Draft Grades rounds 1-3

[Fiz]

Also McClain is not, in fact, the greatest draft pick in Panthers history.

I feel very confident about that.

[Zod]

Prove it.

[Fiz]

Prove it.

sorry can't prove a negative but nice burden of proof fallacy enjoy your ban

[Squirrel]

USF defense is usually pretty good. They are starting to getting a rep for good defensive line players.

[Fiz]

oh wait im not a mod and i can't ban people for bad argument tactics

[Leeroy Jenkins PhD]

Our draft is not going to win any competitions. But, we addressed 2 positions that really needed an upgrade. It is obvious that our defense is planning on using a rotation at the DT position. Both players selected are not known for their conditioning. The biggest hit McClain took was that he was usually winded by the end of games. Hopefully we fix that.

[NYPanthersFan]

First off, I'd like to say I'm glad I stumbled upon this board! I'm a new member if you couldn't tell.

I'd give our draft so far a low C+.

I am 50/50 on the Cam Newton pick. I'm confident he won't be a bust, however I thought the Panthers should have used it on Patrick Peterson, knowing we will most likely be in or around the same position next year to take Andrew Luck.

Not having a 2nd round pick hurt the Panthers more than I thought it would. and not moving back into the 2nd to pick some of the talent still there was puzzling.

The 3rd round, I don't exactly love, but it has be excited. I like the McClain pick a lot, however I think the Panthers enabled their Go-Go Gadget arms on Fua. He probably would have been there for our 5th round pick. I found that pick a little strange considering Christian Ballard is still sitting on the draft board.

For today, I think the Panthers need to draft Clint Boling to start of the 4th Round. The OLine still needs some work and depth to it. I thought the Panthers were going to take him at the end of the 3rd, but went with a "safer" pick based on team need. Maybe they wanted to take the rest of the night/morning to research Boling. If they do not go with Boling, Edmond Gates would be great for this offense.

There was a run on DB in the 3rd round, so I am thinking the Panthers can hold off on one and not over pay until the 5th Round. I would like to see them add a DE too. Greg Romeus would be a nice late round prize. He was considered 1st to 2nd round talen before some injuries his senior year

[bleys]

Used to be, like when I went. When I went it was a lot like UNCC, our homecoming was basketball. Its had football for a decade now and from what I hear is competing more with UF and FSU.

with Skip Holtz down there now, that football program should grow leaps and bounds..

[JawnyBlaze]

As a USF alum I can say the McClain pick is the best in panthers history....ever.

And to the guy that called USF a small school, its the second largest school in Florida.

That was me talking about USF as a small school, and I was obviously talking about as a football school. I read somewhere that McClain is the 5th highest drafted player from there (tied). USF's first drafted player was in 2008, they've only had a football program since 97. They JUST missed out on NFLN's Top 10 Football Factories....

[jarhead]

Cam Newton can't be considered anything more than an 'Incomplete' ATT. As one announcer put it, 'Cam Newton has the biggest potential to be a success in the NFL, and at the same time he has the biggest potential to be a bust.' Which one he turns out to be will be decided at a much later date.

McClain and Fua, as Rivera called them, are 'Space Eaters'. McClain has more flexibility/mobility/agility. He can punch a hole in the OL and cause some disruption in the backfield. Fua is stiff, not extremely agile, and is going to hold the line at the point of attack. 'Space Eaters'. They won't be Pro Bowlers, but they should both offer help immediately. Don't know about Fua, but McClain is probably more talented than any other DT we have on the roster right now. He was probably the best we could get at the time.

Because of our horrendous QB situation we 'had' to pick a QB, and the team went with Cam. Because of that need at QB, we had to pass up on some incredible talent with that #1 pick, talent that could have had a big impact immediately. Because we traded our 2nd round pick last year for QB-to-WR/KR project Armani Edwards we again lost out on some good talent that could have stepped in and contributed immediately. While McClain and Fua are pretty good talents, they are the ones who will contribute the most/1st for us so far in this draft. They are also not the jaw-dropping talent we could have gotten earlier if it wasn't for our critical need to reach at QB and the loss of our 2nd round. It just 'feels' like in this draft that those things put us one step behind everyone else in the draft - we had the 1st pick, but after that pick(/risk) we have been playing catch-up/have been 1 step behind in getting the truly 'elite' talent.

I like NE's approach. They know their team, know the players they need to fit/fill their positions. they don't care what round they are in or what round a player is projected to go in - if they need the guy, they pick him. They also don't 'reach' or take huge risks, and they hardly ever give up future draft picks for 'risks'.

The Panthers have made some 'mistakes' by taking risks, trading future picks for 'projects'. Edwards may still pan out, but he didn't contribute last year, and the pick he cost us this year hurt. I feel we just did something similar with Cam Newton. We took a risk, he won't contribute right away, and I hope the pick he cost us doesn't hurt later (Regret). I hope the youg man becomes a force to be reckoned with in the NFL for years to come!

Well said and the reality is we did fall behind especially in the NFC South which all will be better teams.Atlanta decision will bite them in the ass but at least they did get a high impact player and will give opponets fits trying to cover those guys.

[drkmay]

I give it a C+ ..... Lets face it we got stuck with the number 1 pick and we drafted Cam Newton for obvious reasons. I wish we could have traded back and pick up an extra couple of picks because I feel no one but us was going to draft came this early. I like the DTs we picked up considering what we where left with... But I truly feel like this guys.... We gave up so much in previous drafts for mediocre players that we didnt even try to get back in the second round to get an instant impact DT... IF YOU CAN TRADE BACK IN TO THE THIRD TO GET A FREAKING PROJECT PLAYERS SUCH AS ARMANTI EDWARDS WHY NOT TAKE THAT SAME PHILOSOPHY AND GET A SURE FIRE TALENT LIKE MARVIN AUSTIN, OR JOSH JENKINS,OR KENDRICK ELLIS FOR THAT MATTER..... the front office of the Panthers confuses the piss out of me... I hope this class amounts to something other than Cam becoming the franchise because its gonna take more than just him to win us a championship...

[top dawg]

What is this USF of which you speak? Is it a school? Damn, I thought it was a feeder for the WWE.

HA!

[JawnyBlaze]

What do you grade the Panthers

I am giving them a C. I like the Cam pick a lot, hope he will be our first true franchise QB. The 3rd round DTs are both solid and will have an immediate impact on gamedays. You can't ask for more in the third round. But I think you have to look at the second round and Edwards, thus the C grade instead of an A. There is no difference this year in the bottom 10 picks in the first round and the first pick in the second round. We lost a first rounder for a guy that may not make the squad this season. That makes me want to vomit.

I agree with the grade. If you grade it just on our picks in this draft, I'd go with B+ or A-. If you're grading how our 2011 draft picks were used, then yea C is a fair grade. The epic failure of spending a 2nd round pick on a projected 5th round conversion project is only short of the Gilbert trade as worst in franchise history. If they pick up one of the two trendy TEs (Thomas, Cameron) and a decent CB and Alex Henery the grade can move up to solid B, B+. If they get that and a good OL player, gotta move it up to A even with a wasted (at least seemingly wasted at the moment) 2nd round pick.

[JawnyBlaze]

They do get a sticker for not trading a pick next year yet, though.