complimentary article about the Panthers draft by Yahoo Sports

[BlitzMonster]

https://sports.yahoo.com/bears-among-teams-panthers-took-133415982.html

 

Probably the most interesting part - the Panthers reportedly turned down the Bears offer to move up in the draft because the team felt they would drop down too far and lose one of the team's players with a first round grade.  

If true, that's a great example of a smart, disciplined approach to the draft by GM Scott Fitterer.

[45catfan]

1 minute ago, BlitzMonster said:

https://sports.yahoo.com/bears-among-teams-panthers-took-133415982.html

 

Probably the most interesting part - the Panthers reportedly turned down the Bears offer to move up in the draft because the team felt they would drop down too far and lose one of the team's players with a first round grade.  

If true, that's a great example of a smart, disciplined approach to the draft by GM Scott Fitterer.

This was confirmed on the Panthers' official site.  Actually, they turned several offers down to move back, not just the Bears.  Without actually saying it (the inference was there), Sewell was target 1 and Horn 1a.  When the Lions took Sewell, the team was not about to let Horn get past them.

[Moo Daeng]

If being literal the Gantt article suggests there were 4 offers turned down. Maybe 4 from Chicago but it was 4 "No"s. 

[BlitzMonster]

1 minute ago, 45catfan said:

This was confirmed on the Panthers' official site.  Actually, they turned several offers down to move back, not just the Bears.  Without actually saying it (the inference was there), Sewell was target 1 and Horn 1a.  When the Lions took Sewell, the team was not about to let Horn get past them.

 

Agree that Sewell was probably target #1.  

Also a lot of chatter suggested that both Horn & Surtain would both be gone by mid draft with the Cowboys also being in play for a CB at #12.   

Carolina was determined to get a high end immediate starter at a position of need with its first pick and it succeeded ! 

[45catfan]

1 minute ago, BlitzMonster said:

 

Agree that Sewell was probably target #1.  

Also a lot of chatter suggested that both Horn & Surtain would both be gone by mid draft with the Cowboys also being in play for a CB at #12.   

Carolina was determined to get a high end immediate starter at a position of need with its first pick and it succeeded ! 

I really feel they thought Horn wouldn't last a few more picks, let alone all the way back to where the Bears were at.  The Panthers' article obviously didn't run down the pecking order of the draft board, but again, you could tell they had Horn rated higher than Surtain, so it wasn't about which of the two would be available later, it was about if Horn would be available later when they could get him at #8.  The resounding answer was 'no' he wouldn't last, so they took him at #8 leaving nothing to chance in trading back.

[w280sax]

8 minutes ago, 45catfan said:

I really feel they thought Horn wouldn't last a few more picks, let alone all the way back to where the Bears were at.  The Panthers' article obviously didn't run down the pecking order of the draft board, but again, you could tell they had Horn rated higher than Surtain, so it wasn't about which of the two would be available later, it was about if Horn would be available later when they could get him at #8.  The resounding answer was 'no' he wouldn't last, so they took him at #8 leaving nothing to chance in trading back.

In retrospect, I definitely agree that horn and sustain would have went to Denver and Dallas at 9 and 10 had we traded back. 

At the time, I would have thought one of them might have been there at 15 if we traded with new England as I didn't really think Denver would go cb.  But even then it would have been iffy.  I definitely wouldn't have expected one if those to be there if we traded down with Chicago.

If a top cb was what we wanted, they were correct to take one while they could.

I will admit I was disappointed we didn't take fields because I think he will be a star and even if darnold works out, I'd rather have 2 good options and trade one later than risk him not working out and being without a franchise qb.  However, after seeing how well the rest of the draft went, I'm happy to get horn and excited overall.

[BlitzMonster]

10 minutes ago, 45catfan said:

I really feel they thought Horn wouldn't last a few more picks, let alone all the way back to where the Bears were at.  The Panthers' article obviously didn't run down the pecking order of the draft board, but again, you could tell they had Horn rated higher than Surtain, so it wasn't about which of the two would be available later, it was about if Horn would be available later when they could get him at #8.  The resounding answer was 'no' he wouldn't last, so they took him at #8 leaving nothing to chance in trading back.

Horn was obviously the Panthers "guy" and they made sure not to lose him.   I think Rhule & co were just tired of getting beaten like a drum by all the big WR in the NFC South.  

Denver might have taken Horn with the next pick.  He was not going to last very long. 

[CarolinaRideorDie]

I think this also proves that Fitterer will not trade down just for the sake of trading down to get more value. If he feels like a blue-chip player is there in the Top 10 and if trading down will cause them to lose that opportunity, he rather just pick at 8. It says a lot about how they feel about Horn, they would rather pick him than move down to pick an average player and some JAGs. Fitterer flips the script in the second and later rounds and trades back multiple times, I think this speaks to them trusting their board and player value. 

[Peon Awesome]

Our drafting strategy actually made a lot of sense.  Most drafts have around 10-15 consensus elite prospects. And once you start approaching the 3rd round, player evaluations start to muddle together. The difference in perceived talent between a 4th and a 6th round pick is a lot less than the difference between the 10th pick and the 20th pick. So while we held onto our ultra valuable top 10 pick, we readily traded down in the later rounds to accumulate multiple picks where the difference in value is negligible. It's like trading a dime for 3 nickels.

[BlitzMonster]

Just now, CarolinaRideorDie said:

I think this also proves that Fitterer will not trade down just for the sake of trading down to get more value. If he feels like a blue-chip player is there in the Top 10 and if trading down will cause them to lose that opportunity, he rather just pick at 8. It says a lot about how they feel about Horn, they would rather pick him than move down to pick an average player and some JAGs. Fitterer flips the script in the second and later rounds and trades back multiple times, I think this speaks to them trusting their board and player value. 

I was really surprised to hear that Fitterer only had 16 guys with true 1st round grades.   Likely many of the QB other than Trevor Lawrence were excluded from the Panther's list since often team need pushes QB's up the draft boards.  But Fitterer seems to have a clear understanding of player values and he works the draft to maximize his returns.  So different from the Hurney era !  

[45catfan]

I'm generally against drafting CBs in the top half of the first round because they tend to be be 'boom or bust' prospects.  However, if Horn turns out to be a true shutdown corner, then I'm all for it.  You just don't get many Revis' out of the top 10 as you would expect from the first corners off the board.  Not saying shutdown corners are plentiful, but surely not generational-types that only come along once in a blue moon.

[BlitzMonster]

9 minutes ago, Peon Awesome said:

Our drafting strategy actually made a lot of sense.  Most drafts have around 10-15 consensus elite prospects. And once you start approaching the 3rd round, player evaluations start to muddle together. The difference in perceived talent between a 4th and a 6th round pick is a lot less than the difference between the 10th pick and the 20th pick. So while we held onto our ultra valuable top 10 pick, we readily traded down in the later rounds to accumulate multiple picks where the difference in value is negligible. It's like trading a dime for 3 nickels.

An insightful look at the draft process.   Great post

[NAS]

1 hour ago, BlitzMonster said:

I was really surprised to hear that Fitterer only had 16 guys with true 1st round grades.   Likely many of the QB other than Trevor Lawrence were excluded from the Panther's list since often team need pushes QB's up the draft boards.  But Fitterer seems to have a clear understanding of player values and he works the draft to maximize his returns.  So different from the Hurney era !  

He basically said that before, anything past first 16, talent level drops to about the same as second round

[CPF4LIFE]

1 hour ago, BlitzMonster said:

I was really surprised to hear that Fitterer only had 16 guys with true 1st round grades.   Likely many of the QB other than Trevor Lawrence were excluded from the Panther's list since often team need pushes QB's up the draft boards.  But Fitterer seems to have a clear understanding of player values and he works the draft to maximize his returns.  So different from the Hurney era !  

It is different, but time will only tell if he is actually right. Thats all.