Everyone Pushing to Draft Yet Another WR Early

[mrcompletely11]

13 hours ago, rebelrouser said:

A third year in a row taking a wr who has trouble creating separation? PFF has the best player available for us as the LT from LSU; should we take him?

Taking the best LT in this class at 8 would solve our line problems for the foreseeable future.  Wouldnt be ideal for the defense but I wouldnt cry about. 

[Jon Snow]

23 minutes ago, mrcompletely11 said:

Taking the best LT in this class at 8 would solve our line problems for the foreseeable future.  Wouldnt be ideal for the defense but I wouldnt cry about. 

I would prefer that over overdrafting a wr.

[jtm]

With Bryce playing well, our offense scored plenty of points.  I do think the Panthers need to add another weapon on offense and Higgins would be my preference.    

[tukafan21]

8 hours ago, Icege said:

Chiming in to mention that I specifically asked that question because it stuck out to me how he didn't seem to separate well against collegiate level players nor did he seem to really bully guys with his size.

His game reminds me a lot of a more refined Devin Funchess. He's a shockingly smooth athlete while being a large target for the QB, but T-Mac definitely has much better hands and football instincts than Fun Fun (who was more of an athlete that played football as opposed to a football player imo). However, he doesn't explode out of his routes (tho, to be fair, he can run the whole tree) and relies on size + length to be one of those, "if he's covered, he's open" type of weapons.

While I'm not thrilled at the idea of taking him at #8, it is interesting to think about how he'd pair with Bryce considering that both Bryce and T-Mac's strengths are in how they're able to navigate chaos when a play breaks down. Fifita had a 3+ second release time at Arizona last season despite it being a first read offense... just imagine what T-Mac could do with somebody like Bryce instead...

I guess it's fair to say that while I asked, T-Mac's lack of separation concerns me but I'm not worried?

I don't see any similarities between T-Mac and Funchess, outside of like you said, they are smooth movers for their size, but T-Mac is a million times the WR that Funchess ever wished he could be.

The irony on my end of bringing up Funchess when talking about T-Mac, is how excited I was to draft Funchess due to a personal connection to him as well, LOL.

Funchess is the best player to ever come out of my hometown, he went to one of the 3 HS's in our school district, not mine, but of course one of our main rivals.  I got to meet him the summer after his rookie year and got a picture with him, that I was able to later get signed with an inscription about going from our hometown to Carolina.  He may not have panned out for us, but I always thought that was a cool thing for my team to draft the best player to come out of my hometown.

[Stingray3030]

Everyone saying XL and Coker aren't true #1 guys - development is actually a thing in the NFL.  Sometimes true #1 WR's come into the league like JJ, Chase, Nabers - and sometimes they come in like Aiyuk, DJ Moore, or Nico.  You may not personally feel like our guys have that potential but they certainly showed enough to see the possibilities.  Point is we absolutely need a #1 WR and did not have it last year - but he may be on the roster and showed flashes - so WR is absolutely not the top need.

[Icege]

14 hours ago, tukafan21 said:

I don't see any similarities between T-Mac and Funchess, outside of like you said, they are smooth movers for their size, but T-Mac is a million times the WR that Funchess ever wished he could be.

Funchess never ran dudes over. He was just a big body that was a great athlete. That's what I see with T-Mac: a smooth athlete that is going to glide by but not bully smaller DBs. Being a much better route runner with much better hands definitely makes him a much better prospect, that's why we're talking about him in the top 15 vs. the 2nd round where Funchess was drafted.

[carolinanimal]

we also have to think about this. any defensive prospect we draft is going to take time to contribute to this team this year. defensive players take a while before thier impacts are felt. Tmac can come in and make a difference immedetialy. He pushes good recievers down a slot where they can get favorable coverages. 

imagine a 3wr lineup of Tmac, XL and coker in the slot!!!

[Stingray3030]

14 hours ago, carolinanimal said:

we also have to think about this. any defensive prospect we draft is going to take time to contribute to this team this year. defensive players take a while before thier impacts are felt. Tmac can come in and make a difference immedetialy. He pushes good recievers down a slot where they can get favorable coverages. 

imagine a 3wr lineup of Tmac, XL and coker in the slot!!!

They better score 35pts a game cause our defense gives up 31!  Worst points given up in NFL history.  I don't know how as a GM you can come out of the first round of the NFL draft following the worst defense in NFL history without taking a defensive player.  Day 1 off-season strategy planning meeting - Dan Morgan walks into the room and writes "MOST POINTS GIVEN UP IN NFL HISTORY".  First question to the group - how do we fix this?  If that isn't the start of the meeting we are in very big trouble. 

The caveat is always a non-defensive player with "generational talent" or no defensive studs left at 8.  But for me the answer is Tet is not a generational talent and if there is no defensive studs when we get to 8 you trade down a few spots.  Every analyst I have seen ranks Tet below Nabers, Harrison, Thomas, and Bowers last year - you don't draft that at 8 in our situation.  Given our history of scouting WR's if our scouts feel differently than that I ABSOLUTELY know Tet is a bust.

[Jmac]

Defense top priority (Dline and edge), WR and Oline, then RB

Edited yesterday at 03:02 PM by Jmac

[carolinanimal]

9 hours ago, Stingray3030 said:

They better score 35pts a game cause our defense gives up 31!  Worst points given up in NFL history.  I don't know how as a GM you can come out of the first round of the NFL draft following the worst defense in NFL history without taking a defensive player.  Day 1 off-season strategy planning meeting - Dan Morgan walks into the room and writes "MOST POINTS GIVEN UP IN NFL HISTORY".  First question to the group - how do we fix this?  If that isn't the start of the meeting we are in very big trouble. 

The caveat is always a non-defensive player with "generational talent" or no defensive studs left at 8.  But for me the answer is Tet is not a generational talent and if there is no defensive studs when we get to 8 you trade down a few spots.  Every analyst I have seen ranks Tet below Nabers, Harrison, Thomas, and Bowers last year - you don't draft that at 8 in our situation.  Given our history of scouting WR's if our scouts feel differently than that I ABSOLUTELY know Tet is a bust.

you dont draft out of need. thats how you get in trouble. this draft is loaded at dt and edge players. that means you can get them throughout the draft. why not grab the best wr in the draft while you can and spend the rest of fa and the draft on defense. my point was that any rookies we get this year on defense , wont move the needle that much. it will be 2 years before most of them do that. 

[Stingray3030]

13 hours ago, carolinanimal said:

you dont draft out of need. thats how you get in trouble. this draft is loaded at dt and edge players. that means you can get them throughout the draft. why not grab the best wr in the draft while you can and spend the rest of fa and the draft on defense. my point was that any rookies we get this year on defense , wont move the needle that much. it will be 2 years before most of them do that. 

There is no absolute like "you don't draft out of need".  You always make a choice based on the situation - sometimes need is more influential, sometimes BPA, sometimes trading.  It depends on alot of factors.  If you reread my post you see I never said you always draft on need....our situation in the worst defense in the history of the NFL.  

I think it is insane to say "any rookies we get this year on defense, wont move the needle that much."  That is completely untrue.  How many examples do you want to prove that?  When we drafted Luke in 2012 our defense went from 28th to 10th and he led the league in tackles.  I can give you plenty more examples - but very few of them involved guys drafted in the 2nd round.  Depth doesn't mean elite depth - this draft has depth at above average talent but not elite talent.  If you get to pick #8 and the guys available have similar grades you pick based on need every time, or you trade down for even more value, which is exactly wheat I stated above.

Personally I think you see Tet as an elite talent and our options at 8 as less - so in that scenario I don't disagree with what you are saying is the better choice - I just personally don't see Tet as a top 10 talent so we just disagree.  From every reliable source I have found Nabors>Harrison>Thomas>Tet.  With that I am absolutely not taking him at #8.  That grades him just above XL.  If Graham, Carter, Johnson are gone I wanna trade down to 12-16, pick up an extra 2nd round pick, and take advantage of that depth you mentioned.