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Round 1 - The Carolina Panthers select Ikem Ekwonu

Zod

By Zod,
in Carolina Panthers

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MHS831 Grand Master

MHS831

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, 45catfan said:

I don't think BC is OG material.  Dude is a 3rd rounder...no shame at being the swing tackle.  They will give Elf first crack at center, which means Bozeman will be LG.

I have thought that--I don't think he has the road grader ability--if they pull him a lot, OK.  Bozeman is a better C than G--which is what i based my opinion on--let's see, but you might be right.

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CPantherKing Grand Master

CPantherKing

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12 minutes ago, MillionDollarCam said:

Ekwonu has made significant improvements starting all the way back in HS and his trajectory has been one line up not a line that consists of peaks and valley’s. You take that type of kid all day long because 1) he’s already elite in one area (run blocking), 2) you have one of the best OL coaches in the NFL.

Ickey also isn’t as bad of a pass protector as he’s made out to be.

Through the first 5 games of last year he didn’t give up a single sack. There’s obviously work to be done but his trajectory is only going up.

He is pretty bad against average college edge rushers. Panthers drafted an NFL guard. No shot he goes toe to toe on 3rd down with NFL edge rushers week in and week out.

He had a QB who got away and threw the ball away when Ekwonu consistently got beat against the pass. Couple that with the rest of the OL being worse against the pass rush and not having to face top edge rushers makes it easy to see why Ekwonu's sack total was not as bad as his pass blocking at LT.

He will be moved to guard eventually. Christensen and Erving are better pass blockers unfortunately. 

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MHS831 Grand Master

MHS831

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12 hours ago, panthers55 said:

Just what I wanted. But honestly I never thought he would still be on the board. We couldn't trade down and pass him up. We have our Gross 2.0 for the next decade

I seriously thought Jax might take him at #1.  I gave him about a 20% chance.  I was 100% sure that he would not survive the Texans/Jets/Giants.

 

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MillionDollarCam Grand Master

MillionDollarCam

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1 hour ago, CPantherKing said:

He is pretty bad against average college edge rushers. Panthers drafted an NFL guard. No shot he goes toe to toe on 3rd down with NFL edge rushers week in and week out.

He had a QB who got away and threw the ball away when Ekwonu consistently got beat against the pass. Couple that with the rest of the OL being worse against the pass rush and not having to face top edge rushers makes it easy to see why Ekwonu's sack total was not as bad as his pass blocking at LT.

He will be moved to guard eventually. Christensen and Erving are better pass blockers unfortunately. 

It’s literally all footwork, something that can be fixed. And this guy is pulling clips where he has poor sets but his sets and his overall technique is actually solid and Campen will have a good foundation to work with. I also think his hand technique is much better than given credit for, he just doesn’t have an off switch and sometimes continues to be a mauler when he should show a little finesse.

Literally all the things that are being said about Ekwonu were also said about Bakhtiari (I know they were drafted in different situations)… literally everyone said Bakhtiari was going to be a guard because he struggled on the edge and his footwork was poor… who developed Bakhtiari and turned him into an all-pro LT… James Campen.

 

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