It's Not You Depth Chart, It's Me: A Carolina Panthers Wr Tale

[KillerKat]

We lost about 4 games last season solely because of defense. Please spare me this bullshit that defense doesn't matter.

[Ja Rhule]

You forget the last 4 teams were 49ers (top 5 defense), Ravens (top 5 defense) Giants (improve defense that got healthy) and 1 top 5 offense the Pat's.

I already have Pats and Giants on my list. So you just gave me 2 teams... Both SF defense and Ravens defense got shredded in post season.

[Ja Rhule]

We lost about 4 games last season solely because of defense. Please spare me this bullshit that defense doesn't matter.

and 2 because of a kicker... and your point? It's a team sport. Whoever scores more points, wins.

[Jesse]

LOL the Gnats have household names at every position not just WR....horrible comparison

Trolling? They have the star QB, WR's, and DE's. I'm a pretty avid follower of all things NFL and can't seem to name many other players. The Packers, do have names everywhere.

[koolkatluke]

I already have Pats and Giants on my list. So you just gave me 2 teams... Both SF defense and Ravens defense got shredded in post season.

The Giants weren't a top 5 offense and the only reason they made that run was their defense.

[koolkatluke]

Trolling? They have the star QB, WR's, and DE's. I'm a pretty avid follower of all things NFL and can't seem to name many other players. The Packers, do have names everywhere.

The Giants have a star QB and 1 1st round WR (nicks) CRuz wasn't drafted and Mannigham was a 3rd round pick.

The Packers drafted and Develop their WR Driver (7th), Cobb (2nd), Jennings (2nd), JJones (3rd), Nelson (2nd). They don't have 1 1st round wr.

[koolkatluke]

and 2 because of a kicker... and your point? It's a team sport. Whoever scores more points, wins.

If the defense is avg. we are in the playoffs last year. No matter what Opinion you have this is a fact.

[MHS831]

Lemme explain to all of you who think we wlll draft a risky DL and become a top 10 defense.

If you think Smith was good at the #1 at age 32 and not quite 5'9" tall, wait until they put him in the slot and he faces an inferior defensive back and is never double teamed by the #1 Cb and a S.

You have no idea how good this offense will become if we draft a true #1 WR. That is why we are looking at first round WRs and not 4th rounders. We have the role players. We need a go-to guy so Smith can work the middle and short routes. In addition to a solid running attack, we could have the best offense in the NFL--period.

I think we will add a CB and a LB or two, and after June 1 we will have some $$ to sign a free agent. We are OK at DT and DE--you will see. We get 3 starters back from IR on defense alone (Beason, Davis, Edwards--possibly Hogan, eeven though he was not on IR...) Kearse, Shirley, Fua, McClain, Neblett, are YOUNG. Let em grow. Hardy and Keiser will be better. We will probably add a DE later in the draft-we shall see.

[poorboysrev]

If the defense is avg. we are in the playoffs last year. No matter what Opinion you have this is a fact.

If we don't stall inside the redzone against Arizona, Green Bay, and Minnesota with Nanee and Olsen dropping td passes we most likely make the playoffs too. Throw in the 2 games Mare cost us and we're definitely in. That's fact. And the other guys are right about us stalling in the 3rd quarter and having multiple 3 and outs in a row having a HUGE effect on our D and the game's outcomes. We do not have the "dominating offense" some of yall think. We have a streaky offense that has a hard time converting 3rd downs and scoring touchdowns WHEN IT HAS TO. It is too easy to just double Steve and force other receivers to beat them. And the "facts" showed that in most games they couldn't.

If the Panthers draft whoever your favorite defensive player is at number 9 and that guy is the second coming of Vernon Gholston/or insert your favorite worthless fat ass here, while Floyd or Wright becomes a Fitzgerald or even a Nicks or Jennings, are you still going to think you're right? Now I'm not saying that's going to happen and I hope whomever we take is a beast but you're acting like people are idiots just because they see that taking a defensive player just to say you took one doesn't necessarily help squat. The Panthers will spend a majority of their picks on defense but IF they spend 1 of their first 2 picks on a receiver it means they think that receiver is ALOT better than the def guys available and what we have on the roster. Hopefully either way they choose right.

Off soapbox now

CHEERS!

[panthers55]

I don't know how much I would put into his observations. After all, anyone who goes to the zoo in Syndney and pays attention to the elephants seeing the outwardly obvious but is missing the real issues. Now if he had checked out the Cassowaries who are the worlds most dangerous birds or all the deadly snakes, spiders or the like then he might have been paying attention to the right things.

How does this relate to looking at wide receivers?? He seems to be fine at seeing what appears on the surface to be an obvious conclusion, but misses the real issue which is that with Smitty back for 3 years, a wide receiver is not the necessity that a defensive starter is at this point. Plus the majority of receivers we have looked at have been more of a lower first round pick than one at 9. If we trade down and most of the defensive safe players are gone, we could go wide receiver given we will have another pick in 20 more draft slots or so. But I don't know that we are looking at wide receiver because we are going that direction. Could be we are just doing more homework since we failed so badly with Jarrett a few years ago. Don't want to make another mistake.

[Woodie]

I think too many leaps to a conclusion were made here. We are looking at every scenerio for every position...it's called due diligence. Sure, a WR is a legitimate possibility, but there is nothing in our pre-draft evaluation process that indicates that WR is any more of a target than any other position...particularly in the first

I'm sure they are looking at players that could be there at #9, as well as the middle and late first round in the event we find a trade partner and move down (or move up if we like someone enough). And because they talked to more WR's than DT's, DE's, or LB's doesn't mean they have more interest in WR, just that there are more situations that make WR a possibility (and not just in the first round). For instance, I seriously doubt that Joe Adams or Devon Wylie are being considered for their WR prowess (it's a nice bonus, but not why we are looking at them), but rather it's their return ability we are interested in. Yet, they were lumped in with the WR stats.

To be honest, this reeks of a manufactured conclusion in which he started with the conclusion, then finds a way to make it fit. We've looked at all of the first round DT's, CB's, DE's and the only LB that can also play outside. So really, the team's focus is still wide open, and trying to find a pattern to determine their draft plans is a fools errand.