What top 10 prospect do you absolutely NOT want?

[frankw]

Geez people are very passionate about Travis Hunter. He seems like a solid dude. I think he has a great deal of potential wherever he ends up.

For myself and my knowledge of Panthers draft history I'm ready to see us stop gambling on raw WR prospects and putting a much heavier emphasis on fundamentals ie route running and hands. But that's just me.

[BullCityP]

3 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

I am not sure what sort of episode you are having right now or what meds you need to be taking, but I hope it works out for you.

Still no links I see lol

[tukafan21]

5 minutes ago, BullCityP said:

What part of Tets game makes you think he's a better NFL wr prospect than Hunter I'm really interested in hearing this?? What do you think he does that will translate better than what Hunter can do?

He has better hands, significantly larger catch radius (like absurdly so), and better at 50/50 balls for a start, while he also already runs a more full route tree that is already at an NFL level.

And before you say Hunter does those things well, I'm not saying he doesn't, but T-Mac is just better at them, just like Hunter is better at some things as well, such as pure speed/quickness and his ability to separate (and yes, separation and route running are two separate things, you can be a poor route runner but elite separator due to quick twitch ability).

T-Mac has 3 legitimate weaknesses, 2 of which are easily improved upon in the NFL with proper coaching, with the 3rd just being due to his size and is a trade off for what you get from his size.  

His get off at the snap and separation are two things that with coaching and just growing as a player, will get better.  Particularly because he's already an elite route runner, he just needs to improve his first couple steps after cutting to get that extra half step of separation.  

His raw top end speed will always be what it is, it's not elite like Hunter, but it's MORE than fast enough to be successful in the NFL, particularly due to all his other positives.  As I've noted before, he was clocked at 20.8 MPH (I think this was the number, not going back to find it right now though) during his first 2 seasons in college, which would have been the 8th fastest a player was clocked in an NFL game this past season.

You're taking these responses in this thread as if people are saying Hunter is a bum who couldn't cut it in the NFL as a WR if his life depended on it.  But we're really just saying he's a better CB prospect than WR, but even as a WR he's probably the 2nd or 3rd best prospect in the draft and still a 1st round pick.  We're also pointing out that you just can't ignore the wear and tear that his already thin frame has been put through by playing both ways for 3 years and the very legitimate concern about how he'll hold up long term in the NFL because of it, even if he only plays one side of the ball moving forward.

[mrcompletely11]

Where would tet rank in last year's class?

[jfra78]

2 minutes ago, mrcompletely11 said:

Where would tet rank in last year's class?

Right ahead of XL 

[BullCityP]

16 minutes ago, tukafan21 said:

He has better hands, significantly larger catch radius (like absurdly so), and better at 50/50 balls for a start, while he also already runs a more full route tree that is already at an NFL level.

And before you say Hunter does those things well, I'm not saying he doesn't, but T-Mac is just better at them, just like Hunter is better at some things as well, such as pure speed/quickness and his ability to separate (and yes, separation and route running are two separate things, you can be a poor route runner but elite separator due to quick twitch ability).

T-Mac has 3 legitimate weaknesses, 2 of which are easily improved upon in the NFL with proper coaching, with the 3rd just being due to his size and is a trade off for what you get from his size.  

His get off at the snap and separation are two things that with coaching and just growing as a player, will get better.  Particularly because he's already an elite route runner, he just needs to improve his first couple steps after cutting to get that extra half step of separation.  

His raw top end speed will always be what it is, it's not elite like Hunter, but it's MORE than fast enough to be successful in the NFL, particularly due to all his other positives.  As I've noted before, he was clocked at 20.8 MPH (I think this was the number, not going back to find it right now though) during his first 2 seasons in college, which would have been the 8th fastest a player was clocked in an NFL game this past season.

You're taking these responses in this thread as if people are saying Hunter is a bum who couldn't cut it in the NFL as a WR if his life depended on it.  But we're really just saying he's a better CB prospect than WR, but even as a WR he's probably the 2nd or 3rd best prospect in the draft and still a 1st round pick.  We're also pointing out that you just can't ignore the wear and tear that his already thin frame has been put through by playing both ways for 3 years and the very legitimate concern about how he'll hold up long term in the NFL because of it, even if he only plays one side of the ball moving forward.

I'm not saying ya'll think he's a scrub I just don't see how ya'll think any receiver in this class is a better prospect than him. With my GM hat on I'm not taking another WR or CB over him. I may be wrong but I doubt it dude is a BALLER. I called Nabers being a better prospect than MHJ. When I look at receiver prospects the first thing you look at is feet, footwork plus quick twitch and natural hands so looking at both players I just think Hunter is MUCH better. Top comp for both in my eyes is Evans for Tet and J Jefferson for Hunter and I'm picking JJ over Evans every day of the week in my opinion 

[LinvilleGorge]

Because you're hung up on what he did on the college field vs. looking at how that translates to the NFL. He basically just out-athleted the competition as a WR at the college level. Watch him play CB and watch him play WR. You can't possibly argue that he looked anywhere near as natural and instinctive as a WR as he did at CB. I'm not talking about once the ball is in the air. He has elite ball skills. I'm talking about getting off the line, running the route, setting up the CB. He basically just lined up and was faster, quicker, and more agile than the guy covering him. There's no nuance to his game as a WR because he's not a WR.

[BullCityP]

1 minute ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Because you're hung up on what he did on the college field vs. looking at how that translates to the NFL. He basically just out-athleted the competition as a WR at the college level. Watch him play CB and watch him play WR. You can't possibly argue that he looked anywhere near as natural and instinctive as a WR as he did at CB. I'm not talking about once the ball is in the air. He has elite ball skills. I'm talking about getting off the line, running the route, setting up the CB. He basically just lined up and was faster, quicker, and more agile than the guy covering him. There's no nuance to his game as a WR because he's not a WR.

That's LITERALLY what you want as a prospect lol. You get the player who does the thing you CAN'T coach and you teach him the rest!! I don't see where he was having trouble getting off the line setting CB's up ect but hey maybe I missed something. If he locks in on one position dude can be a top 5 WR or CB and none of these other prospects give me top 5 vibes 

[jb2288]

2 hours ago, BullCityP said:

Nah you don't go out and put up the numbers he did without being able to run routes dude is a football junky so he works on his craft he isn’t THAT much more athletic than other players to just be able to go out and do whatever and succeed at that level 

His route running is fine for college and his insane explosiveness and body control makes him very special. But he doesn’t have the full NFL route tree currently. I think he is that much more athletic than other players in college. In the NFL we will see. Either way, a day 1 elite CB starter imo. Huge ceiling guy at WR with immediate impact 

[LinvilleGorge]

17 minutes ago, BullCityP said:

That's LITERALLY what you want as a prospect lol. You get the player who does the thing you CAN'T coach and you teach him the rest!! I don't see where he was having trouble getting off the line setting CB's up ect but hey maybe I missed something. If he locks in on one position dude can be a top 5 WR or CB and none of these other prospects give me top 5 vibes 

No it's not. LOL 

Jesus, I think we're dealing with a @CamWhoaaaCam alt.

[jb2288]

43 minutes ago, mrcompletely11 said:

Where would tet rank in last year's class?

Think third after nabers and Harrison. Thomas Jr wasn’t that hyped but obviously with what we know now he would be up there too 

[jb2288]

1 hour ago, BullCityP said:

Still no links I see lol

Here ya go https://www.profootballnetwork.com/travis-hunter-scouting-report-nfl-draft-2025/

basically verbatim my same take earlier in the thread 

[tukafan21]

21 minutes ago, BullCityP said:

That's LITERALLY what you want as a prospect lol. You get the player who does the thing you CAN'T coach and you teach him the rest!! I don't see where he was having trouble getting off the line setting CB's up ect but hey maybe I missed something. If he locks in on one position dude can be a top 5 WR or CB and none of these other prospects give me top 5 vibes 

This is LITERALLY the reason we're where we are at as a franchise, because we keep drafting guys with off the charts RAS scores but are raw and not as actually skilled on the field and don't end up panning out.

Again, I'm not saying that's going to be the case with Hunter, but it's what you're describing here.

There is this misconception amongst fans that anything can be just taught to physically talented players once they get to the NFL, but that is woefully flawed, if not just downright wrong.

It's actually very difficult to teach things to players once they reach the NFL, but what good coaching can do is take the players who already can do it, and make them better at it.  You can improve a players foot speed and ability to get into and out of cuts on their routes to create separation.  But you can't as easily teach the player to be a precise route runner who has the instincts needed to do it at a high level.

Which is why I put more weight behind the things T-Mac does well than Hunter, because T-Mac is an elite player more due to his skills where Hunter is one more due to his athleticism.

If you can't see the difference between those things, it's a you problem, but it's very real and accurate.  But what you can't argue is that it's exactly what has messed the Panthers up so much over the years by leaning into the high RAS score athletes who are raw as actual players and expecting us to be able to coach them up.

[tukafan21]

5 minutes ago, jb2288 said:

Think third after nabers and Harrison. Thomas Jr wasn’t that hyped but obviously with what we know now he would be up there too 

That's what I was going to say too, he'd have been right there in contention with Odunze as the 3rd WR off the board.  

And you're correct, people are already forgetting Thomas Jr the prospect due to the season he had, just like people forget that Justin Jefferson was the 5th WR taken and the 22nd pick, not some surefire can't miss possible GOAT type of player that he's already turned into.