With the first pick, don't draft a QB? Draft a DE? C'mon!

[Jon Snow]

Just now, Shotgun said:

That seems true with every position this upcoming draft. Who is worth the 1st overall?

I'm not seeing one yet. Or should I say I have not seen a clear cut stand out to say yeah that guy is the best of the class. It looks like a few late 1st guys and a bunch of 2nd rounders then a mixed bag after that.

[Tr3ach]

14 hours ago, ForJimmy said:

Texans and Commanders made it work. You need a good OL (which we have) and some weapons. We need to keep developing XL, Coker, JT, and Brooks to have some weapons. I wouldn’t mind reuniting DC with Godwin if the price is right ( yeah I know he is coming off an injury) It’s Moton’s last year so use it to help get a young QB comfortable. All of this is assuming there is one we like a lot. 

The problems with all those receivers you mentioned is which one do you see having a true #1 skill set?  XL is a specialized receiver and obviously can't run a decent bit of the route tree to create separation.  I'm a huge Coker fan but I don't see him being a true #1 either but he seems even more promising to me than XL on the field.

[Jon Snow]

2 minutes ago, Tr3ach said:

The problems with all those receivers you mentioned is which one do you see having a true #1 skill set?  XL is a specialized receiver and obviously can't run a decent bit of the route tree to create separation.  I'm a huge Coker fan but I don't see him being a true #1 either but he seems even more promising to me than XL on the field.

They can always draft another receiver and will keep adding to the group. There is no prototype for a #1 if that's what you are looking for. 

[ForJimmy]

1 hour ago, Tr3ach said:

The problems with all those receivers you mentioned is which one do you see having a true #1 skill set?  XL is a specialized receiver and obviously can't run a decent bit of the route tree to create separation.  I'm a huge Coker fan but I don't see him being a true #1 either but he seems even more promising to me than XL on the field.

Yeah we wouldn’t have a 1 with hope that XL can develop into 1 eventually. I wouldn’t be against signing Godwin as a vet familiar with DC and yeah he isn’t a 1 too. As long as we have a lot of playmakers I’m good with it. 

[TD alt]

5 hours ago, 45catfan said:

You don't follow the draft do you?  For every Daniels and Stroud there are 10 busts. Hell, you don't have to look no further than our team.  This is NOT a good QB class.  I'm BPA, unless it's a QB.  Free agency is he way to go and wait until '26 when the QB class will be much better.

 

There are more examples of QBs starting year 1, but that's not even the real point. The point is that some QBs start their rookie year, and some don't. Some shouldn't, but that doesn't mean that you pass up on a guy that has that potential. Hell, Patrick Mahomes didn't start right off the bat. Neither did Tom Brady. Jordan Love didn't, but would you pass up on him? The fact is---and everybody should have known it---that Anthony Richardson and Malik Willis had no business starting from day one. Hell, it's arguable whether they should've been drafted on day one or two. You have to look at the prospect---how he passes, how many games that he's actually played in, did he play in a pro-style offense, how does he process information, who was his competition, etc.  Of course being old school, I think everyone should probably sit, at minimum until the second half of their rookie year, but the way things are set up and the way many FOs think about team building, they want everything quickly to take advantage of rookie contracts and not necessarily putting a premium on thorough development of a prospect.

As for 2026, that's all fine and good, but no one knows anything with surety, and pro scouts mess up all the damned time. 

If the Panthers trade down because they don't see a true franchise QB, then fine. Fans can't change that anyway, but they had better be right. Getting the next big thing in 2026, and having to pay a king's ransom to move up to get him, is not a cycle I want to repeat, but it may be inevitable. That said, everything that I've seen thus far tells me that Cam Ward's game translates well to the NFL, plus, he has the size, strength, arm talent, and athleticism to be a franchise guy. So, if we trade down from the first pick, like I said, we had better be right. And I don't care if Ward starts in 2025 or 2026, if he is legit at the pro level, we better not be the team that traded away from him.

[KillerKat]

5 hours ago, 45catfan said:

So all QBs that fail are idiots?

Yes. GTFO my field if you suck.

[Jackie Lee]

Still gotta swing

 

[Tr3ach]

2 hours ago, Jon Snow said:

They can always draft another receiver and will keep adding to the group. There is no prototype for a #1 if that's what you are looking for. 

I think there are definitely traits for a #1, and we never draft wr based on it.  That is being quick, with good change of direction that can run all of the route tree.  We never seem to look at route running ability when scouting receiver at all.

[PNW_PantherMan]

12 minutes ago, Jackie Lee said:

Still gotta swing

 

It's so dire that they had to stretch Trevor Lawrence into a hit.

[Green-Ghost]

On 10/29/2024 at 12:32 PM, TD alt said:

OK, for all those saying to trade down and not draft a QB? Who is our QB next year? Just waste away another season, right? Nah.

And for those saying take a DE. Who? There isn't even a DE in the top 10 worth taking.

Look, I seriously doubt that we'd trade down from the first pick anyway, but if we do we are in for another season of dread with a sub par retread.  And DE? Ha! if we trade down, DE isn't in the stars.

Agreed.  Besides what is the old saying? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.

I think we have seen what can happen when you trade down to get a first rounder.

Edited October 30 by Green-Ghost

[Jon Snow]

49 minutes ago, Tr3ach said:

I think there are definitely traits for a #1, and we never draft wr based on it.  That is being quick, with good change of direction that can run all of the route tree.  We never seem to look at route running ability when scouting receiver at all.

To be fair most of the receivers coming out have a limited route tree. Some catch on faster than others but most just become solid contributors at best.

[Tr3ach]

1 hour ago, Jon Snow said:

To be fair most of the receivers coming out have a limited route tree. Some catch on faster than others but most just become solid contributors at best.

My biggest concern with Legette being able to run a full route tree is his change of direction and quickness.  He's very fast running in a straight line once he gets going, but he's not going to get separation on lot of routes that rely on anything besides the straight line speed.

[tukafan21]

15 hours ago, CPF4LIFE said:

I really dont want to draft another wide receiver within the first 2 rounds again. That would be like 4 years in a row or something. At some point we gotta realize it just isn't working. I mean if we gonna do that again we shouldn't have any problem drafting another qb. 

Big difference in taking WRs in the 2nd (or last pick in the first) and hoping they pan out, and taking the top WR in the draft who is going to go in the Top 10 at worst and very possibly Top 5 based on team needs.

Nobody was saying Legette, Mingo, or TMJ were going to be can't miss prospects, but I think every draft analyst will be saying T-Mac is going to be such a prospect.

They're not even comparable situations.

[CamWhoaaCam]

14 minutes ago, tukafan21 said:

Big difference in taking WRs in the 2nd (or last pick in the first) and hoping they pan out, and taking the top WR in the draft who is going to go in the Top 10 at worst and very possibly Top 5 based on team needs.

Nobody was saying Legette, Mingo, or TMJ were going to be can't miss prospects, but I think every draft analyst will be saying T-Mac is going to be such a prospect.

They're not even comparable situations.

Nobody is questioning Tmac the talent. There is no doubt he's the best WR prospect.

 

The problem is I have seen you say we should take him even at the #1 pick. That just doesn't make sense in my mind. You don't take a WR #1 overall. The last WR to be drafted #1 overall was Keyshawn Johnson in 1996. Under no circumstance do you take Tmac #1.

 

If you want Tmac just trade back a couple of spots so you can still get him while also getting extra picks. I have no problem with us drafting Tmac but it has to be the right spot.