts under the name of "gettlemanjack".

I agree. I would've taken that deal and never looked back. If the deal is on the table for the Eagles I'd be all over it if I was Kelly. The Browns sure do love pissing away 1st round picks on QBs.

The 49ers may be having the worst NFL offseason I can ever remember. Lose a very good coach and replace him with who? Core players retiring left and right. Lost a few priority free agents. They're a dumpster fire right now.

Yet we took a WR in the 1st round last year. When you have a chance to add a difference maker at a position of need, you do it. Plus, this thread can be used for CB prospects throughout the draft, not just the first few rounds.

You get in trouble when you start reaching for need. I wouldn't want to pass on a difference maker on defense to draft JAG (just a guy) on offense at a position of bigger need. Given similar prospect rankings, I absolutely agree with hedging toward need. But in the case where you feel like the far and away best player is a DE/S/CB/LB... take him.

I have no idea who these people are. People actually listen to sports radio?

I just don't think he's rangy enough to move over to OLB. Beason had much better range in college than Perryman did and he looked like a shadow of his former self when trying to play OLB. Luke didn't look like Luke when he was playing OLB very early on in his NFL career either. It's just a different skillset. Perryman looks like a guy who would be best suited playing ILB in a 3-4 IMO. In the right 4-3 scheme he would probably work too, but he couldn't do what Morgan and Beason did and Luke does for us.

Go for it. I strongly disagree. Thomas minus Chancellor and he's still an elite FS. Chancellor minus Thomas and I think he's getting exposed downfield.

I'd rather have an Earl Thomas type. A true sideline to sideline centerfielder type of safety. Chancellor is a great player, no doubt about it, but having Thomas back there covering deep opens them up to let Chancellor roam.

That idea of bringing Hardy back on a one year prove it deal is starting to look more and more enticing. I know JR doesn't want it, but this might be one of those times when Gettleman needs to go and talk to him and say, "You hired me to run this team. Let me run this team." Now, with that said, JR could easily come back and say, "Alright, your call. But I'll tell you this, if he embarrasses this organization again, he's gone and you're gone with him. Deal?" Would you risk your job betting on Hardy not being an idiot? I sure as hell wouldn't if it came down to that.

This. He's just a guy. If he didn't go to Wofford we would've never given him a shot nor would anyone else in the NFL.

We need Cotchery replaced this season.

Possibly. I think it's more about allowing the others to set the market, but I wouldn't be shocked if surrounding talent didn't at least play a role.