The 2013 NFL Draft: Carolina WR Smokescreen

[TheRed]

They didn't work out all those WR's just to fool other general managers and look cool. Clearly none impressed them enough to draft high. I'm fine not drafting one this year. We cannot fail to address it next year though, I am tired of just casually taking Smitty for granted. The clock is running out, and has been for quite some time now.

[top dawg]

Or they could like the WR they have and want to see them perform in a better scheme.

Why did we workout and meet with tons of wide receivers throughout this whole process and not draft one? Was it all just one massive smokescreen? I figured by working out that many at least one would have been drafted by us. Did the cards just fall a different way where it didn't make sense?

Personally I am quite surprised we passed on Patton in the 5th round.

Panthers realized finding an eventual replacement for Smitty can't be done.

At least in this draft.

It was a case of both bpa and this being a lackluster wr class. If Hunter was there in the 2nd, he would be ours but that's about the only realistic wideout in retrospect that I could have seen us getting.

I believe we probably didn't draft a WR because all of the above, or at least some of those elements. I absolutely believe that we worked out so many WRs because Smitty, Cam, and the entire offense would benefit from a legitimate playmaker---a big play TD scorer. So, the smokescreen stuff is basically ridiculous. I also believe that Star was the no-brainer pick. We would have picked him over anyone. Since he fell into our lap, the other WRs that we were truly interested in----Austin, Hopkins and Patterson---were as good as gone once the 44th pick came around. After that point it just came down to taking who they perceived as the BPA in fitting with our perceived needs. K.K. was definitely a value at the 44th, especially considering Rivera's rationale as to the motor issue. I thought that we may have pulled the trigger on Keenan Allen, but they believed Short would provide more of an immediate impact, and you can't really argue with that. Moreover, when they looked at Allen, they probably figured that his upside wasn't that much different than what we already have, and he certainly didn't rise to the level of the Smitty heir apparent. Like me, they probably didn't see a true heir apparent for 89 in this draft, and once the top three WRs were gone, those that had the possibility of not necessarily replacing Smitty, but at least being that "yang" player to Smitty's "yen", the possibility of us drafting one of the other receivers dropped exponentially. I mean, why draft more question marks when you have so many on the roster, furthermore you can sign all the question marks at WR that you want to after the draft.

On an off note, the only thing that I personally just didn't understand is why they would draft another LB when Rambo was there for the taking, but that's just me (and I am a bulldog).

[Beast_3000]

Remember Rivera was here when AJ Green worked out for us. He blew us away two years ago and Rivera an Hurney would have taken him if it weren't for a guy named Cam Newton.

So... They did their due diligence to research the receiver board by bringing in 10 guys. We just weren't impressed in comparison to what we have. If a game changer isn't there he just isn't there.

[OneBadCat]

The only thing that makes sense to me is that they think Gettis is ready to be a big contributor. I know he's a huddle legend on here and everything but he's the only one with the raw skill to be good enough for us not to target a WR. Lafell could certainly take another step forward and I think Hixon is a quality WR.

[Catalyst]

You can't count on getting Smith's replacement after the 2nd round. Maybe you luck out and get a steal, but you have to figure that guy will eventually come via free agency, a big trade, or the 1st or 2nd round outside of some surprise steal.

[MadHatter]

Given that we had no 3rd round pick, the first two rounds were the only real place that a legit WR weapon could have been taken. However, based on weaknesses and value at the pick, we chose to totally solidify our DL.

Unless we were willing to take on a complete headcase in Rogers (and there must have been something MAJORLY wrong there for him to go completely undrafted), there were not guys in the 4th-7th that are better than LaFell and Hixon.

Rather than bring in another 3rd or 4th WR, we chose to go a different direction.

Safety was one that I thought we could have upgraded in the 4th...but there must have been something in the guys that were left that Gettleman did not like.

Will be interested to see how much better a dominant front 7 will make our back 4.

[tiger7_88]

This draft wuz a trench draft, it is gonna make next years draft that much more exciting because i could see a run on skill positions.. CB, S, WR. We are gonna load up if nobody shows anything this year.

Next year's #1 pick will be OT or WR IMO.

[chknwing]

This draft wuz a trench draft, it is gonna make next years draft that much more exciting because i could see a run on skill positions.. CB, S, WR. We are gonna load up if nobody shows anything this year.

which is why I think it would have been better to trade our 4th for a 3rd next year. 4 picks in the first 3 rounds to draft skill positions.

[SmashNDash]

This was a question mark for me. The only thing I could think of is they didn't see anything they liked. I figured when Kenan was there in the second, that was the best chance we'd draft one since Rivera had attended his pro day personally etc.

[tiger7_88]

which is why I think it would have been better to trade our 4th for a 3rd next year. 4 picks in the first 3 rounds to draft skill positions.

Which team was a willing trade partner to do that?

[chknwing]

Which team was a willing trade partner to do that?

all of them, thats what the value is, a 4th this year is worth a 3rd next years. Always been like that. Kiper stated it as well during the draft.

[tiger7_88]

all of them, thats what the value is, a 4th this year is worth a 3rd next years. Always been like that. Kiper stated it as well during the draft.

lol... wow.

[ZeroZeroSeven]

I don't think any receiver had the total package this year, except maybe Deandre Hopkins but he may only ever be a low to mid-tier #1 WR in the league. Only time will tell. There wasn't an AJ Green, Calvin Johnson or even a Julio Jones type in the draft this year. When a versatile slot guy is considered BPA at receiver, you know it's not a good year for WRs.

[Kurb]

Why did we workout and meet with tons of wide receivers throughout this whole process and not draft one? Was it all just one massive smokescreen? I figured by working out that many at least one would have been drafted by us. Did the cards just fall a different way where it didn't make sense?

Personally I am quite surprised we passed on Patton in the 5th round.

IMO we had 3 first round guys to choose from at 14

Vaccaro, Hopkins, Star Star being there made it easy.

After that it was a matter of BPA.

Short was a borderline 1st round guy.

and the 3rd day picks were all BPA (by the Gettleman board at least)