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If smitty wanting out is true, does our draft strategy change?

PhillyB

By PhillyB,
in Carolina Panthers

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XClown1986 Proficient

XClown1986

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I think it's been clear for awhile (hugs and handshakes with Fox at the end of that horrible season ender with Atlanta).

He's gone, and I hope he ends up somewhere his few remaining years as an elite WR aren't wasted on a poo team with no QB.

I agree. Smitty has been my favorite player since he came into the league. He is explosive, doesn't quit, and has a passion that few players match. I think he deserves a shot with a good team and a good qb.

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Mother Grabber Grand Master

Mother Grabber

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I agree. Smitty has been my favorite player since he came into the league. He is explosive, doesn't quit, and has a passion that few players match. I think he deserves a shot with a good team and a good qb.

I'll laugh until my taint falls off if he demands a trade, and then we win the superbowl without him.

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JawnyBlaze Grand Master

JawnyBlaze

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IF Smitty truly wants out, then I wish him the best and he'll still be my favorite Panther of all time...for now anyway. I think it does change our draft strategy if it's true, at least the draft strategy most of us have in mind. 95% of the board wants either Cam or Dareus with #1.

If Smitty is gone, I'd say we need another receiver and I don't believe there's much available in FA. Can't remember if V Jackson was tendered or not, but even if not he's too much of a headache. I mentioned it in another post, but I think he's 1 DUI away from a year long suspension. And he held out for a new contract. Too much drama, don't think Mr. Richardson would sign off on that one. Rice is good, but not phenomenal, and he definitely got tendered. Can't think of any other FA WRs that are above average.

That leaves the draft. In my opinion, the dropoff after Green and Jones is FAR greater than the dropoffs in the DT and QB pool. If Green is a 9.5/10 prospect, Jones is a 9/10 prospect the next tier (I'm guessing Hankerson, Young, etc) would be like 6s. Hankerson could be good, if we still had a 2nd round pick, I could see using it or our 3rd on him. Baldwin screams 2nd round bust. Wouldn't touch him before the 4th. There's some potential in guys like Edmund Gates, Randall Cobb, Tandon Doss, Greg Little (I'd take him in the 4th with our current crop of picks, not before), and Dwayne Harris but all are too far from ready to be expected to be productive starters in year 1 or 2.

If we still take a QB #1 (or stick with Jimmy) and take away the biggest receiving threat we have (by far) that's not fair to the QB. What chance will Newton have throwing to Lafell, Gettis, Edwards and/or random late round rookie? That will be just as unfair as what was done to Jimmy last year.

Sure, there's a chance Gettis and/or Lafell are ready to step up and be solid starting WRs. But that's far from a given. Without Smitty, our WR corps will suffer greatly and by extension our QB play, which in effect means our run game. The entire offense will shut down to even lower levels than last year without at least the threat of a Steve Smith to draw double teams and give the others at least a little breathing room to make something happen. I don't care if he has lost a step or three, he was still demanding double and triple coverage and even if teams didn't respect the QB play, they still respected Smitty enough to devote a disproportionate amount of attention on him. If Smitty is gone, we NEED Green or Jones to command that attention. Otherwise, we better hope one or more of our current WRs can step up beyond reasonable expectation because none of the other WRs in this draft seem to me to be able to.

In short, I think the combination of Green/two 3rd round DTs (McClain, Jenkins, Powe, Ellis, etc)/FA QB would help our team a lot more than Newton/1 3rd round DT/1 3rd round WR or Dareus/3rd round DT/3rd round WR/FA QB or whatever other combination not including Green with our first.

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Ja Rhule Grand Master

Ja Rhule

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Sure... Lets draft rookie QB and give him nothing to work with... Really, you guys think Gettis and Lafell are good WR1 and WR2? You think vets like Hasselbeck want to throw to scrubs? It did not work last year, why force it again this year? WR is pretty obvious option at #1. There is a huge dropoff in talent after Green and Jones.

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