Post Super Bowl / Official First Offseason Mock Draft and Off-season Sim

[Hoenheim]

I'll post 2 different draft because with our low round pick and so many QBs (Rosen, Darnold, Allen, Mayfield, Rudolph, Jackson, and the QBs that raised their draft) its going to push a hell of alot of talent back into Rounds 2 and 3 . Particularly Jackson and Rudolph could be floating around our pick and teams will be trying to trade back into the 1st round to get 1 of them. This is the perfect draft to trade back in, especially because there dont seem to be a wealth of premium players at any position . Theres going to be alot of good RBs, WRs, TEs, and Safteys in 2nd /3rd rounds . So I'll make 1 trade down draft (something the Panthers historically never do but its more like a fantasy senario for me) , then a more realistic draft where we probably use one of our 3rds and one of our 7ths to trade up. Hurney has a history of trading up even very high future picks so..

My draft and Offseason

Offseason 

- Gano did extremely well kicking and just went to the Pro Bowl and made all the field goals there. I think he seeks a big payday and goes elsewhere

- Stew gets cut after rejected team friendly deal, Artis-Payne gets cut, also other cuts : Russell Shepard, Curt Coleman, Charles Johnson 

- Star leaves, Norwell seeks to get paid like the top shelf guard that he is and Hurney refuses.

- Now suddenly we have quite a few holes, but a bit more spending $ because of all the people that left, got cut.

* In free agency I pick up Mike Wallace WR , Kenny Vaccaro Saftey, and MALCOM BUTLER CB (Hes a FA and clearly has a beef with what the Pats did with him in the SB) . These are huge upgrades to our secondary and WR room . Important needs left to answer thorugh draft : LG, backup QB, Kicker, RB, DE

Draft

Round 2 Pick 7 (CHI): Billy Price, C/OG, Ohio State (B+)

 

Not the sexiest pick but makes too much sense . Very very good center prospect and can also play guard. Has good size at 6'4'' 312 .  In this senario we can move him out to LG with Norwell leaving , and have Moton be the backup LT/LG.  Price can take over at  Center in 2019  when Ryan leaves, we have Moton be the LG, and we'd probably look to draft a LT next year or hope Matt improves next season. 

Round 2 Pick 23: DeShon Elliott, SS, Texas (B+)

 

Very good size at 6'2'' 210 and is the perfect saftey we need. Hes very good in coverage and in tackling in open space.  Had an impressive 6 interceptions , 1 defensive touchdown , and over 60 combined tackles in 2017 season. 
Round 3 Pick 5 (T.B.): Nick Chubb, RB, Georgia (A)

 

5'10'' 225 lbs really good power RB prospect. Was an all world talent before his knee injury a couple years ago. People think he's slowed down, lost a step, but this past season he's still been extremely productive , makes good cuts, and great power. Pretty much a young Jstew and can carry the load beteween the tackles while we use Cmac more strategically. Over 1300 rushing yards at 6 ypc and 15 rushing touchdowns in the SEC in 2017 is nothing to sneeze at. He didnt have a great national champ game but Bama has the best Dline in college football, who made fournette look like a terrible RB so dont judge him just off of that game.

Round 3 Pick 6 (S.F.): Dante Pettis, WR, Washington (A)

  

6'1'' 195 this dude is fast as hell, runs good routes , and most importantly gets great seperation from defenders. Hes a true deep threat and maybe one of the best punt returners in college football history (ridiculous 9 PR touchdowns in his college career) . Even if he just ends up being our PR dude would be a great pick, Byrd can return the kicks. I'd imagine Pettis, Samuel, and Byrd would likely battle it out to be our primary deep threat of the future, pretty much like a WR  #3 like Ginn was. 

R5P2 Adonis Alexander CB 

   

Huge 6'3'' CB that is huge with natural ball skills with the ceiling of a richard sherman type player. Could easily be or become a better CB2 than Worely , or even take Bradberrys place for 1 considering his regression this season. 

R6 Riley Furgueson QB Memphis

 

6'4'' 210 lbs gunslinger QB we need a young backup QB thats actually good and I think he'd work as a great replacement for Derek Anderson

R7 Eddie Pinero K, Florida

Chiefs and Eagles showed how far you can get with a rookie kicker. This dude was very very accurate in college.

Overall a great draft. No DE , LB, OT , TE , but none of those bisdes DE is an immediate need. I think Peppers comes back , Addison continues to ball, and we get good contributions from Daeshon Hall this year. Or we might draft a DE instead of Price with our first pick, someone like Hubbard , Ejiofor, or Josh Sweat . 

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Perhaps a more realistic draft and offseason

+  Hurney resigns Norwell to a pretty big contract , Star leaves as expected. Resign Gano to pretty heafty contract, Stewart stays for his last season. 

+ Signs : bargain bin vet CB, cheap WR, cheap saftey 

Draft

Hurney traded up from pick 24 to pick 16 with the Ravens . Traded this years 1st and 2nd, and next years 1st . Could only be for one player . 

Round 1 Pick 16 (BALT): Calvin Ridley, WR, Alabama (A)
Round 3 Pick 21: Armani Watts, FS, Texas AM (A+)
Round 3 Pick 24: Tony Brown, CB, Alabama (A+)
Round 5 Pick 24: B.J. Hill, DT, North Carolina State (A-)
Round 6 Pick 23: Justin Lawler, DE, Southern Methodist (A+)
Round 7 Pick 16: Isaiah Prince, OT, Ohio State (A+)
Round 7 Pick 24: Kalen Ballage, RB, Arizona State (B-)

 really not a bad draft besides the fact we traded away next years 1st. Pretty balanced draft as well, I like Ridley and Ballage quite a bit. 4 picks on defense is good, and 2 in hte defensive secondary, and got another project DE to work on to go along with Daeshon Hall. 

 

[heel31ok]

and still don't have a LT...

[Shocker]

Todd McShay unleashes his 2nd mock upon the world...enjoy:

https://www.chatsports.com/nfl/a/here-todd-mcshays-brand-new-2018-nfl-mock-draft-20-37312

And yes, he has us passing on McGlinchey for Kirk.    Tough call.