With the 9th pick of the 2012 NFL draft the Carolina Panthers select......

[carpanfan96]

Sorry to burst on the Coples haters, but he's been moved to DT/DE in the draft rankings, is still rated as a top 10 player as is Stills. If you want either of those, it's with the 9th pick.

10 sacks, 15.5 tackles for loss, 12 pressures and 59 tackles. 1st team all ACC and 2nd team all America at DT.

[rmoneyg35]

Im sorry but I just don't think we need a DE in the first. Rivera knows how to build a defense and I trust him to build our D. He knows how to build a good defense without big name stars.

I know we don't need a RB,QB,C,ROLB. I think we could get a WR, OL, DL, or LB in the first.

[MHS831]

Riley Reiff LOT makes the most sense. Here is why.

Gross is going to be 32 or more

Otah is probably done or should move to G.

Bell made Cameron Jordan look like Mike Strahan.

Schwartz is coming back, so we have G depth.

Cutting Wharton frees a lot of cap space.

Protect Cam. When he gets sacked, he pouts. When he gets sacked, he could get injured. When he gets sacked, we do not score.

I know we need DEFENSE--DE, DT, 2 LBs or more, S. I think when we can bring pressure, Butler, Hogan, Munnerlyn, Gamble willl be fine.

If you look at the rarity of players, LT and stud DE are the hardest to find. OL has the highest rate of success in the NFL, DE is one of the highest bust rates (Everette Brown, anyone?) If we cut Wharton, we can sign a free agent at any position of need.

[Pantherman]

I'm a Tar Heel fan. But drafting Couples ain't going to happen. After the way UNC D got their butts kicked in that bowl game. I would expect to see Couples draft statis to drop way down. Maybe into the second round. Couples ain't worth wasting a 1st round pick on. Maybe 2nd if he is still there in the second round. But for us we need to look at players better then him.

[Cam Newton]

Blackmon

[carpanfan96]

I'm a Tar Heel fan. But drafting Couples ain't going to happen. After the way UNC D got their butts kicked in that bowl game. I would expect to see Couples draft statis to drop way down. Maybe into the second round. Couples ain't worth wasting a 1st round pick on. Maybe 2nd if he is still there in the second round. But for us we need to look at players better then him.

It did drop, so did Brown's draft status. Brown was ranked around 10th-11th by most draft guys and is now ranked around 20th. Coples was ranked as the #1 senior and anywhere from 4th-6th in this draft overall, now he's ranked around 10th-12th. His stock will go back up during the combine when he kills the position drills at both DT and DE and the bench press. Heck even after that bowl game some people still have him ranked 6th.

The guys it hurt the most were DPM and Kevin Reddick. DPM blew his ACL and Reddick saw his draft stock plummet from borderline 1st round to the 3rd round.

[carpanfan96]

Riley Reiff LOT makes the most sense. Here is why.

Gross is going to be 32 or more

Otah is probably done or should move to G.

Bell made Cameron Jordan look like Mike Strahan.

Schwartz is coming back, so we have G depth.

Cutting Wharton frees a lot of cap space.

Protect Cam. When he gets sacked, he pouts. When he gets sacked, he could get injured. When he gets sacked, we do not score.

I know we need DEFENSE--DE, DT, 2 LBs or more, S. I think when we can bring pressure, Butler, Hogan, Munnerlyn, Gamble willl be fine.

If you look at the rarity of players, LT and stud DE are the hardest to find. OL has the highest rate of success in the NFL, DE is one of the highest bust rates (Everette Brown, anyone?) If we cut Wharton, we can sign a free agent at any position of need.

I don't think any of the top Tackles will make it to Carolina. St. Louis is in dire need of a tackle, Same thing goes for Miami if they pick ahead of Carolina after the coin flip.

Blackmon won't be there either, It's too early to take a G. I don't care how good DeCastro is.

Alshon Jeffery's stock has fallen so far he isn't even considered a top 15 talent and is rated behind Floyd now.

Draft value isn't there for Floyd either at 8th or 9th. Kirkpatrick has value at 8 or 9th overall, but I'd rather have someone with a faster 40 then a 4.54 at corner.

Both Still and Coples are rated top 10 right now.

Based off of draft value and BPA mentality the only things you can do at 9 is take Kirkpatrick, go DL or trade back.

Available players that meet the draft grade-value rating of the 8th or 9th pick and are likely to be available.

Reiff - will be there at 8th, most likely not 9th

Coples - top 10 rated DE/DT prospect with the best DT season of any DL prospect in this draft.

Stills - Shooting up draft boards and now has a top 10 rating.

Kirkpatrick - 2nd rated corner by most places, bit slow footed though for a corner.

[methodtoll]

Just keep this in perspective from now to draft day: Last season, they did not have Free Agency prior to the draft due to the lockout. This year we will have Free Agency back in place and what Carolina does in FA will most likely affect whay they will do in the draft

[Zod]

Just keep this in perspective from now to draft day: Last season, they did not have Free Agency prior to the draft due to the lockout. This year we will have Free Agency back in place and what Carolina does in FA will most likely affect whay they will do in the draft

Bingo

[RockyTopVol]

Iowa LT, or maybe Dre Kirkpatrick.

[chknwing]

Vontaze Burfict!

[DaCityKats]

college career> 1 bowl game. the guy has produced 20+ sacks in 4 years. he was disappointing in the bowl game but he still had several qb pressures.the entire defense looked bad vs mizzuo

[Soul Rebel]

Vontaze Burfict!

Anderson - 5yr/$22M

Beason - 6yr/$51M

Senn - Cheap and stepping up

Senn might not be the answer yet, but between Anderson and Beason, I'm not comfortable with pumping top-10 draft pick money into our LBs. This pick needs to be a franchise player or a trade down. I have an odd feeling Still from PSU will leap up draft boards after his pro-day and combine and be an option. I also believe that he will make this leap because DT's are a major need for any franchise and there is not one in the top-10 this year. Still's draft slot will be inflated due to this, though he is still a mid-first round talent.

[chknwing]

nah I see him taking TD's spot.