Jonathan Jones answers Panthers draft day questions

[heel31ok]

Jones makes a great point:

 

In this draft, the talent drop between offensive tackles available at No. 28 and No. 60 is greater than that of wide receivers between those two picks. Because of that, the Panthers may be better served to get their tackle in the first round (even if he’s not their No. 1 guy), and wait until the second round for a talented receiver or cornerback. Gettleman has said the team will take the best available player, but we’ll probably never know just who that is.

the same goes for CB from 2nd to 3rd.

[rayzor]

it's quite possible that we end up in a situation where an unexpected run happens on WRs and OTs in the first couple rounds and we are left with pretty meh choices for both positions while we got "clever" and went another direction in round one and two. i can see us walking away from the draft without any real improvement to weak areas because we were too caught up in this idea of drafting the "best player" for each round.

 

sure, we may end up with absolute studs at LB, DE, or RB but we will still be looking at the weak spots still remaining incredibly weak and hoping that gettleman spots some hidden gem udfa who can be a "serviceable" option at those two spots. 

 

i don't have a problem with keeping your strengths strong as long as it isn't done at the expense of strengthening glaring holes at important spots.

[heel31ok]

Not really, tackles got gone fast and for a decent one it would cost more than we can afford.

which will be mirrored in the draft.

[heel31ok]

If WR wasn't so deep, i'd say go with at 28. But Tackle is a must. How can you not cringe at the fact that they intend on putting Byron Bell at LT? Doesn't anyone remember the Buffalo game? Not to mention any other game? Honestly i'm not against getting tackles in the first two rounds, the line needs to be bolstered. If we can actually run the ball, maybe it'll mask the lack of receivers we have. But then again, I think the unit is equal to what we had going in last year. I still think someone of major value is going to fall, and if it's a tackle or WR we will scoop them up. If it's not, maybe it's a QB or DE, we might could trade down and get additional second round pick.

I would much rather see two OT early or two good OL in general with one being OT early. I know we need WR talent but OL opens the whole offense. A better running game makes the WR's better. Addressing OL benefits the run game and the passing game. That is two for one benefit by going OT/OL early. There is enough late round WR talent to uprgrade what we have right now.

[TheRed]

People really have ran away with that "replace 10 catches a game" comment from Rivera. He wasn't going to come right out and publicly say that we desperately need a playmaker at WR or we are doomed. Neither him or Gettleman are going to say much until after the draft.

 

Also worth noting that if Rivera truly didn't feel a #1 WR was necessary he wouldn't have initially expressed interest in DeSean Jackson.

[El Chingon]

it's quite possible that we end up in a situation where an unexpected run happens on WRs and OTs in the first couple rounds and we are left with pretty meh choices for both positions while we got "clever" and went another direction in round one and two. i can see us walking away from the draft without any real improvement to weak areas because we were too caught up in this idea of drafting the "best player" for each round.

 

sure, we may end up with absolute studs at LB, DE, or RB but we will still be looking at the weak spots still remaining incredibly weak and hoping that gettleman spots some hidden gem udfa who can be a "serviceable" option at those two spots. 

 

i don't have a problem with keeping your strengths strong as long as it isn't done at the expense of strengthening glaring holes at important spots.

This happened back in 2011 at the DT position. If you recall, we had traded away our 2nd round pick to the Patriots (who selected CB Ras I-Dowling) and by the time we picked in the 3rd round all the top DT were gone. 

So Hurney reached for Terrell McClain and our boy Sione Fua. 

[DaCityKats]

This happened back in 2011 at the DT position. If you recall, we had traded away our 2nd round pick to the Patriots (who selected CB Ras I-Dowling) and by the time we picked in the 3rd round all the top DT were gone. 

So Hurney reached for Terrell McClain and our boy Sione Fua. 

 

while this guy was on the board when he picked McClain.

 

 

[rayzor]

This happened back in 2011 at the DT position. If you recall, we had traded away our 2nd round pick to the Patriots (who selected CB Ras I-Dowling) and by the time we picked in the 3rd round all the top DT were gone. 

So Hurney reached for Terrell McClain and our boy Sione Fua. 

 

yep. not exactly a winning strategy and i don't care who your GM is.

 

address your needs with the best players available to you. the longer you ignore them or take little effort to address them, the bigger the chance is you are going to get bit in the ass.

 

OT and WR are huge needs now and in the future. we can't count on solid talent being available later.