Does Rhule’s drafting indicate he has the same three year turnaround plan as he had in the past?

[PanthersNC1984]

One recurring theme with Rhule and the last two teams he has coached is he has seemed to turn things around in year 3, first two years the teams are bad, and year 3 is when things really are firing on all cylinders. With Rhule literally going 100% Defense this draft, could we see him go 100% Offense next year’s draft? 
 

Year 1 draft- all defense

year 2 draft- all offense

year 3- dynasty begins

[t96]

I don’t think it indicates anything except we’re weak as hell on D.

 

[imminent rogaine]

That would be a stellar plan if all picks were a success and if a single draft filled all holes on a certain side of the ball. Time will tell if the picks were a hit. I’d say we still have a few holes on D despite our focus.

  If picks are a success, we can part from Tre and maybe KK after this year, depending on their contract status. So,  I think the silver lining here is that we will free up some money next year and potentially the following. Another successful draft could put us in a spot to finally fill with vet FAs and complete a team. 

[OnlyOne]

The difference here is that he already has one of football’s most dangerous weapons (McCaffery), a QB who already knows the system his OC is installing, and veteran players at most of the other positions as well. 
Offense needs to have command of the playbook and the experience to work together and be on the same page. No one has the benefit of camps right now to accomplish that. So, it is probably helpful to rely on veterans to shortcut that process. 
Meanwhile, the plan in defense was to get taller and faster. They will use those young, tall, fast players on defense to hopefully hide some of the experience deficiencies. Both sides will take time to develop, but we chose the easier path given the circumstances. 
 

[Khyber53]

I think that rather than as planned, a lot of this draft was just how it fell. It does probably speak to a higher priority on defensive prospects, but who can blame him? Last season saw us field one of the most disappointing defenses in team history, especially if you look at the number of supposedly blue chip players we had.

 

[t96]

1 hour ago, Khyber53 said:

I think that rather than as planned, a lot of this draft was just how it fell. It does probably speak to a higher priority on defensive prospects, but who can blame him? Last season saw us field one of the most disappointing defenses in team history, especially if you look at the number of supposedly blue chip players we had.

 

And our best players on D from last year are gone...

[LinvilleGorge]

Our already bad D got straight gutted. We had to do something. After we primarily focused on offense in free agency I think it was pretty clear that we were going to have to pretty heavy on D in the draft simply to be able to put a defense on the field. 

And yes, I think the Rhule "process" is a three year rebuild.

[Smithers]

I don’t think you can draw the same conclusion at the pro level.  Rhule has inherited way more talent here (especially on offense) then he did at both college gigs.  He will also have the cap space next year to pretty much go out and sign who he wants.  

[davos]

I do wonder if they looked at this QB class and then next year's to determine what they wanted to build out first. 

Happy we went D because Brown, Gross-Matos and Chinn all look legit. 

[LinvilleGorge]

6 minutes ago, Smithers said:

I don’t think you can draw the same conclusion at the pro level.  Rhule has inherited way more talent here (especially on offense) then he did at both college gigs.  He will also have the cap space next year to pretty much go out and sign who he wants.  

He's also going to be going up against much higher level of competition. A lot of Panthers fans want to gloss over the fact that Rhule only beat two top 25 teams in his entire college head coaching career. Those two teams? Navy and ECU, not exactly powerhouse perennial top 25 fixtures. The worst team in the NFL is still #32, so the equivalent of a borderline top 25 college team. And there's a much wider gap between #1 and #32 in college in terms of talent level than there is in the NFL.

[ericr0319]

I mean it could fall that way depending on how bad we are. 

We could go QB in the first if we have a top 5 pick and then rebuild our O-Line the rest of the draft. 

[Smithers]

24 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

He's also going to be going up against much higher level of competition. A lot of Panthers fans want to gloss over the fact that Rhule only beat two top 25 teams in his entire college head coaching career. Those two teams? Navy and ECU, not exactly powerhouse perennial top 25 fixtures. The worst team in the NFL is still #32, so the equivalent of a borderline top 25 college team. And there's a much wider gap between #1 and #32 in college in terms of talent level than there is in the NFL.

His Temple and Baylor squads didn’t beat top 25 teams because they didn’t have the talent, plain and simple.  How many players from those programs(esp in years one and two)  got drafted compared to top 25 programs?  
 

Compared to other NFL teams (even top tier teams), our offense has legit talent.  If our draft picks pan out this year and we can load up in FA and the draft next year, there’s no reason why we can’t be very competitive.  

[LinvilleGorge]

11 minutes ago, Smithers said:

His Temple and Baylor squads didn’t beat top 25 teams because they didn’t have the talent, plain and simple.  How many players from those programs(esp in years one and two)  got drafted compared to top 25 programs?  
 

Compared to other NFL teams (even top tier teams), our offense has legit talent.  If our draft picks pan out this year and we can load up in FA and the draft next year, there’s no reason why we can’t be very competitive.  

Our OL on paper is definitely below average and so is our starting QB. Our offensive skill positions are nice, but QB and OL are going to be our limitations. Those are significant limitations.

Through most of his career, Rhule basically won the games he was supposed to win while building a program and springing few upsets. That's why I think we're looking at being in the running for the #1 overall pick.

[Drk89Wng]

This wouldn’t be a bad concept but free agency is key.