Mock Draft Mania

[Lout]

1st Round - Claiborne/Kirkpatrick Shutdown corners

2nd Round - Dontari Poe! Dude is a freak Nose Tackle and will command a double team on every single snap.

4th Round - Keenan Robinson (Texas OLB) Physical Freak, with big upside

5th Round - Harrison Smith (SS Notre Dame) Special Teams Depth

6th Round - Emmanuel Acho (MLB Texas) Let's face it, Dan Connor will want to start somewhere, and will not re-sign with us.

7th Round - Drew Butler (Punter Georgia) Baker is Ranked 34th Punter in the NFL, and there are only 32 teams.

[PanthersFan7]

Alshon Jeffery or Morris Claiborne

[stirs]

Currently, we pick 6th

[Devoid]

1st Round - Claiborne/Kirkpatrick Shutdown corners

2nd Round - Dontari Poe! Dude is a freak Nose Tackle and will command a double team on every single snap.

4th Round - Keenan Robinson (Texas OLB) Physical Freak, with big upside

5th Round - Harrison Smith (SS Notre Dame) Special Teams Depth

6th Round - Emmanuel Acho (MLB Texas) Let's face it, Dan Connor will want to start somewhere, and will not re-sign with us.

7th Round - Drew Butler (Punter Georgia) Baker is Ranked 34th Punter in the NFL, and there are only 32 teams.

I had to look this up thinking he has had a great career in Carolina. I was thinking his stats were misleading due to Cam's success. This year Baker is 40.4 avg with 12 in the 20 and 4 tb on 31 attempts. Although tb and in the 20 are way up for his career 40.6 is close to 42.6 which is his career avg yards. A new punter and field goal kicker is in order.

[CPF4LIFE]

From what i have seen so far i think they will take Claiborne. Rivera has already said they have a lot of confidence in our DTs drafted this year for the future and from what i can see from the upcoming draft there is gonna be more LB depth in the later arounds opposed to CB and WR. Darius Butler is only here for the rest of season and then they would have to resign him, you would have to make a decision on passing up a great talent like Claiborne with a higher ceiling over keeping Butler. I dont think they will do that. Captain is gonna need a new contract soon anyway and i dont see them giving him one. Gamble, Hogan, and Claiborne would be increasingly better than what we have now at the end of the day. If one of the top WR are available when we pick they could opt to take one and change all this up as well. Hopefully the picture will become more clear by the end of the season.

[Lout]

From what i have seen so far i think they will take Claiborne. Rivera has already said they have a lot of confidence in our DTs drafted this year for the future and from what i can see from the upcoming draft there is gonna be more LB depth in the later arounds opposed to CB and WR. Darius Butler is only here for the rest of season and then they would have to resign him, you would have to make a decision on passing up a great talent like Claiborne with a higher ceiling over keeping Butler. I dont think they will do that. Captain is gonna need a new contract soon anyway and i dont see them giving him one. Gamble, Hogan, and Claiborne would be increasingly better than what we have now at the end of the day. If one of the top WR are available when we pick they could opt to take one and change all this up as well. Hopefully the picture will become more clear by the end of the season.

Just to play devil's advocate.. I don't expect Rivera to say anything other than he likes our DTs.. I mean, he put his name on them by drafting them. That being said, If there is an upgrade at DT in the first couple rounds, then we have to take them. Unless, Fua and McClain just start playing like they are capable of playing, by filling the run lanes and generating pressure, I think we can't totally disregard the DT position. But, I agree with you, that CB seems to be very high on the list, and could easily be our selection come April.

[Riverboat Ron]

1st Round - Claiborne/Kirkpatrick Shutdown corners

2nd Round - Dontari Poe! Dude is a freak Nose Tackle and will command a double team on every single snap.

4th Round - Keenan Robinson (Texas OLB) Physical Freak, with big upside

5th Round - Harrison Smith (SS Notre Dame) Special Teams Depth

6th Round - Emmanuel Acho (MLB Texas) Let's face it, Dan Connor will want to start somewhere, and will not re-sign with us.

7th Round - Drew Butler (Punter Georgia) Baker is Ranked 34th Punter in the NFL, and there are only 32 teams.

I really like the first two picks. I've been a fan of Claiborne for a while, he's not the physical freak athlete Patrick Peterson is, but Claiborne is a much better corner. For some reason I just feel like Kirkpatrick would make a better saftey in the NFL, but that's my 2 cents. Poe would add some major size to our interior, and allow our LB's a lot more freedom.

I could also see us go OLB in the 2nd round. Lots of OLB will be borderline 1st/2nd rounders. I also might be in the minority on this, but if Justin Blackmon were to fall to us, I would love for us to either take him, or trade the pick to a team in need of a WR. I've watched a lot of game tape on Blackmon, and I love what I see. He's not a physical mismatch guy like Calvin Johnson, Blackmon reminds me a whole lot of Jerry Rice. Great hands, finding those open zones in coverage, and great route running. Otherwise I would take Claiborne.

[unicar15]

I liked Coples going into the season but the dude is a slacker. I seriously question his motor which IMO is just as big a factor as talent when it comes to DE. Claiborne has looked like a beast this year and is clearly the best CB in the draft. We need to replace Munnerlyn and have a guy that can be a shutdown corner...Claiborne is that guy and if he's there then that is who I think we should take. Great size, great ability, great instincts. Take him.

I like the receivers (Blackmon and Jeffery) but we still have Smitty, LaFell, a stable of good TEs, and Gettis coming back from injury who showed a lot of potential (playing with Jimmy Clausen). I don't think that WR is as big a need as CB. Gamble is getting older, Munnerlyn is not a starter, Butler is still fairly new, and Hogan is still injured so who knows?

Claiborne comes in and starts immediately opposite Gamble IMO.

[Jackofalltrades]

You don't draft Punters AND there's nothing wrong with Baker. The ST unit as a whole is abysmal.

[Lout]

You don't draft Punters AND there's nothing wrong with Baker. The ST unit as a whole is abysmal.

There is always 1 punter drafted in just about every draft. My motto is, if you can upgrade a starting position with a low round pick, then you do it.

I agree, the ST unit is abysmal, but I disagree with there being nothing wrong with Baker. You can't disregard being ranked 34th in the league in punting and chalk it all up to poor ST play. Part or most of it is Bakers fault. Whether it be low hang time, not enough distance, or inaccuracy.

[sharkkiller]

There is always 1 punter drafted in just about every draft. My motto is, if you can upgrade a starting position with a low round pick, then you do it.

I agree, the ST unit is abysmal, but I disagree with there being nothing wrong with Baker. You can't disregard being ranked 34th in the league in punting and chalk it all up to poor ST play. Part or most of it is Bakers fault. Whether it be low hang time, not enough distance, or inaccuracy.

Wait.....34th? So we are worse than 2 Canadian teams?

[Rags]

Round 1 - Devon Still, DT, Penn State: If you haven't read the thread I made about him, Still is my new man crush, guys great and will eventually start commanding double teams in the middle, can also play the edge when we go 3-4 schemes.

Round 2 - Dwight Jones, WR, UNC: Kind of a homer pick, but this is a really solid pick, Jones is a big, tough physical WR who's pretty fast for his size. At the top of the second this'd be a great pick. He's hard to bring down and he can get physical and make catches over most DBs.

I really wanted to give us a LB, namely Travis Lewis from Oklahoma, but his injury is kind of a concern as well as his attitude. But if he s available here and our FO is willing to take the risk, get him. But for right now, mocking Jones here.

Round 4 - Nigel Bradham, OLB, Florida State : I think his stock drops a bit because he's had a bit of an off season, but the kid can play, he has good size and is good is good in coverage as well as rushing the passer. He's a sound player and tackles well. I think we get a value player at this slot

Then again we might be wary after our last FSU pick...

5th Round - Chris Rainey, RB/KR/PR, Flordia - I'll change this pick if Hogan, or someone, shows any life to our special teams, but we need someone who can create a spark there, Rainey is a playmaker and can hopefully finally give us a special team returnman we desperately need. Not to mention with Goodson seemingly in the doghouse with our coaching staff, Rainey could maybe be a back on passing downs that Goodson was looking to be early in the season, because he's great in open space.

6th/7th round: Depth, I can't be assed to pick someone right now.

[Kuech the Sneak]

1st round-Matt Kalil OT, I think we can still keep gross on the left side for a little bit while he develops

2nd round-Devon Still DT, good penetrator,holds the point pretty well and could come into the rotation immediately

4th round-Nigel Bradham OLB, depth maybe even a starter depending on the TD situation

5th round-Harrison Smith S, special teams and could be an upgrade over pugh

[Lout]

Wait.....34th? So we are worse than 2 Canadian teams?

There were 2 punter than were released from their respective teams earlier this year, and they both had better stats than Baker this season.. lol.