CardiacCats Top 5 Players on the Panthers Draft Board - V. 3.0

[CardiacCats]

After a busy week, never really found time to do this into now, late, I know but I'm sitting here doing nothing right now and I enjoy typing these up so let's get to it. After a nice win Sunday, and two more winnable games coming up I see us picking in the 6-15 range, hard to predict with this team. I could see us finishing from 4-12 to 8-8 at this point.

Biggest Needs: DT, RT, OLB, WR, CB

Pretty big shakeup as far as biggest needs go this week as well, Jeff Otah is now out for the year, again and I've always been a big fan of his but we have to pull the plug now. It's also hard to get a fair judgement on rookie Byron Bell right now too, if you would have told him in April he was going to be a starting right tackle in the NFL in the 2011 season he would have laughed in your face. He's looked pretty bad so far, but let's see how he develops first, one of those guys I really hope makes it and he has shown some signs of potential.

1) Alshon Jeffery, WR, South Carolina, Junior - 6'4" 229 lbs

2010 stats: 88 catches, 1517 yards, 9 TD

2011 stats (so far): 30 catches, 451 yards, 5 TD

I still like Blackmon, but he's not gonna be available when we're picking. I had a real hard time deciding who to put at #1 this week, I like Ta'amu but if we have a chance to pick up a guy like Jeffery that can be Cam's #1 for the next 15 years with LaFell and Gettis as the 2 and 3 you can't pass that up. It would be our best chance to pick up Cam's future #1, we'll start winning too much after this season. Most all of you guys have seen jeffery play on multiple occasions, he can leap and makes spectacular catches in mid-air. One knack on him is he looks a little out-of-shape in some pictures you may see, he runs around a 4.5 which is pretty good, but some of this stuff he does at South Carolina won't work at the next level. He's still a great talent though.

[JawnyBlaze]

I'm actually falling off the Jeffrey bandwagon. He still looks solid with great potential, but there are definitely some concerns, and a greater bust potential than I'd like at this point. If we can't get Blackmon (don't think he'll fall past the Rams), I say we should go for RT, DT or CB.

I've usually seen Reiff 3rd behind Kalil and the guy from Stanford, so we should have a pretty good prospect available at RT. Upper half of the draft is a little high for a RT, but I wouldn't feel too bad about picking for this position in the 8-15 range.

I'm still real low on Ta'amu. He still doesn't look nearly as dominant as a guy his size should be. He gets pushed around too much. Thompson has been improving in my eyes. Think he would be a fine pick in the 15-20 range.

If Jenkins falls to the 2nd, sure pick him. If we're picking CB in the 1st, I'd much rather Claiborne. I'd be ok with Claiborne any time after #5 or so. Otherwise, wait til round two when guys like Cliff Harris or Winnifield might be available.

I'd really only be ok with a LB if we trade down and are picking after 20. Burfict looks really talented and I imagine Rivera could keep him in line if anyone can. I'd also rather have Kuechley than Brown (assuming Kuechley can transition to OLB, which it looks like he could).

[CardiacCats]

I'm actually falling off the Jeffrey bandwagon. He still looks solid with great potential, but there are definitely some concerns, and a greater bust potential than I'd like at this point. If we can't get Blackmon (don't think he'll fall past the Rams), I say we should go for RT, DT or CB.

I've usually seen Reiff 3rd behind Kalil and the guy from Stanford, so we should have a pretty good prospect available at RT. Upper half of the draft is a little high for a RT, but I wouldn't feel too bad about picking for this position in the 8-15 range.

I'm still real low on Ta'amu. He still doesn't look nearly as dominant as a guy his size should be. He gets pushed around too much. Thompson has been improving in my eyes. Think he would be a fine pick in the 15-20 range.

If Jenkins falls to the 2nd, sure pick him. If we're picking CB in the 1st, I'd much rather Claiborne. I'd be ok with Claiborne any time after #5 or so. Otherwise, wait til round two when guys like Cliff Harris or Winnifield might be available.

I'd really only be ok with a LB if we trade down and are picking after 20. Burfict looks really talented and I imagine Rivera could keep him in line if anyone can. I'd also rather have Kuechley than Brown (assuming Kuechley can transition to OLB, which it looks like he could).

I <3 Kuechly, but I don't think he's near athletic enough to play OLB in the NFL, we're in a bit of a tough spot here and if the draft were tomorrow we probably would be looking to trade down. Te'o would have a better shot at converting to OLB than Kuechly though.

[CPF4LIFE]

Yeah if we dont bring Davis back were gonna need somebody to cover Jimmy Graham for the next couple of years. That alone got me considering LB first pick.

[CardiacCats]

Yeah if we dont bring Davis back were gonna need somebody to cover Jimmy Graham for the next couple of years. That alone got me considering LB first pick.

But let's just say we pick at 10...what LB do we take? The only one that makes sense is Burfict and he still has red flags, I almost like the guy from Oklahoma better than all of them as far as what we need. Whether it's trading back or getting him in the second. Seems like RT could be the best possibility at this point pending how the CBs look the rest of the year

[dc6738549]

Te'o is really good, probably a top 20 pick.

[Jackofalltrades]

I don't see DT as a draft need, prob not CB either depending on Hogan.

OLB, LT (move Gross to RT), FS are the biggest needs, could make a case for WR if Blackmon is still there.

Burfict is a string of personal fouls waiting to happen, give me Zach Brown and we'll have the LB Corps we should have had this season.

And we're not moving to a 3-4 base.

[Ricky Spanish]

Vontaze Burfict is a monster, I would LOVE to have him on the team.

Blackmon and Burfict are the 2 guys I would love for us to draft.

[GamecockSmitty4]

I want Casey Hayward (CB) from Vanderbilt. He's projected to go around the 4th round and IMO is one of the best cover corners in the nation. Vandy leads the nation in INTS and he leads the team with 5 (almost had 3 more already in the Arkansas game in the first half) and had 6 last year to go along with 70 tackles and 17 passes defensed.