Ideally which position do you want filled in the 1st round?

[jayflip]

Sorry PantherClaw, had to do it.

I don't care.

Want the BPA.

[Ivan The Awesome]

In the first, defensive Backfield BPA or Defensive interior front BPA. I'm leaning more towards DT though.

[Udogg]

OT. is the position if the right player is available at our pick. We had a top 10 defense with journeyman DT's. We have had a top 10 Offense with arguably worse WR's. However when we struggle it's up front as a team it's when our OL plays bad.

[Montsta]

People keep talking about WR's only reaching Moose' level. He had over 11,000 career receiving yards. For as badass as Smitty is he only just recently broke Moose yards total, and I'm not sure if he has even broken his TD total yet. He had a season for us that was nearly as good as Smitty's triple crown season by putting up 1400+ yards and 16td. Those are out of this world, all pro numbers folks. All pro means best in the league. So when talking about WR ceilings, please don't throw Moose name around like he's mediocre. I will take a young Muhammed every day of the week and, ironically, twice on Sundays.

[Doc Holiday]

Oline/CB/FS

These positions tranfer from College to the NFL best, WR and DT usually take a season or two to adjust to the NFL, heck DT are a coin flip from even being on the team 3 years after being drafted.

[jtm]

OL or playmaker in secondary, don't care which position but Captain can't be our best playmaker in the secondary.

[iampantherman]

OT and address WR/DT/other needs in later rounds/FA. CB in 2nd.

[koolkatluke]

OL or playmaker in secondary, don't care which position but Captain can't be our best playmaker in the secondary.

Captain might not be here so that should really put secondary at either 1-2 most important.

[IamSoClutch]

There likely isnt going to be a Offensive lineman worth of taking at 14 if jockel fisher johnson and warmack are all gone. like its been said DT, OG and FS are easier to get in free agency in than WR with our current cap situation. I understand the reasoning for oline which is why i feel we should take WR in the 1st and follow it with BPA OT in the 2nd. This allows Cam to be better protected and gives the 1st round pick reciever a better chance to be protected. Take BPA Corner in the 4th if gamble is gone if we can fill DT OG and FS with some Gettlemagic. with these moves we would surely make the playoffs following the hot start we had at the end of the season. this is my ideal

P.s if patterson is gone im going with Kenny V. A potential great saftey is hard to find in free agency unless they are coming of injury.

[panther4life]

Polls like this are stupid even for the off-season because the assumptions are unrealistic. Exactly how can we assume that a draft pick who has never played a down in the NFL will be rated as a perennial all pro.

Just a hypothetical scenario to see which position would be best filled via the draft if all players of need were rated the the same. Yes the scenario is impossible but its the only way to scientifically find out which position our fans would want addressed the most via the draft if all players were rated equal.

And exactly when do we pick players in the draft just based on talent without considering factors like differences in cost to pick up in free agency.

The point of this was to consider such factors.

For example if it comes down to WR or OT, you go with OT because cheap OTs especially left tackles are hard to find and expensive. This year by contrast there will likely be a number of WRs who will be cheaper to sign and proven. Then there is the whole issue of which positions are easiest to star right away versus those guys who need time to mature. For example, how many WRs contribute significantly in their rookie year versus those who need a year to mature like Michael Crabtree or Dez Bryant versus a Julio Jones. Then there is the whole bust rate which varies greatly by position. For example, OT busts at a lower rate than WR or DT/DE for example.

Given all these factors you would go OT and corner before you go WR.

Remember we are talking a our # 1 pick here. Premiere LT'S AND # 1 WR's are too expensive to address in free agency. I'd even argue and then go prove if you insist that top flight receivers are more expensive than top flight LT's in the open market.

There has been at lest 2-3 threads showing where rookie receiver's can make positive impacts right out the gate. Its even proven at the longest it takes them their 3rd year 99% of the time to break out.

If you draft a LT, we then are going to start them over at RT in place of Bell until Gross is no longer with us. So it would take at least as long for us to get our bang for the buck out of an offensive tackle as it would an immediate impact receiver.

Speaking of taking time to develop or "mature" as you say we have 3 CB's in James Dockery, Josh Thomas, and Norman who started for us in our win streak to close the season. All 3 of them will surely improve with experience.

[Kakarot]

I chose WR, but I'd be cool with either WR or OL.

[BigSyke]

percy harvin,eddie brown, sammy white, chris collinsworth, john jefferson, bob hayes, billy howton, aquan boldin , bill groman, randy moss. some of the best rookie wr season ever from these guys...

mike williams, eddie royale, hakeem nicks, victor cruz, maclin, jackson, wallace, blackmon, ty hilton, marques coltson, harold hill, jimmy orr, paul warfield, bill brooks, joey galloway, earnest givens..

im tired now but yeah all those guys were rookies and had an impact. so dont say a rookie wr never had an impact.

[rayzor]

OL is important to me, but the bar isn't really set very high there. i don't care about getting a probowler or all pro or elite talent of some kind.

all i want are guys that aren't liabilities. guys that don't get pushed around or get abused. guys that don't get many false starts or holding calls. guys that can just buy cam a little time and open up some holes for the run game. in other words....average. i think we can do well enough with journeymen....at least for a while. I'd rather focus my energies on getting playmakers on both sides of the ball and over time, when things drop in our lap, improve the OL. but the main thing is just being opportunistic with FAs, finding those hidden not too awful looking gems.

not conventional wisdom, i guess, but if you've got enough playmakers and enough of a D that can give you enough opportunities, then you can make do well enough without elite talent on the OL.

[carolina-chuck]

DT, WR, FS