Who is the BPA at #9

[panthers55]

Yes, it does. It would create dead cap space going forward.

43 teams pick up LB's all the time. You don't have to pay them, nor draft them nearly as high/much as we do.

They just aren't that valueable.

You missed the point. No matter what we paid them, if they can't play it was a total waste of money. And the reality is that we don't have any other guys besides Anderson who can start if Davis or Beason can't play. There are no guys in free agency who are that good and are cheap. You can say that in general you don't have to pay them or draft them high but be specific. If we don't draft guys high at LB, who are we going to have if Davis or Beason don't come back at 100%??

[panthers55]

You don't have to have star players at the LB position. This is what I keep saying. You are wanting high paid stars at a position that you don't need them.

Same goes for RB.

S

You need starters and if there are no good options in free agency then you need them through the draft. As I said, generalities are find and dandy but who are we going to get if not through the draft??? You think we can find a 4th rounder who can start in 2012?? I don't.

[mick eye]

Coples or jenkins

Coples or jenkins

Coples or jenkins

Bit of a gambler aren't ya.

[DawgzLife]

coples has the most upside, imo. it's just a matter of if he can get and stay motivated. he's got the most talent. kuechly is probably the most talented D player in the draft, but probably not the "game changer" people want. i look at him as more of a game controller than game changer, which is fine with me.

all that said, i voted for cox. :lol: i just really want that interior Dline fixed and i can't see how we can't focus on defense early this year.

I agree. I keep hearing about us taking Brockers, but even if we go D-line (DT specifically), Cox is the type of pass rusher who is a game changer. Brockers wasn't even a game changer when he was on 1 of the most talented defenses (LSU); when surrounded by amazing players & getting single-manned most of the time, he still just pulled a spot rather than made a difference. He is talented, but not what we need IMO.

I like Kuechy as well & agree with your assessment.

Sorry I didn't 'thank' you, but 'thank' seems very corny. (no offense intended Zod! :-) )

[rodeo]

To the people suggesting offensive players: why?

Was our offense not prolific enough for you? Do you think a lack of offense is what held the Panthers back last year?

[I am Hubby]

The people wanting Offense are the same people that say BPA. Whatever position that player plays. If you do not take the best player, you are short changing yourself. In the long run. Having good players is the way to become elite. And having an elite QB does not hurt.

You need LBs that can cover both, a lot of ground and TEs. You do not just pick those types off the street. Whether or not people feel the positon is of lesser value. We proved last year that bad LBs stand out. And not in a good way.

I know everyone has an opinion. Some are right. Some are wrong. And some should be kept to themselves. Although there are posters around here who would have you believe otherwise. Every opinion carries the same weight. There is mine, then everyone elses.

You folks are funny. And GOOOOOOOOOO CATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[I am Hubby]

Yes, it was/is.

Two LB's and two RB's in the first round in a 4 year span.

Yup, good drafting there.

And we aren't even talking about 34 OLB's....no sir, we are talking about 43 LB's.

What is your aversion to having talent? From what I remember. You need at least 3 LBs to play D. If two of them are good, the team is better. If all three are talented, so much the better. That just makes sense to me. But...

There are tons of teams and fans that would kill to have our backfield. Just because you are unhappy does not change the fact that we can run the ball with any one. That is worth the price of admission right there. This may be a passing league, but very few teams are good enough at passing to not have to run the ball. You have to be able to run the ball, even in this day and age. The NFL will always have a place for quality RBs. Because they are few and far between. Just ask the Lions how they feel about not having a quality RB. Yeah, I thought so.

Did not last year show that losing starters hurts? Which proves that you cannot just plug some random guy in and expect to be productive. It does not matter what position, if the guy stinks, you are in trouble.

You people that want to gloss over talent. I am glad you have no say in how things are run around here.

Well hell, if Beason and Davis don't come back. We can just plug two guys in there and carry on. Yeah, right.

Let's get rid of one of our RBs cuz you don't need two when you have Cam. This is simplistic nonsense at its best. This myth is propagated by individuals that believe that a good passing game is self sustaining. That just having a guy behind the QB is enough to keep Defenses honest. LOL at this.

Ah the hell with it. Trade DWill or Stew. Our Offense will suffer, but we will have only one back. Yea. Let's not worry about LBer, because we can just plug some guy in there and away we go. Again, yeah right.

You build with talent. It does not matter where that talent plays. The team with the most talent will be playing when the teams with no talent aren't.

Sorry for the rant. And I am done with this topic. And GOOOO CATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mother Grabber]

Kinda hard to say who's the bpa at #9 until after we see the first 8 picks. Just sayin...

[CRA]

You don't have to have star players at the LB position.

name the better defenses in the league? Total yards. Pitt, Ravens, Texans, 49ers.

Then look at there LBs? Willis (best in the game), Lewis (possibly greatest of all time), and both the Texans and Pitt have strong LBs

And then look at the Ds ranked by pts per game. Pitt, Packers, Ravens, Bears. All the top Ds had LBs.

[panthers55]

The question was first asked, who is BPA, then asked a second question....who would you pick.

I am not doubting Kuechly as a player in any way. Just that IMO it would be foolish to draft a MLB when we have a top 5 MLB on the roster who we just signed to the highest inside LB contract in league history.

That said, no I don't think that LB's win you SB's in a 43 defense.

We had a top 5 linebacker, now we have a guy coming off serious surgery that all the research says takes years to come back from if at all. We have another linebacker who is trying to make history coming back from 3 ACL surgeries. What exactly is a bigger need or where do we have more question marks than at linebacker. We have two starting DEs and have half a dozen DTS with more experience than anyone we could get in the draft. Plus linebackers in Jim Johnson's 4-3 are exactly how you win a Superbowl given they have at least half the team sacks and one of them blitzes on just about every play.

[DaCityKats]

name the better defenses in the league? Total yards. Pitt, Ravens, Texans, 49ers.

Then look at there LBs? Willis (best in the game), Lewis (possibly greatest of all time), and both the Texans and Pitt have strong LBs

And then look at the Ds ranked by pts per game. Pitt, Packers, Ravens, Bears. All the top Ds had LBs.

and every team you listed has good to dominate defensive lines allowing those LBs to do their job.no matter how good your LBs are when they are getting blocked by the opposing teams OL.

[DaCityKats]

JJ defense is depend on LB play but how many times in his years in philly did he spend a 1st round pick on a LB?

[panthers55]

and every team you listed has good to dominate defensive lines allowing those LBs to do their job.no matter how good your LBs are when they are getting blocked by the opposing teams OL.

Looking at the 3-4, if dominant means big guys who take on 2 blocks then I would agree. But with the exception of Ngata,most of the guys are good but not dominant. Baltimore and Pittsburgh and Green Bay all rely on their linebackers to control the action. Chicago as a 4-3 team relied on their linebackers for years before getting Peppers. Even now, with average linebackers they would have a poor defense.

[panthers55]

JJ defense is depend on LB play but how many times in his years in philly did he spend a 1st round pick on a LB?

Maybe that is why Philly never won a Super bowl. Maybe if they had they would have been even better. I can tell you that poor linebacker play is the reason their defense has struggled for the last several years including when McDermott was there.