Be honest....

[Razzy]

If there's one thing Fox/Hurney/Crew are good at it's selecting their 1st draft pick. Fox has always preferred a 2 back system so I just celebrated because it meant Foster was gone!

When they drafted T. Davis I was a bit confused, but that worked out fine.

[Sheldon Wolowizard]

I seriously expected to see an OT taken with that pick. Didn't know at the time we were going to be trading away next years first, our second and 4th for Otah.

[JungleCat]

Stewart is a blessing but I didn't get the pick then. Williams hadn't yet really shined and I felt a QB or DB was more important at the time.

[SmootsDaddy89]

I was stoked.

[DJ Insicion]

I didnt understand it and thought it was horrible until i quickly looked up his highlights from college and thought it was genius!

[K-man]

It looked strange at the time but turned out wonderfully. I hope for some of the same success in this year's draft.

[nosuchthingasapanther]

the responses in this thread are far different from the responses in the draft day thread immediately after the stewart was picked.

the huddle almost needed a suicide watch.

i predicted an RB in the first, but never named the player. it was the obvious choice imo. outside of williams, there was no one on the roster capable of carrying the rock.

there were some very good backs in that draft, but when all is said and done stewart will prove to be better than them all.

[tarheelpride]

And everyone but the Titans slept on Chris Johnson.

I actually thought it would be a great fit for them somehow.

Back to the OP question, I was floored, angry even. I wanted either Flacco or us to jump Denver and get Clady. glad it worked for us though

[Oldschool Leroy]

I didnt understand it and thought it was horrible until i quickly looked up his highlights from college and thought it was genius!

Yep, after I went to see his highlights, I knew he was going to be the boss. I especially liked that scene with him in the back yard with his family after the Panthers selected him.

[BlindSite]

I was willing to sell the farm on us taking either Williams or Otah and I wrote an article before that about Williams not exactly appearing like the heir apparent based on his public comments, so I was surprised and a little disturbed when we took Stewart, but elated when we traded back into the first for Otah.

I was more pissed last year when we took Everette Brown at the cost of this year's first knowing how good this draft was projected to be.

The pick I was most happiest with was Beason, and Jarrett too bad Jarrett hasn't done my support any justice... yet.

[rayzor]

i wasn't near a computer when stewart was picked but i was happy about that selection. panthers wanted to get back to a power running game and this was the obvious choice. i figured we would go either RB or OT. OT was my first choice but i wasn't going to complain with either. DE was another big need but there wasn't anyone i liked that was going to be available.

i know others had mendenhall ranked higher than stewart but i liked stewart better. we made the right choice there for sure.

since the old board blew up we don't have what everyone said but i don't remember much complaining about the pick. suicide watch? really? lol

here's what i posted about the first round in another forum....

round 1

jonathon stewart- RB:

the right guy for what the panthers are wanting to do. early on in the offseason the big cats got together (fox, hurney, and richardson) to decide what direction they wanted to go after last season and they wanted to bring back the power running game that they use to have. they needed a big powerful back and a big line to get it done. they picked the biggest and most powerful from this rich class of RBs. the toe wasn't a concern. the panthers doctor was the one who performed the surgery on it.

grade: A

round 1

jeff otah- OT:

like was said before, the right guy for hat the panthers are wanting to do. they wanted to go big and bad on the line and got the biggest and baddest one available. the trade they made to get him was the right thing to do. the panthers (esp. fox/hurney) have to win now and are willing to risk a lot to do it. its about time.

grade: A

link

fwiw...mayock called it. http://www.nfl.com/draft/story;jsessionid=65AFB208CB1B9A2261295B1F3B62DD5F?id=09000d5d8079e2e4&template=with-video&confirm=true funny thing, look at who was picked to go right after stewart. also check how many others he was right on the money.

[pantherj]

Jonathan Stewart is the only player I ever predicted that we would draft. I called it on this forum before Mike Mayock was saying it.

[rayzor]

prove it.

[pantherj]

I actually made a specific thread just to talk about my prediction, but this was waaaay back. I wish I could go dig up my original post. I made the prediction way before Mayock. Then about a month later, I made a thread to prove it. In that thread I reposted my original prediction, which was a post to someone elses draft thread, and I also dug up all the posts from other fans who were knocking Stewart, and telling me there was no chance that it would happen. At the time of my OP, fans hated the idea of drafting Stewart, and thought I was full of it. Then Mayock made his prediction, and fans started saying "maybe", or "let's try to get him in the second round." I do remember that LadyPanther, I think that was her sn, saw my OP. Is there any way to dig up posts from that far back? If not, then I guess you can think I made it all up. I'll never forget the one of the replies to my prediction, it was a huge picture of a dog turning away from something it terror, with the words "DO NOT WANT" on the picture.