20 Of Our 22 Starters Were Originally Drafted By Us

[Mage]

it's funny how we're always building for the future yet we never actually have a true championship caliber team

if we drafted like the Packers, Giants, Ravens, Steelers then I would be perfectly fine ignoring free agency but the fact is we're nowhere near as good in the draft as those teams. I'd like to see us be more active in free agency to supplement our drafts and fill holes when we miss on draft picks but it seems like we're content to stick with this "only add guys through the draft, ignore free agency" mantra straight into an eternity of mediocrity

You can't just look at it that way.

We were close to the Super Bowl in 2005 but unfortunately ran into a Seattle team that most really forget just how good they were. In 2006 and 2007, our quarterback was injured and yet, we still finished 9-7 and 7-9 respectively IIRC. Delhomme is finally back and healthy, we go 12-4. In '09, despite putrid QB play, we still finish 8-8 with a strong roster. Then we had a terrible season in 2010 but let's not pretend like Baltimore, Pittsburgh, or Greenbay never have.

I think we're on the right path to building a championship caliber team.

[Frizzy350]

You guys do realize that over the past decade we have been one of the more successful teams in league. Especially considering we have lacked a premier quarterback the entire time.

The only teams with more sustained success are like the Pats, Colts, Steelers, Ravens, Eagles, Giants, Chargers and Packers.

Really not bad company to be win especially when you consider how some of them completely rely on their elite QB play.

[pOpCoRnPoPpEr]

Pointing out the truth is negative?? wow.

[FirstRoundPick]

You guys do realize that over the past decade we have been one of the more successful teams in league. Especially considering we have lacked a premier quarterback the entire time.

The only teams with more sustained success are like the Pats, Colts, Steelers, Ravens, Eagles, Giants, Chargers and Packers.

Really not bad company to be win especially when you consider how some of them completely rely on their elite QB play.

We have had sustained sucess? I didn't even know we have had two winning seasons in a row yet.

[Stroupe-a-loop]

I know people love to bitch all the time because it's cool or something, but this was an extremely young team that won 6 games and had a chance to win a number of other games. All that with severe injuries to boot, so I'm not that upset about the current roster makeup. We should be better this season, and that's great because we were an average team overall last year.

The whole "life is pain" with heavy doses of sarcasm is also cool if you want to go that route.

[CRA]

How so, we got our franchise QB and were finally on our way to going somewhere. I think Cam, Smitty, J Stew, D Will, Kalil, Gross, Beason, Gamble, Anderson, and CJ are a pretty solid core to build around.

Build around a solid core of Smitty, Williams, Gross?

You build around guys like Cam....not old farts. Like them or love them those guys are nearing the end of their careers sooner rather than later

[panthers55]

Someone said our sack totals have gone down for the last several years. These are the facts based on raw number and rank:

2011- 31 sacks---tied for 25th

2010- 31 sacks- tied for 20th

2009- 31 sacks- tied for 23rd

2008-37 sacks- tied for 8th

2007-23 sacks- tied for 31st

2006-41 sacks- tied for 6th

2005- 45 sacks-tied for 7th

2004-34 sacks- tied for 24th place

2003-40 sacks- tied for 7th

2002- 52 sacks- 2nd

Seems to me those saying it has gone down every year are remembering the 2002-2006 era when except for an injury plagued year in 2004 we had a very good pass rush. In the last 5 years we have had 1 good year in 2008 when we had a top 10 pass rush. Other wise it has been pretty anemic for some time. You could make a case that the pass rush went down when we changed defensive coordinators and fired Trgovac more so than a function of drafting.

[Lumps]

Guys we draft good. The past is 100% John Fox fault and has no bearing on this team.

So clauses and Armani were fox's fault even thOugh we drafted them knowing fox was leaving? The reason we can draft like those teams is for two reasons 1. Hurney is not as good as he thinks he is or our fans think he is, the other organizations have much better drafting. 2. Hurney and this fo are too loyal, contracts are big and we take care of our own rather than trade them and get value for them when we can. Teams like the eagles and pats and steelers cut and trade player instead of overpaying them. They are almost always on the obviously positive side of trades.

Hurney needs to stop being so loyal and learn to trade for value not for a player. At least that is what other teams are doing. These last few years have really sucked. My biggest thing with hurney over his whole time here is never touching the qb position until now. seems like a good team is being put together so hopefully he can redeem himself with a team he drafted. I'll be happy when I see wins.

[AceMan]

Guys we draft good. The past is 100% John Fox fault and has no bearing on this team.

I'm starting to love your posts

[csx]

I love how people switch between blaming Hurney or Fox for drafting depending on what they point they are trying to make at the moment.

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

guys please don't point out negative things about my team even if they're true. it makes me extremely butthurt

it's shrill and boring. five or six people posting the same one-liners over and over again every single day.

yes you are a hero for posting about how marty hurney sucks for drafting linebackers and running backs in the first round every year. we'll throw you a parade when jerry richardson reads this board and fires him.

[Guest Bwood]

It is really lame to have to see the amount of hate some "fans" have for this team. There are a handful of users that waste half of their time every single day that I can think of right now, and the only posts I see from them are negative and just pointless. There ain't no stopping that though.

It's just like why the fug do you waste your time on here then lol, I would hate to have such a boring life...

[Frizzy350]

We have had sustained sucess? I didn't even know we have had two winning seasons in a row yet.

I didn't say we had sustained success. When you look at the teams in the past decade that have had sustained success, most of them are led by an elite quarterback. For not having one, we did pretty well. We alternated from being an average team to a good team year to year. Much better than being the bills, raiders, dolphins, browns, lions, etc, etc.

Most teams that do not have an elite quarterback can only be average or good for 1-2 years, we did it fairly regularly.

[CRA]

It is really lame to have to see the amount of hate some "fans" have for this team. There are a handful of users that waste half of their time every single day that I can think of right now, and the only posts I see from them are negative and just pointless. There ain't no stopping that though.

It's just like why the fug do you waste your time on here then lol, I would hate to have such a boring life...

funny that finding areas to improve on is deemed "hate".

also, what is the point in circle jerking and everyone talking about what a great C Kalil is. We all agree. No need to talk about THAT....and no one would have anything to post about after agreeing.

Boring and pointless would be coming to a board where the thousands of memeber all posted about how awesome every aspect of this team is and find a silver lining to everything questionable.

We haven't had back to back winning seasons in franchise history....there are plenty of debatable topics.