Khyber53

I have been detailing this for the past month. I did not want to go into it too much because the Panthers slow played this to perfection.

 

As for the people who understand the growth of the spread offense and hybrid TE in short yardage, they get this pick. For everyone who still thinks teams play a base 4-3 most of the time will throw out the Thomas Davis comparison from 10 years ago. The NFL has changed.

 

There was one position the Panthers could not fill and that was the hybrid LB/SS. Colin Jones finished the season in this spot. When you see the S or CB playing near the line and in the box this is called the Big Nickel. I have talked about it previously. Here is a link if you need to read about it.

 

google the articles here

 

Read up there are several articles on it.

 

Shaq Thompson is going to play OLB - not safety. He will line up in a 4-3 and when the offense spreads out Shaq becomes the Big Nickel. Spread offenses have been using this to give an edge to their QB to pre snap read the defense and know if it is in zone or man. With a hybrid OLB that is no longer an advantage. Why do you think the Seahawks do so well on defense? This throws QBs for a loop and causes more mistakes and delays.

 

Last season the Panthers had AJ Klein/Chase Blackburn getting caught in pass coverage, and Bene Benwikere would get caught in a run play and crossing routes from these spread formations in short yardage. Shaq instantly solves that and he frees up Kuechly and Davis on day one.

 

The Panthers now have the defensive personnel by adding Shaq and Tillman to run big nickel and big dime packages that will rival that of the Seahawks while neutralizing QB pre snap reads and spread offenses. For long passing downs the Panthers will still use a traditional nickel and dime which will replace Shaq with Tillman or Bene in the nickel. Shaq will be in that OLB and Big Nickel postion on all short yardage downs.

 

This is huge. The Patriots and Seahawks have been doing this for a few years now.

 

Also, keep in mind Shaq can team with Ginn on kickoff returns, and he can play gunner.

 

What I find interesting is this notion I have heard rumblings of that the Panthers want to select Ty Montgomery later in the draft. The idea is to pair Ty and Shaq at the RB position in a read option package with Cam Newton. Might be 6 to 10 plays a game in the red zone. You can go from having Ty and Shaq in the backfield to a spread offense in the red zone with both at receiver. 

 

Hope this helps. If you do not understand the formations and the amount they are used, then just wait till the season and the 4 game stretch against the spreads on short yardage you will see against the Packers, Eagles, Seahawks, and Colts. You will be thrilled to have Kuechly, Davis, Shaq and Tillman then when those QBs are left guessing if it is man or zone pre snap. If it were Kuechly, Davis, Klein/Colin Jones, and Bene in the box, I guarantee you those QBs will know where they are going and if they are audibling to a run or screen 5 seconds before the snap.

I hate that I missed reading this in my original pass through the topic. Brilliant explanation and you have me convinced and excited to see Shaq on the field. Great read!

Didn't think he'd be our pick, but you've just got to watch the kid's highlights. He's going to be phenomenal. He'll someday replace TD, but in the meantime, we should have the dominant LB corps in the league.

And the idea that he could play RB? 

Whether you like the pick or not, Shaq's a Panther now, so start cheering for him!

Did both you clowns miss the big ass "20" patch the Panthers wore all year last year?

I just completely had a brain fart on that. Sorry.

If you're in Greensboro, hit up the Big Burger Spot. Fantastic, HUGE salads, $6-$8 range. Enough for two or three people.

Just going to have to watch 'em in turn, I guess.

Where were you last year in, you know, our 20th year?  This will be our 21st year.

Apparently not in math class. 1995 start would make last year our 20th year of play. My bad. 

Well, there goes any significance. 

Haven't seen the spoiler episodes yet, but I think they are going to have to seriously change the Jon Snow storyline from the books. When I read it, I just kept shaking my head that Martin had painted himself into a corner with that one.

I really think that will be one of the big fixes he hinted would come in the show rather than the books. 

And my bet is that Little Finger doesn't survive the season. Great character and remarkably well cast, but they've gone further in his story now than the books have, and that leaves me feeling that they are going to close down this branch of the tree.

Historic match up for opening game for both teams. Both the Panthers and Jaguars will be beginning their 20th year in the NFL on that day.

And hey, I like the idea of starting out against them because, well, they are the Jags... 

Atlanta at home to open.

He's not going to be as dynamic as Smitty, but he sure looks like he's going to be in the Muhsin Muhammad class, and that's a mighty good thing. Maybe even better.

Ehh, if he does fine for them, no biggie. If he does badly, sure won't hurt us. Suit him up, make him QB1. 

In the end, we will pay Cam whatever it takes to keep him. We just have to hope that he hasn't already hit his ceiling. We could go far with him, or we could have already seen the best, we just don't know.

We do know, however, that if he ever gets free from us, we will immediately slip back into the pool of mediocrity and sink back down among the bottom dwellers of the league. How long we stay there will be a function of when we can correctly draft the next big thing in QBs or pick up just the right free agent on the upswing. And neither of those is easy to do. Coaches and general managers leave town over just this problem, again and again.

Cam is both our best option and our worst handicap. He's good with the potential to be great, and he has the keys to the vault. I sure hope it pans out right for the long run. 

We don't have a good track record with USC receivers. Just sayin'.

Dang, I had somehow missed that Gordon had a case of fumble-itis. It can be cured, but... No, we need to pass on him.

One thing about D'Angelo Williams was that he almost never fumbled, I mean, historically good at holding onto the ball. Stewie's been pretty good, too. 

I think Gordon is a better draft pick than Gurley. That being said, I don't think either will be available at the #25 pick as there are a lot of teams with running back needs, whether they'll admit the position is important or not.

If Gordon is there at #25 however, I hope we pick him. Gurley at #25 is just too big of a gamble coming off that incredibly serious knee injury. That torn ligament probably cost the kid millions of dollars, but that doesn't mean it should cost us millions, too.

I'd rather we wait and pick up a second or third rounder RB to fill in behind Stewie. He's going to need it.

He was one of Pittsburgh's iconic players and deserves to be in the panthenon with Mean Joe Green, Franco Harris, Lynn Swann, Terry Bradshaw and Jack Ham. He's a guaranteed first ballot Hall of Fame player. 

Sorry to see him retire, but it is a case of a skill set being so high that when it falls, it crashes down. Time catches all of us.

And if he can't play worth a damn he we still start for 5 weeks like Charles Godfrey.

Sadly, I can't really argue with you there.

If we can get him on the cheap, definitely a low risk, high reward guy. Tons of character, great experience and if he can play at 85-90 percent of where he used to, it would be a steal.

Speedy receivers are nothing without good hands. There are a decade of picks in Oakland showing that to be true.

Good hands, precise routes and a desire to catch the ball every time it comes your way, that's what it takes. 

I see Dallas and Detroit falling out of contention, but the Broncos will be back and for some reason, Andy Dalton's Bengals end up in the playoffs each year... no explanation available, but he's been able to do what few other Bengals QBs have been... get to the playoffs multiple times. 

And then us. We'll be there. We gutted it out last season, kept most of the squad intact and the Falcons and Saints haven't gotten better.

Duke would be the best compliment to Stewart. I don't know how good he is at picking up the blitz, though, and that's got to be a big factor in our choice of an RB.

If Wisconsin's Gordon or Miami's Duke Johnson were available in the second, I think we'd be foolish to pass up on them. Both would be great complimentary runners to Stewart and both offer good hands and speed as receivers out of the backfield.

We've picked some good first rounders (Williams and Stewart) but we've got bigger needs than a RB in the first round. Second round pick would make sense.

High character kid with a huge upside when he was drafted. He's going to have an excellent year in 2015. 

So why was it a 2016 pick instead of a 2015 one?