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It's a tightrope being a Panthers fan and trying not to get too caught up in the hype and optimism this time of year. I'm trying to be cautious and realistic. But we are adding pass rushers that already have some skill set built in. And also of importance the youth factor as they have plenty of time to develop. Scourton is 20 and Princely just turned 23. At least we are rolling the dice on this instead of drafting very raw and limited older pass rushers like DJ Johnson.

Eh, I liked our draft especially the first 3 picks ( I think all 3 will be long term starters for us ) but I would be hesitant to use this as a win. For one someone already posted all the great draft grades they gave us on previous drafts, so they don't have a good track record. Secondly this makes sense because we just drafted guys they ranked high.

I really hope XL comes around, but man I really wanted Ladd McConkey at that spot. But my #2 wish at that spot was Jalynn Polk and he looked completely lost on an NFL field as a rookie so there's that too. LOL

We got a #2 WR (I think he comes around), Brooks was damaged goods at a discount but I did not like the pick--I hate drafting RBs, but the second injury was not expected, we got a pretty decent LB, a pass-catching TE with upside, and a Nickel CB. I did not want XL or Brooks and still am critical of the picks. I think we were smarter this year--our first three picks could have gone in round 1 in a different year. Tex AM did Scourton no favors but he is 20---Princely might become the better player.

Hold up--do we have depth at Long Snapper???? Well, do we?????

Carolina Panthers Round 1 (14): Edge Brian Burns, Florida State Round 2 (37): OT Greg Little, Ole Miss Round 3 (100): QB Will Grier, West Virginia Round 4 (115): Edge Christian Miller, Alabama Round 5 (154): RB Jordan Scarlett, Florida Round 6 (212): OT Dennis Daley, South Carolina Round 7 (237): WR Terry Godwin, Georgia Day 1: A favorite of PFF Senior Content & Strategy Analyst Austin Gayle’s, Florida State edge defender Brian Burns is special. He’s a freakish athlete with great bend that can win outside with the best of them. He’s also a very, very smart player that will only continue to get better at the next level. He also earned a career-high 87.2 overall grade in 2018. “Burns is much more refined [than Leonard Floyd] in terms of using his hands… So, with the upward trajectory of his career, he’s the kind of guy I bet on to continue to succeed at the NFL level.” – Pro Football Focus’ Lead Draft Analyst Mike Renner Day 2: Ole Miss offensive tackle Greg Little and West Virginia signal-caller Will Grier were both top-35 overall players for PFF in this year’s draft. Over the past two seasons, Little allowed all of 26 total pressures on 993 pass-blocking snaps. Grier tied Drew Lock for the NCAA lead with 33 big-time throws and has the second-best best passing grade behind Kyler Murray. Grier won’t start for Carolina, but he’s a capable backup that has a good chance of starting for someone in the NFL in the future. Day 3: Carolina’s first two picks of Day 3, former Alabama edge defender Christian Miller and Florida running back Jordan Scarlett, both offer upside if they can put it together at the next level. Among edge defenders with at least 400 defensive snaps in 2018, Miller ranked 27th in overall grade, tied for 32nd in run-defense grade and tied for 18th in pass-rush grade. He’s a raw prospect with untapped potential having played fewer than 700 defensive snaps in his Crimson tide career. Scarlett was suspended for the entire 2017 season, putting his future in the NFL in jeopardy. But the Florida back returned to form in 2018, earning the fourth-best rushing grade (86.4) in the 2019 class. He’s a bit of a thumper with surprising speed that should make a living forcing missed tackles in the NFL; he’s a great complement to Christian McCaffrey in Carolina. DRAFT GRADE: EXCELLENT

Carolina Panthers R1 (1): QB Bryce Young, Alabama R2 (39): WR Jonathan Mingo, Ole Miss R3 (80): EDGE DJ Johnson, Oregon R4 (114): G Chandler Zavala, NC State R5 (145): S Jammie Robinson, Florida State Day 1: Carolina moved up to No. 1 overall and secured their potential franchise quarterback. Despite concerns about his size, Young was the top QB on the PFF big board, and his 92.9 passing grade led all players at the position over the past two seasons. Day 2: Mingo was one of the biggest risers in the pre-draft process and finds himself in Carolina to team up with top pick Bryce Young. While his production in college was spotty, he has a good blend of size and athleticism to like his fit here with the Panthers. Not to mention, he flashed often on tape between unbelievable body adjustments and clean wins at the line of scrimmage. This is one of the bigger reaches so far based on the PFF big board, with Johnson coming in at 237th overall. The Panthers are taking a swing on Johnson’s athleticism on the edge (4.49-second 40-yard dash at 261 pounds). He’s a 24-year-old prospect who recorded fewer than 50 career pressures on 786 defensive snaps in college. Day 3: The Panthers have invested in improving their offensive line over the last several seasons and continue to do so with Zavala here. He played just over 1,000 snaps in the FBS but earned an 86.5 PFF pass-blocking grade last season and adds some explosiveness to the interior of their offensive line. Carolina adds another defensive back for new defensive coordinator Eviro Ejero to deploy in a deep secondary unit. Robinson’s 16.0% forced incompletion rate illustrates his playmaking ability at the catch point when targeted. He plays fast, but that sometimes results in a missed tackle, with his 7.4% missed tackle rate on the high side. DRAFT GRADE: B+

CAROLINA PANTHERS R1 (6) — G Ikem Ekwonu, NC State R3 (94) — QB Matt Corral, Mississippi R4 (120) — LB Brandon Smith, Penn State R6 (189) — Edge Amare Barno, Virginia R6 (199) — T Cade Mays, Tennessee R7 (242) — CB Kalon Barnes, Baylor Day 1: The board couldn’t have fallen much better for Carolina, with all three of the top offensive tackle prospects still on the board. The Panthers opted for the top run-blocker in the class in Ekwonu. The N.C. State tackle earned PFF run-blocking grades above 85.0 in all three of his college seasons, with grades above 90.0 in each of the last two years. It’s worth noting that the Panthers didn’t trade back to add another pick or two, given that they aren’t on the clock again until the fourth round. Day 2: Corral wouldn’t have been a good pick in Round 1, but he provides value late on Day 2. Corral’s offense at Ole Miss made his projection to the NFL a little more difficult, as it was full of RPOs and simplistic reads. Despite the quarterback-friendly offense, Corral was consistently on time and delivered accurate throws while showing off an exceptional deep ball. Corral’s 2021 season took a nosedive midseason due to injury. His 91.1 PFF grade through Week 7 was the fourth-highest in the FBS, but that mark fell 20 grading points to 70.6 from Week 8 on. Day 3: Smith is an athletic project, but he’s a project well worth taking at this stage of the draft. The production profile isn’t overly impressive. Smith earned PFF grades below 60.0 in each of the last two years at Penn State. But the NFL is always going to look for 6-foot-4, 250-pound linebackers who test above the 90th percentile in the 40-yard dash, broad jump and short shuttle. Now, the Panthers just need to figure out how to use him. Draft Grade: A

Most of our recent drafts had a bad taste for a variety of reasons. This one is at least refreshing from a value and perception standpoint. -Legette was ~60-80 on many big boards (and reportedly on actual team boards), not to mention passing on Ladd and DeJean for him. And we traded up! -And then moving back and then trading up again, overpursuing Brooks when we could have landed Sainristil, Frazier, etc. Guys who were obvious fits. -Prior year, sure we landed Bryce and felt promise, but both Mingo and DJJ felt like major reaches on capital gained from CMC. Just felt like duds even before we saw how they were shaping out. Missed out on great prospects like Tuli, Brents or Byron Young. This year, we landed guys that just slipped from other teams reaching, tapped into the value stream that still aligned with our needs. We didn’t reach, but we stayed aggressive to pursue fits.

If he looks good in camp and preseason I honestly expect us to bite the bullet and release Clowney. I don't think we're going to find a trade partner.

Justin Simmons please. He's far better than the other options being discussed in here. He's more expensive but if we were supposedly trying to trade for Tee Higgens, then we can afford a better FS than Marcus Williams.

Yeah Scourton is exciting for more than a few reasons. I don’t want to set too high of expectations, but I really can see him getting a lot of snaps from the get go. He seems more ready to go than most edge prospects in this class. No injury concerns, no undersized edge setting concerns, he fits a starting role and if he wants it, it’s his to grab and run with.

Wouldn’t go that far (the Browns had a helluva draft) but it speaks to this team’s direction under Morgan/Tilis/Canales. It’s certainly a refreshing change from the past few years.

I mean we have Horn as CB1 with a lot of cap space allocated to him. Jackson seems fine as CB2 and Chau looked good at NB. We 100% need some depth and a FS but nothing like the OL/DL overhaul they did these past 2 years. Moehrig and Horn are the their expensive secondary pieces going forward.

I’m honestly not trying to argue with you or talk bad about Scourton, I like him and I’ve watched all of his Purdue stuff/videos you linked previously. Just like I’ve watched all of Princely’s Florida stuff I’m only pointing out the weight thing because I’m excited about the idea of him being 255-260 and being more of a stand up edge here in Carolina like he was at Purdue versus at A&M And like you, I have a crap load of experience doing the whole cutting/weight/fitness thing and I know how crappy/sluggish I feel when I’m holding as little as an extra 8-10lbs of unnecessary weight. So for Scourton to come out and say he’s 255-260 now and feels good that’s exciting based on what he’s put on film at 280 and not feeling his best

I hate seeing this. I'm not sure he was ever going to make it in the NFL without the injury but that injury knocked FSU out of the college football playoffs and cost him and them and opportunity on the biggest stage in college sports. The injuries are the worst part of this game. They've created a nearly unending list of "what ifs". Hell, every HS, college, and pro team out there has a long list of them. It's also a good reminder that there's no such thing as a routine major injury. Even though sports medicine has improved dramatically in recent decades, major injuries are still somewhat of a coin flip on how a guy is going to emerge from it.

I don't know what Texas A&M was doing with their edge rushers. They had two freaks in Scourton and Shemar Stewart and yet instead of turning them loose they asked them to play 20 lbs overweight and just set the edge. That's full-on coaching malpractice at any level. Much was made about Shemar Stewart's lack of sack production, but while he wasn't my favorite prospect this year a lot of that was clearly what they were asking him to do. The good news with Scourton is that, unlike Stewart, did manage to be a huge factor as a pass rusher despite this and despite playing 20 lbs overweight. If he can stay around 260-265 it should help him re-gain some of that explosiveness from his Purdue days.

I did, but again we're aware of the practice in college of inflating height/weight as well as what is considered normal and his freshman weight tells a lot. There was a recent Raw Room episode where at one point they were discussing putting on their "big boy weight" when they go to the pros. It's common for guys to have to slap on 20lbs over the summer, but King Dunlap mentioned having to put on 30 and how much of a toll that took on his body. That makes the idea of putting on 50 at the college level even harder to believe. I've got experience with cutting weight and that type of drop sounds just awful... and that's even if doing it healthy and not just turning yourself into a piece of human jerky. Having to add 50? Noooooo thank yoooou. I can understand wanting to take Scourton at face value, but we didn't take Bryce at face value either (and for good reason!). Give the recently posted videos a shot. I watched the one you linked even though I've already seen it, so why not extend the same courtesy? I think you'll find yourself getting more excited about his Purdue tape than you will being irritated by what you believe are false narratives being pushed.

I think Ottawa and Edmonton force game 7. Although I feel stronger about Toronto failing than I do about Edmonton getting it done again.

I predict 2. Fiddy - fiddy.

The Eagles started the trend of getting a pff guy to help with their drafts. It seemed to have worked out for them.

Last year's draft sucked. I get it has just been a year but trading up after six wr's were already taken was stupid as was trading up to take an injured rb.

Alright guys how many game 7's are we gonna get? All 4 series tonight could possibly do it. Ottawa and Edmonton are hot. Colorado's gonna be tough to eliminate at home too.

The offense is betting on Moton's knee holding up and the defense is hoping their $100m CB can play more than half the games. He has missed 29 games.