Don Gregory seemingly high on Garrett and Cash

[top dawg]

Bryan Strickland referred to the Panthers UDFAs as "undrafted gold" in his latest report. Just taking a guess, I would think that the use of such a grand metaphor is a direct result of the optimism of those within the organization, the least of which is the Director of College Scouting, Don Gregory:

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"Both of those guys were draftable guys," said director of college scouting Don Gregory. "Garrett with his height, weight, speed, and his production was off the chart. Then Jeremy Cash is a two-time captain, very productive – over 300 tackles. That type of production can carry over to the NFL."

Many still may have questions regarding our new UDFAs, but Gregory answers one without a doubt. Cash is a linebacker, pure and simple.

Quote

 

"He's a linebacker. We got him to be a linebacker," Gregory said. "He's 205, has been as heavy as 215, 220. He's got a frame to get bigger. We see him as an outside linebacker. His production translates to outside linebacker for us.

"He's aggressive, a very good tackler. He's smart and has cover skills. He fits into the mold of a poor man's Shaq Thompson. Now we have two of them."

 

But not even Gregory can really answer the $20000 question as to why Keyarris Garrett wasn't drafted---anymore than anyone else that is, but he is still excited to have landed the big receiver.

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"He's a tall receiver that can run, can stretch the field. Long arms, catches the ball real well. Production off the chart," Gregory said. "He fits in with Kelvin (Benjamin) and (Devin) Funchess as a bigger receiver."

http://www.panthers.com/news/article-2/Panthers-unearth-undrafted-gold/9f65ab7b-6b4c-4155-bde5-40efe1c44445

Now I am here to tell you. I have been watching the Panthers for awhile now, and I just don't remember a time when people seem so excited about two UDFAs out the gate, much less Don Gregory. I knew the third day was going to be interesting, and that's why I alluded to that fact in the thread when Jeremy Igo said he had to do a photo shoot. I basically told him that he may be missing the best part. What I didn't expect was for us to be able to land two, highly productive players as UDFAs that more than a few people thought could go as early as the third round. After getting a legitimate ball hawk at CB and talented prospect at TE on day three, our cup still felt a little bit empty as the draft ended. But, boy, after landing Key and Cash, the top two rated UDFAs as judged by ESPN, our cup seemed like it had "runneth over." Sure, I'm just a fan prone to some homerism and optimism, but it's nice to know that Don Gregory, Bryan Strickland and others feel that such quality players were a fitting exclamation point on a draft that in my opinion didn't really summon a whole lot of excitement---not that that's a bad thing---until day three.

 

[Saca312]

Jeremy Cash will probably replace AJ Klein's role at LB when AJ Klein moves on, and Ben Jacob's this year. He doesn't fit at SS, and I'm glad the Panthers recognize that.

 

I've crowned Garrett to be the best UDFA this year. He's got a high ceiling. I can see him joining the ranks of Fun-Fun and Kelvin to make a trio of dangerous, monstrous WR's. He has some work, but he'll be something eventually.

[Proudiddy]

Even as a rival alum, I really love the Cash signing.  He was a beast to matchup against in college, and from all appearances, to me at least, he appeared to be among the most skilled and athletic guys on the field.  I'm sure it has been asked a million times over the last few days, but I was on a self-imposed decompression break lol, but does anyone have a definitive answer as to why he wasn't drafted?  I just can't think of a good reason unless it was a Myles Jack-type injury concern.

As far as Garrett,i've seen a lot of people excited about him, but what's the measureables?

[Ivan The Awesome]

A poor man's Shaq Thompson? Back handed compliment? 

[Nick_81]

2 minutes ago, Proudiddy said:

Even as a rival alum, I really love the Cash signing.  He was a beast to matchup against in college, and from all appearances, to me at least, he appeared to be among the most skilled and athletic guys on the field.  I'm sure it has been asked a million times over the last few days, but I was on a self-imposed decompression break lol, but does anyone have a definitive answer as to why he wasn't drafted?  I just can't think of a good reason unless it was a Myles Jack-type injury concern.

As far as Garrett,i've seen a lot of people excited about him, but what's the measureables?

I don't think anyone has a definitive answer.  The consensus seems to be that it's because he's considered a "tweener," and wouldn't have that specific role on many teams.

[Proudiddy]

1 minute ago, Nick_81 said:

I don't think anyone has a definitive answer.  The consensus seems to be that it's because he's considered a "tweener," and wouldn't have that specific role on many teams.

I was hoping it was more than that because that being the biggest reason reminds me of guys like Robert Lester.  I didn't want him, and although he did make plays here for a year or so, his limitations definitely showed why he had went undrafted.  He wasn't athletic enough for safety, but wasnt stout enough for LB.  

But, i trust our scouts and hopefully the official switch to LB shows he doesn't have the same limitations as Lester did.

[tondi]

The biggest problem with Cash may simply he where he went to college.  He has the same career at FSU and see where he gets drafted 

[Bartin]

4 minutes ago, Proudiddy said:

Even as a rival alum, I really love the Cash signing.  He was a beast to matchup against in college, and from all appearances, to me at least, he appeared to be among the most skilled and athletic guys on the field.  I'm sure it has been asked a million times over the last few days, but I was on a self-imposed decompression break lol, but does anyone have a definitive answer as to why he wasn't drafted?  I just can't think of a good reason unless it was a Myles Jack-type injury concern.

As far as Garrett,i've seen a lot of people excited about him, but what's the measureables?

Best I can come up with for Cash are that as a tweener he fell. 2 down box SS doesn't really have much of a place in the NFL and he's an undersized LB so it's hard to project him there. However, that doesn't fully explain his drop completely out of the draft so it's probably a combination of that and the fact that he had wrist surgery in December so he didn't workout at the combine and then some sort of minor hamstring injury prevented him from doing anything at his pro day so without any workout numbers at all and not really having any position a lot of GMs probably just took him off their draftable board.

Garrett is 6'3" 220 lbs with 34.5" arms and runs a 4.5 40. He checks every box. Very limited route tree for him, but no way he shouldn't have been drafted. He had a really bad broken leg in college so I'm thinking there was some unreported concern about it there. It was fixed with a surgically inserted plate which then had to be removed after he developed an infection so it not healing properly is definitely a possibility.

[ttiger2004]

I read somewhere, he had a wrist injury towards the end of Duke's regular season, then injured the groin during the combine, didn't do too much during his pro day due to his groin injury not completely healed up. Holcomb went up to Duke and worked him out privately.

[Jeremy Igo]

3 hours ago, Saca312 said:

Jeremy Cash will probably replace Ben Jacob's role at LB. H

FIFY

[LinvilleGorge]

6 minutes ago, tondi said:

The biggest problem with Cash may simply he where he went to college.  He has the same career at FSU and see where he gets drafted 

We drafted guys from Louisiana Tech and Samford in the 1st and 2nd rounds.  I don't think we care where a kid went to college.

[KSpan]

12 minutes ago, Proudiddy said:

I was hoping it was more than that because that being the biggest reason reminds me of guys like Robert Lester.  I didn't want him, and although he did make plays here for a year or so, his limitations definitely showed why he had went undrafted.  He wasn't athletic enough for safety, but wasnt stout enough for LB.  

But, i trust our scouts and hopefully the official switch to LB shows he doesn't have the same limitations as Lester did.

Lester doesn't/didn't have nearly the instincts, overall athleticism, or nose for tackling that Cash does. Watching Cash's highlights honestly remind me of Luke in the way he moves and tackles, speaking to a high ceiling (at least higher than the average UDFA/low-round draft pick) if he can put it together at the NFL level. 

[L-TownCat]

25 minutes ago, Ivan The Awesome said:

A poor man's Shaq Thompson? Back handed compliment? 

Shaq = 1st rd

Cash = UDFA

Stop reading into things.

[Nick_81]

11 minutes ago, Proudiddy said:

I was hoping it was more than that because that being the biggest reason reminds me of guys like Robert Lester.  I didn't want him, and although he did make plays here for a year or so, his limitations definitely showed why he had went undrafted.  He wasn't athletic enough for safety, but wasnt stout enough for LB.  

But, i trust our scouts and hopefully the official switch to LB shows he doesn't have the same limitations as Lester did.

I could be that, plus the little injury bug that bit him late last season.  As an athlete, I don't think he and Lester are in the same stratosphere.  Both are extremely suspect in coverage, but Cash is an absolute monster in the box.  I hope it translates to the NFL, but if not, we didn't lose anything.