As always, the Panthers go into this year's draft with about 40 fuging needs on the team, but I'm not here to regale you with trade down scenarios that will never happen, like that bengals 2 firsts for 9 that some diehard *** cincy fan blogged about which created a shitstorm of buzz on this forum.
So here is my mock draft, and I promise I won't forget about punter
Round 1, Pick 9
Now this guy, ...a lot of people have a problem with. But if he's still up for grabs and Claiborne is not available, Quinton Coples, DL (pictured above) will be the best defensive player on the board. Okay lets talk about his motor. You probably don't realize it, which might make you tend towards other positiions, but one of the criterion DLs are consistently graded on by draftniks is whether or not their motor runs hot or cold. Seriously go check out the scouting reports on draft countdown. Like 9 out of 10 DL with a scouting report has a comment on their "motor", which is virtually nonexistent in any other scouting report except for the rare appearance on a linebacker's or offensive lineman's. And when it's posted on a linebacker, it's usually a 3-4 OLB that "could also project to end in a 4-3". Since every football fan who follows the draft knows soooo much about working hard, it's particularly unattractive when a draftnik drops this buzzword in a negative sense for a prospect.
Many top DL prospects have had to deal with these questions. Even Mario Williams had question marks about his motor from some ill-informed online scouts with too much time on their hands. Sometimes, questions over "motor" is put on perceived underachievers by simply comparing their sack totals from one year to the next. Coples actually did admit he could've made a better effort on some plays, which means to me the guy acknowledges and is willing to improve in that area, even though I don't think it's a major concern to begin with. The guy dealt with a tumultuous situation in UNC (keep in mind I don't mark out for UNC, I actually think he's a good prospect) got moved around a lot, and never fell of the face of the earth despite this.
At the pro level, I don't expect him to be an immediate sack artist, even though I do in a long-term sense, and I do think he'll get a decent amount of pressure to begin with, but catching up to faster and smarter QBs in the NFL is a learning curve almost every DE goes through. I think he'll immediately help set the edge in the running game (which is also crucial because the front seven was terrible against the run and the safeties couldn't make a tackle to save their lives), his ability to line up inside and provide pressure is a boon, and this allows Hardy to spell either him or CJ which will make us rich in talent in one of the most important positions in the game.
More about pressure: "You can never have too many pass rushers" -- some GM whose team has won 2 of the last 5 superbowls. This is the guy who drafted Jason Pierre Paul when they were already so deep at DE Mathias Kiwanuka had to move out of position to OLB (oh and BTW, if you think Coples' senior season stats are underwhelming, take a look at JPP's stats at South Florida, holy poo, a lot of college fans argued he wasn't the top threat for most teams USF faced, which hilariously happened to be George Selvie, whom we signed at some point last season). If you're Jerry Reese, you might feel vindicated when you look up any top QB's stats and find that their passer rating goes down about 20-30 points at least against pressure. Drew Brees for example has an overall rating of 110.6, which goes down to about an 81.5, which means that if you don't count those pressure plays against him, his overall rating is even higher. We didn't hassle him much if at all last year, which was why he was able to destroy us through the air. Matt Ryan's rating under pressure is a pathetic 44.7. Even Eli Manning posts an almost as pathetic 50.4 rating. Pressure matters, and the foundation to any defense good at bringing the heat is Defensive Line. Not white, stiff-hipped coverage linebackers who aggregate 600 tackles a season.
Round 2 tomorrow, in the mean time
