Great Moments in Draft Grade History

[KendrickPanther]

As I get older I find myself less interested in "grades". It's a cheap trick to generate hits. It's easy to write and easy to read but it doesn't have any substance. Here are some examples, it was not hard to find these.

 

2011 draft

 

Josh Katzowitz

 

 

 

1. The Panthers still have no idea about their quarterback situation – and about their direction in general: It feels like Carolina HAD to take Cam Newton with the No. 1 pick, and if the Panthers hadn’t, Newton could have fallen all the way until the middle of the first round. So, Carolina has taken a quarterback in the second round (Jimmy Clausen) and a quarterback in the first round (Newton) in back-to-back years. Are they any better now than they were three days ago? Probably not. Are they actually in a worse spot than they were three days ago? Quite possibly.

 

John Dove gave us a B

 

 

B-The jury is out on Cam Newton but the rest of the draft was full of solid picks at positions of need. The defensive tackle position was a black hole so they added both McClain and Fua who will complement each other.  I think the Lawrence Wilson pick could end up being a steal.  Lee Ziemba doesnt have much upside but he is a good leader that could back up all offensive line position.

 

Rob Rang B-

 

Other than Newton, the Panthers added two underrated defensive tackles in Terrell McClain (South Florida) and Sione Fua (Stanford) in the third round.

 

The Great Pete Prisco C

 

 

 

Carolina Panthers

Best pick: Third-round defensive tackle Sione Fua is a power player who will help at a position of dire need.

Questionable move: Taking Cam Newton with the first pick in the draft after taking Jimmy Clausen last year. Newton is a very high risk-reward prospect.

Third-day gem: Sixth-round linebacker Lawrence Wilson was a productive player at Connecticut who will add speed to the linebacker group.

Analysis: Their draft will be defined by Newton. If he becomes a star, this will be a nice draft. If he busts, heads will roll. I like the pick of two defensive tackles after the Newton pick.

Grade: C

 

 

Adam Caplan B-

 

Analysis: Newton has a long way to go before he’s ready to play, but a strong running game will help him. The Panthers failed to add badly needed pass rushers and speed at wide receiver.

 

Keep in mind Charles Johnson and Greg Hardy were on the team in 2011........

 

 

I could go on and on. I could do this for every franchise for every year since the dawn of internet media. If you enjoy getting your Jimmies russled over some guy that spends more money on his hair then you spend on your wife...by all means go ahead.

[Panthro]

Prisco is lol

[KendrickPanther]

Keep in mind, in 2011 we did exactly what the media wanted. We drafted two mid round DTs to fill a need......

[HoFBound59]

I can not stress enough how ireelevant draft grades are. It's just so mind bottling how caught up in it people get. I just assume people caught up in draft grades are 12 YO's obsessed with Madden or something.

[LinvilleGorge]

In hindsight, Cam was 110% the right pick at #1 overall and everything we did after that in that draft was 110% disaster.

[Cary Kollins]

The jury is out on Cam Newton but the rest of the draft was full of solid picks at positions of need. The defensive tackle position was a black hole so they added both McClain and Fua who will complement each other.  I think the Lawrence Wilson pick could end up being a steal.  Lee Ziemba doesnt have much upside but he is a good leader that could back up all offensive line position.

 

[Jase]

I don't know where this idea came from that the bills weren't going to snatch newton up right after us if we didn't take him.  They made no secret of the fact they liked him.

[KendrickPanther]

He was half right. Lawrence Wilson was arrested.....but not for stealing.

[top dawg]

It's just something to do between the draft and August.  Just like mocks are something to do between the Super Bowl and the draft.  Just like the Huddle is something to do all year long, 24:7.  And it's beautiful. :lol:

[PantherWake]

Doing what the media wants doesn't equal wins

[FootballMaestro]

In hindsight, Cam was 110% the right pick at #1 overall and everything we did after that in that draft was 110% disaster.

 

This just once again demonstrates, "never confuse media people with NFL ones". 

 

The two don't look at the same things. 

[FootballMaestro]

I don't know where this idea came from that the bills weren't going to snatch newton up right after us if we didn't take him.  They made no secret of the fact they liked him.

 

Absolutely. 

 

The Buffalo GM loved Cam (along with several other teams). 

 

I heard him comment on Cam myself. He didn't buy the media stories on Cam. 

 

The media is just clueless, cause they don't have access to the myriad interviews, background checks, breakdown of tape, etc., that NFL teams do, and/or they have axes to grind, or speak through the media echo chamber. 

[TimTom]

I'm still waiting for the FUA I was promised!!

[Mr. Scot]

The jury is out on Cam Newton but the rest of the draft was full of solid picks at positions of need. The defensive tackle position was a black hole so they added both McClain and Fua who will complement each other.  I think the Lawrence Wilson pick could end up being a steal.

 

Best pick: Third-round defensive tackle Sione Fua is a power player who will help at a position of dire need.

Questionable move: Taking Cam Newton with the first pick in the draft after taking Jimmy Clausen last year. Newton is a very high risk-reward prospect.

Third-day gem: Sixth-round linebacker Lawrence Wilson was a productive player at Connecticut who will add speed to the linebacker group.