Gettleman Evolving as a Talent Evaluator?

[uscgamecocks]

The most encouraging thing about this draft weekend (so far) is that it appears to show that Gettleman has changed course and is increasingly valuing athleticism in building out the Panthers roster.

Below I list the pSPARQ %tile scores for each of our draft picks with available data over the past four years.  A score of 50% means a player is an average NFL athlete for his position - so anything above that level is very good.

2017:
McCaffrey 72.8%
Samuel 53.5%
Moton 54.3%
Hall 77.6%

2016:
Butler: 60.1%
Bradberry:  93.4%
Worley:  55%
Sanchez:  21.5%

2015:
Thompson:  43.2%
Funchess:  70%
Williams:  13.9%
Artis-Payne:  39.1%
Mayo:  32.1%

2014:
Benjamin:  34.4%
Ealy:  84.1%
Turner:  54.0%
Boston:  34.4%
Benwikere:  42.1%
Gaffney:  78.8%

An old-school scout like Gettleman is always going to rely on the tape (as he constantly reminds us) and that's a good thing.

But it would appear that the Panthers are beginning place more emphasis on athleticism / testing as part of their evaluation process.

I think that's a great thing.  Ideally, the athletic testing should confirm what you see on tape (rather than driving the process).  Football isn't the "underwear olympics" as Gettleman is fond of reminding us.  But pairing great tape and instincts with great athleticism is a winning formula - and the past two years of data suggest the Panthers front office might be doing some "evolving" of its own.