Panthers director of college scouting Don Gregory believes "capable" starting receivers can be as found as late as the fourth round

[Growl]

whoa those posters who said BPA must really be wise and impartial draft gurus i mean afterall thats what the GM said man they sound just like him please enlighten us with further insight

do you need big men to win? do you have to run the ball and stop the run? does defense win championships? what other wisdom can you hold above us mortals?

[panthers123]

If the wr's can't get open, it doesn't matter who you have at oline either. It goes both ways . There just isn't going to be a day one starting Lt available at 28th. Bell is going to be the LT this season.

 

Look at it this way. If you don't have a decent OL in place nothing else functions in the offense. They are the foundation of your offense along with the QB. 

 

You can see what happened to the Giants and to some degree the falcons. Both teams had great WRs but they lacked the OL to protect the QB which resulted in disaster for both teams. 

 

Don't think Smith Ginn and Lafell were that much better getting separation than our current group. Teams get by with less WR talent just look at us going 12-4 and the patriots too. 

 

Bottom line the team can not function without a good OL. It can function with a poor group of WRs. 

[Montsta]

A football team is an extremely fluid entity. Maybe more than in any other sport. Injuries are common, contracts are not guaranteed, and shelf lives are about as short as a piece of fruit bitten into and exposed to air.

What our needs are this year won't necessarily be our needs next year and so on. Hell, two years ago our offense was scoring 28 a game and our defense was poo and cost us more games than I care to remember.

We needed DTso badly that we REACHED and got Sione Fua and Terrell McClain. Neither is on the team and I think only one is even in the NFL anymore. We double dipped on a reach and a need, and got screwed.

We had an All-Pro MLB on our team when we drafted Kuechly (a pick I hated btw), but he was the best available and they didn't know if Beason would return to form so they pulled the trigger. Looks like a genius move now.

Point being, good football players allow your team to compete every single year, not just in flashes every few years. The way to get good football players is to take the best players available when you can.

Now when I say BPA it's with an obvious caveat that the player will see the field a lot. Kuechly went to MLB and they moved Beason over, but obviously a BPA QB can't be inserted into the lineup anywhere. Whereas a Ryan Shazier can see the field on one side and TD on the other, which would be great because I think we played base nickel a lot last year and we could do more true 4-3. A DE would probably be tough for me to like, but if he is head and shoulders better than the other available prospects you take him and move one of our DE's for more draft picks.

So while I hope we go OT then WR, if there is a run on WR and OT in the first round to where Jarvis Landry and Billy Turner are the best available, you have to use your 28th overall on someone a hell of a lot better than that.

[Cyberjag]

This is all a smokescreen anyway :p

[mcdougal]

If the wr's can't get open, it doesn't matter who you have at oline either. It goes both ways . There just isn't going to be a day one starting Lt available at 28th. Bell is going to be the LT this season.

 

 

I agree. It goes hand-in-hand.

[MadHatter]

a) you choose an extreme exception to counter a general statement. This is intellectual laziness. That is like when someone makes a claim that people who smoke tend to live a shorter lives and someone chimes in with "well my grand dad was a smoker and lived to be 120!" It changes nothing and is irrelevant.

 

b ) Even in the example you provided you gave a third rounder. There is a huge drop off in talent from 3 to 4. Much more drastic than between rounds 2 and 3 or even 1 and 2. By the 4th round the best players of all the positions are gone, everyone else is a much greater crap shoot.

 

I am just screwing with you.

 

I do NOT want to wait until the 4th round to snag a WR.  My hope is that we get one in the first two rounds.

[mcdougal]

It saddens me that we are putting our hopes on a mid to late round draft pick to be our #1 WR this season.....

 

 

 

GM is either going to be a genius or a goat. The way that our WRs situation has been handled is either going to set a great precedent or will be the model of what not to do.

[8 0 5]

Is this the same guy that scouted Adams, LaFell, Gettis, Edwards and Pilares?

LOL...

[LinvilleGorge]

When it comes to the WR prospects, I hope Gettleman simply says, "With all due respect Don, shut the fug up.  Ricky, whatya think?"

[Draconus]

Makes sense for anyone who played sports.  5'11 to 6'4  and 190-220 lbs guys that are athletic are a dime a dozen. Finding elite athletes that are 6'2-6'5 and can run well at 300 lbs is a far smaller pool.

[LinvilleGorge]

Makes sense for anyone who played sports.  5'11 to 6'4  and 190-220 lbs guys that are athletic are a dime a dozen. Finding elite athletes that are 6'2-6'5 and can run well at 300 lbs is a far smaller pool.

 

Alright Al Davis.  Just because a guy has the right stature and speed doesn't mean he's an NFL caliber football player.

[Draconus]

Alright Al Davis.  Just because a guy has the right stature and speed doesn't mean he's an NFL caliber football player.

 

 

You're missing my point.  The prospect pool of athletes to turn into NFL caliber WR is much larger then that of those who can turn into elite lineman.  I'm not saying every 5'11 guy that runs a 4.3 40 is going to become an elite talent, I"m just saying there are far more 5'11 guys that run a 4.3 40 then there are 6'5 320 lbs guys that run a 4.9.  As such, there is a better chance a decent WR slips, then a decent linemen.

[LinvilleGorge]

You're missing my point.  The prospect pool of athletes to turn into NFL caliber WR is much larger then that of those who can turn into elite lineman.  I'm not saying every 5'11 guy that runs a 4.3 40 is going to become an elite talent, I"m just saying there are far more 5'11 guys that run a 4.3 40 then there are 6'5 320 lbs guys that run a 4.9.  As such, there is a better chance a decent WR slips, then a decent linemen.

 

No, I agree with what you're saying, I was just giving you poo.

 

I just think it's awfully dangerous having a mindset of being able to get a guy at this or that position later due to the depth of the class.  At some point there is likely to be a run on WRs.  When will that happen?  Hell, it could happen in the 2nd round.  It sure would suck to have one or two guys at #28 you'd be perfectly happy spending that pick on, but outsmarting yourself and deciding to go with another position and hoping a guy you're happy with at #60 is still there only to find those guys go before you get back on the clock.  I just hope that if there's either an OT or a WR available at #28 who we have a 1st round grade on, we simply take him.  Don't get cute with it, take the guy.

 

I'll also add that I don't think the comments about finding a starter as late as the 4th necessarily means much.  Probably just a general comment on the depth of the WR class in this draft.  If anything, I think it may indicate that we wouldn't mind taking two WRs in the first 4 rounds.  I'd have no issue with it, that's for sure.

[Draconus]

No, I agree with what you're saying, I was just giving you poo.

 

I just think it's awfully dangerous having a mindset of being able to get a guy at this or that position later due to the depth of the class.  At some point there is likely to be a run on WRs.  When will that happen?  Hell, it could happen in the 2nd round.  It sure would suck to have one or two guys at #28 you'd be perfectly happy spending that pick on, but outsmarting yourself and deciding to go with another position and hoping a guy you're happy with at #60 is still there only to find those guys go before you get back on the clock.  I just hope that if there's either an OT or a WR available at #28 who we have a 1st round grade on, we simply take him.  Don't get cute with it, take the guy.

 

I agree, I doubt they'll take the risk though.  Although I've been riding his nuts the whole draft process, I still think Cody Latimer is the X-Factor for our first round, whether he falls to us, or if he's indeed soared up draft boards high enough, and pushes Cooks/OBJ/Lee down to us.