Question for those who don't wanna draft a QB

[Catalyst]

- Which brings me to tThe biggest mistake people keep making, that being to act like if we don't take a quarterback number one this season, we'll never have another shot at a franchise QB again. Frankly, that's ridiculous. Not every franchise QB in the league now was taken at #1 overall. "But we won't be this high again" people say, to which I respond "you do now we're allowed to trade up, right?"

See my above statement. But even if we DID luck out and have one slip to us the possibility is remote and why give up all those picks when we don't have to give up anything but our one pick right now? I suppose it all comes down to whether or not you view Newton as a franchise QB. I very much do believe he is and think he WILL be our pick and that, in 3 years all you anti-Cam folks will be putting your Newton jerseys on for gameday.

So again, my recommendation for this year is to use that number one pick on the best player available who can help us. I don't believe any of the quarterbacks fit that bill. Right now, I'd choose between Peterson or Dareus and probably settle on Peterson. Dareus might be very good, but I have a feeling Peterson will be special, and that's what you want at number one.

Peterson is a safety in the NFL. I am as sure of this as anything. He's Antrel Rolle coming out of Miami in '05. Everybody thought he was so "special" too. He was freakishly athletic, had good size, the works. He was a bust at CB and moved to FS, where he ended up being solid. Peterson is SO similar it's scary.

Dareus I do like. If we DO go defense, he's the guy I want. But again, there are DT's every single year in the draft. Not to mention this year is VERY deep at DT and we have two 3rd rounders. I promise you, the gap between Dareus and Jerrell Powe and Marvin Austin is a LOT less than the gap between Clausen/Moore/Pike and an elite talent like Cam Newton.

For quarterback this year, go to camp with Matt Moore, Jimmy Clausen, Tony Pike and a veteran pickup. The free agent market isn't great and likely will only provide a stopgap like Billy Volek. The better route to go - once the CBA is reached - will be to try to trade for someone like Carson Palmer or David Garrard. I could see either of them handling the QB spot well enough to give us a two or three year window wherein we can find and/or develop that franchise guy hopefully picked up next year.

I'll go back to my argument with Rivera. He's only got 4 years to prove himself and get this team to the playoffs. 3-4 year turn-arounds are a thing of the past in today's NFL. If a new coach can't get his team turned around by year 3 they're out the door. Rivera is NOT going to want to wait 2-3 years before attempting to get his franchise QB in place when his contract is only 4 years.

He knows we're never going to contend with Billy Volek, Matt Moore, or any other stop-gap in place. We may win some games, sure, because I expect our defense to be top notch under him, but we'll never threaten for a Super Bowl without a franchise QB and that type of player takes 2-3 years to develop even if you get an immediate starter like Matt Ryan. Rivera is going to want to get his guy in place ASAP and start that process so that in a year or two we can hit the ground running.

[jarhead]

I just think that none of the QB's are worth the #1 spot. We have other needs and there are other players at that spot that are more of a guarantee to contribute than a QB.

I agree.If there was someone at QB that I felt was a future franchise QB I would say go get him.My view is:

Cam Newton is a freak of an athelete and has a big arm....never mind the spread offense and some techicial tweaks he needs but my concern is that with him its all about Cam.When he gets the big bucks in his pocket will the passion required to be a pro QB be there? Will he be in the film room or be doing underwear commercials?Most Qbs coming out of college fail, not because of their ability but there dedication that it requires to be not only the QB but a leader of men and all the other intangibles.Examples are Kerry Collins(Panthers)Matt Lienart,Vince Young,(Michael Vick Falcons),J Russel just to mention a few.

Gabbert just seems medicore to me.Though I admit I have not studied the film of every game he has played but his college stats are unimpressive for the first pick in the draft.

Why I like Darius is he is a beast and feel he will have an impact on every defensive down.He seems well grounded and will not be a distraction ie Albert Haysworth.He has the ability to play in mutiple defesive schemes and postions.

JJ Peterson has all the attributes of a saftey with the speed of a CB.He is tall and can play man to man.He is a ball hawk and will get intercetions He has special team value.Most of all he is grounded and seems to have maturity and passion for the game.

You ask so that is my opinion.

[jarhead]

I understand that hype can elevate someone's stock but the front offices making these decisions do enough homework to not believe the hype and base trade compensation on a player's actual worth.

What I am simply stating is that Kevin Kolb's value in the open NFL market is far greater than Matt Moore's and you would have a tough argument to make right now that Moore is the best QB out of the 2007 class. We could argue about stats and # of starts and compare numbers, but if you asked every NFL GM whom they would rather start a franchise with (just between the 2) it would suprise me if more than one GM out of 32 picked Moore. And I say more than one because I am assuming Hurney would say him only because it is the politically correct thing to do.

They are shopping him for more reasons than just having Vick.Vick is getting some age and his style of running will get him injured. He has played in a QB friendly west coast offense and to me his value is at its maximim.

[Guest Setfree1012]

It's quite intriguing how guys are willing to put a No.1 overall pick into a DT,DB, or DE who isn't on the same level as Suh. When you're taking number one you take the position with the most value, and in todays NFL that is the QB position.

With the additional compensatory picks, and our current stock of picks I'm sure we can address areas of needs without selling out REACHING for a defensive player number one overall who isn't worth it.

Like others have pointed out Vet + Clausen + Gabbert/Newton is the more valuable scenario. Gabbert and Cam may not be ready this year, but is taking a defensive player really going to change anything for the leagues worst offense? I don't think so, bringing in talent at QB is a must at this point...do you really think a guy like Rivera wants to put his future in the hands of the QB's currently on the team. Especially when in his first presser he addressed QB as a position of need and said he liked the defense, saying it was solid, but was left on the field to long.

All I'm saying is over the past few years rookie head coaches have also brought in their guy @ QB via the draft...Mike Smith in ATL-Matt Ryan (1st), John Harbaugh in BAL-Joe Flacco (1st if my memory serves), Raheem Morris-Josh Freeman (1st-People said this was a reach) and if you watch our games you saw the trouble his athleticism and ability to extend plays gave our defense after just a year to grow and learn.

All of those teams have had success, and out of that group two are in our division, and not to mention Brees. We NEED our guy, and of that group only Freeman had a tough rookie season, but the supporting cast in TB was far worse off than in BAL, and ATL, and you see how TB looked in just a season.

[CarolinaVeins]

Im not worried about Cam getting the big bucks and slacking off because he is highly competitive. I think he will be focused on trying to get to the big game. He may strive to be the first rookie QB to win a super bowl. Not saying he will but imagine him winning Heisman, BCS and then the very next year Superbowl

[mav1234]

yeah I think it's more likely he looks worse than Clausen his rookie year than wins the Superbowl his rookie year... and that's with me being positive about his future as a QB.

[FDN]

Most importantly, you need a QB from a business perspective. You're not going to sell tickets with Jimmy Clausen. Wtih Newton the Panthers become relevant again

[chef17]

Most importantly, you need a QB from a business perspective. You're not going to sell tickets with Jimmy Clausen. Wtih Newton the Panthers become relevant again

If Newton plays like Clausen he won't sell any more tickets.

[Lumps]

AE is our QB from business perspective.

Why can't we just sell tickets because there is a consistency in winning? Cam will only sell his hype for so long without actually doing something.

[chef17]

AE is our QB from business perspective.

Why can't we just sell tickets because there is a consistency in winning? Cam will only sell his hype for so long without actually doing something.

This. If we win with Clausen we will sell just as many tickets as if we win with Cam. Just drafting Cam isn't going to keep selling tickets unless he wins.

[riddel]

I do not want to draft a QB with the #1 pick in the draft.

I do want to trade down and pick up a 2nd round pick where we may take a QB that fits into Chud's offensive plans, but ultimately I want to pick up the best available vet QB on the market that fits into Chud's plans.

The #1 pick in the draft should be a home run and there is not a home run QB in this draft.

[TheRed]

Our current situation is this: We have young prospects. What we lack is a veteran presence. I don't really see adding more youth to the equation as a helpful thing.

- Folks keep saying "we need offense". That's all well and good, but if you reallywant offense this year, drafting any of the current crop of quarterbacks isn't a good move because none of them can contribute right away. You'd be better off going AJ Green if that's what you really want (though for me, receiver is another position that doesn't need to get any younger).

So your saying we shouldn't draft offense because more youth to that side is a bad idea.

But you're ok with going defense the whole draft and instead implementing youth there and leaving the worst offense to take the field in years intact because this is presumably a poor draft? I say presumably because lets all remember none of us can see in the future and know which players will bust or not.

[thefuzz]

I have beaten up Hurney for a long time for not going out and getting us a decent QB. Most would think that now I would be screaming for the pick to be QB, and if we were in the middle of the first I would be hoping for a fall out of Gabbert, but we are not. We are picking no. 1 overall, and I personally don't think that any QB that is coming out this year is worth that pick.

I was all for Luck, and when he decided to go back to school, I am no longer in favour of drafting a QB. It's not that I don't want us to be a good football team, it's just that the QBs in this draft are not great pro prospects.

We need help all across the board, take BPA (PP or Marcell), bring in a vet QB to compete with Clausen, and award the starting job to the best one. We really still have no clue if Clausen can even play the pro game.

[MaxiMus]

Matt is a winner. He has won at every level. He is traditionally a slow starter. It was wrong to bench him after 7 quarters. He would have improved the offense as the season went on. But I think we will see him in camp fighting for a starting spot.