ESPN position group rankings

[Peon Awesome]

https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/32015903/ranking-every-nfl-team-position-group-1-32-2021-season-top-qb-wr-cb-units-more

Have to be an espn insider to read but I'll hit the salient points. They ranked teams 1-32 by each position group factoring in all players, not just starters. 

Panthers rankings:

QB - 31 (Houston 32)

RB - 3 (Browns and Vikings are top 2)

WR - 11

TE - 30 (Jax, Arizona bottom 2)

OL - 31 (Pitt 32)

IDL - 21

Edge - 14

Off-ball LB - 15

CB - 20

Safety - 28

Overall - 30 (Jets, Houston bottom 2)

My take - I think it's pretty fair for the most part. They seem to have little faith that Darnold will escape the stink of his Jets tenure but our subpar backup qbs don't help the ranking either. OL and TE are appropriately low. Linebackers seem to be rated a bit generously; I wonder if many of them still consider Chinn a LB; otherwise they must like Shaq more than the average huddler. Compared to the NFL.com ranking that had our receivers 18th, 11th seems much fairer especially when you consider the teams ahead of us. 

Even though we're currently 30th overall, feels like our talent level is better than that. But maybe that's my homerism. If we stay competitive in the playoff race, that has to be a testament to Rhule and the coaching staff.

[Luciu5]

I think IDL is a little low.  Edge is very low; I feel we have elite starters and solid depth.  The secondary is hard to say.  Starters might be good, might not and depth looks good in camp and preseason...but that's camp and preseason.  Looks like Overall isn't an average of all these position groups, so that's way too low.  I think that should be around 20.

[SmokinwithWilly]

I value ESPN's opinion less than Fat Alice. 

[Shotgun]

Looks about right.

[mav1234]

DL in total feels a bit low.  Chinn must be ranked as a LB and not a Safety here or he'd bring Safety up more I think and LB lower.

Everything else feels fair/right. Receiver is very generous... But maybe it is right with our offseason additions.

Edited August 21, 2021 by mav1234

[TheSpecialJuan]

16 minutes ago, Peon Awesome said:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/32015903/ranking-every-nfl-team-position-group-1-32-2021-season-top-qb-wr-cb-units-more

Have to be an espn insider to read but I'll hit the salient points. They ranked teams 1-32 by each position group factoring in all players, not just starters. 

Panthers rankings:

QB - 31 (Houston 32)

RB - 3 (Browns and Vikings are top 2)

WR - 11

TE - 30 (Jax, Arizona bottom 2)

OL - 31 (Pitt 32)

IDL - 21

Edge - 14

Off-ball LB - 15

CB - 20

Safety - 28

Overall - 30 (Jets, Houston bottom 2)

My take - I think it's pretty fair for the most part. They seem to have little faith that Darnold will escape the stink of his Jets tenure but our subpar backup qbs don't help the ranking either. OL and TE are appropriately low. Linebackers seem to be rated a bit generously; I wonder if many of them still consider Chinn a LB; otherwise they must like Shaq more than the average huddler. Compared to the NFL.com ranking that had our receivers 18th, 11th seems much fairer especially when you consider the teams ahead of us. 

Even though we're currently 30th overall, feels like our talent level is better than that. But maybe that's my homerism. If we stay competitive in the playoff race, that has to be a testament to Rhule and the coaching staff.

[OldhamA]

Yeah that reeks of "small market team, gotta rank 'em somewhere and somebody's gotta make up the numbers" rating there.

We're better than 30 overall on talent, but I'll just let our players do their talking on the field rather than pointlessly debating it.

[Wanderlai]

That looks like we are in for a looooong year. 

[hepcat]

51 minutes ago, Wanderlai said:

That looks like we are in for a looooong year. 

Yea it’s literally a game longer! LOL

But for real the Panthers are still a bottom tier roster. You never know though, football is weird. Maybe this team clicks.

[Panthercougar68]

What world is Jalen Hurts, Daniel Jones, and Drew Lock better than Darnold outright?

Side bar heard a interesting theory...passed on Fields so to focus on the entire roster so after 2022..make it appealing to a one Aaron Rodgers...Bucs  won a SB that way as did Denver...

Edited August 21, 2021 by Panthercougar68

[Shotgun]

3 minutes ago, Panthercougar68 said:

What world is Jalen Hurts, Daniel Jones, and Drew Lock better than Darnold outright?

Earth

[Panthercougar68]

2 minutes ago, Shotgun said:

Earth

Yeah no...if Darnold wasn't in the NY market for the start of his career he wouldn't have near as much media baggage.

Lock is literally fighting it out with Teddy....THE Teddy.

Edited August 21, 2021 by Panthercougar68

[Panthercougar68]

Also Brown, Jones, Roy, and Nixon are well into the 11-16 Ranking for IDL.

[Pejorative Miscreant]

Interesting but would like to revisit after a few regular season games.