Options at LT per David Newton (The usual suspects)

[top dawg]

David Newton published what he considers to be the Panthers' options at LT, and, as always, it seems like Huddle regulars are always one step ahead.  But for those that aren't as wrapped up into the team, Newton has pretty much summed up our only clear options at this point, most of which have been already mentioned at one time or another.

 

Now Newton does throw out possibilities like Byron Bell and Nate Chandler, but, like Newton, we can pretty much throw those ideas out...like with this past weekend's trash.

 

Free agency: The big question here is how much the Panthers want to spend. A top-flight left tackle is expensive, and they have a lot of other needs to fill with 21 unrestricted free agents. In all likelihood, they'll look for an up-and-comer they can get for a reasonable price regardless of what they do in the draft. It's really a pretty good year with quite a few good tackles about to hit the market in Baltimore's Michael Oher and Eugene Monroe, Kansas City's Branden Albert, St. Louis'Austin Howard, Cincinnati's Anthony Collins and Oakland's Jared Veldheer. Albert you can probably forget about based on his last contract. 

The draft: The good news is this is one of the deepest drafts at tackle in years. Some might argue you can get help in the middle rounds. The bad news is you probably can't get a potentially sure-fire starter outside the first round, and the top three -- Auburn's Greg Robinson, Michigan'sTaylor Lewan and Texas A&M's Jake Matthews -- should be gone when Carolina drafts at No. 28. They are by far the cream of the crop. That leaves candidates such as Virginia's Morgan Moses, Alabama's Cyrus Kouandjio, Tennessee's Antonio Richardson, North Carolina's James Hurst, Tennessee's Ja'Wuan James and Ohio State's Jack Mewhort as possibilities. 

 

 

Like Newton said, we can pretty much forget the top tier potential draftees as they will be gone, so this leaves us with a few "maybes" that could turn out to be more longer term projects than immediate prospects at left tackle (kind of like Chandler), but perhaps we can strike gold with (one of my  favorites) Ja"Wuan James, James Hurst or Jack Mewhort. I don't know too much about Morgan Moses, but I assume he's just as viable as the others , though I don't think that he increased his stock at the Scouting Combine.  Unless we want to gamble on a couple of guys who were actually rated higher going into the Combine, but actually hurt their stock with questionable performances, and have knee issues, then I would absolutely stay away from Cyrus Kouadjio and Antonio Richardson with anything higher than a 5th round pick---if that---but that's just me.

Kouandjio and Richardson are not really options for me, and neither may not be able to play the coming season.

 

 

One thing that Newton did say is that losing Gross virtually forces our hand on Hardy, suggesting that we can't take such big hits on offense and defense. I can understand his concern, but I don't agree because I feel that our defensive front can effectively absorb Hardy's loss (though not perfectly of course). And, as long as we don't get too creative with replacing Gross, then I would think that we can go on with a bump or two, but hopefully end up no worse for wear.  If we can land a top vet, then perhaps the transition from Gross will be even smoother. But, like Newton said, the top dog, Brandon Albert, probably isn't that realistic of an option.

[Kevin Greene]

Use search much?

 

 

2 lines below your post.

[top dawg]

Use search much?

 

 

2 lines below your post.

 

Two totally different threads!  It's not like the thread you started was the first to discuss free agents at tackle. Come on, KG.