Using hindsight, we navigated this draft almost flawlessly

[panther4life]

1 McCaffrey - Well we knew we needed speed and an offensive playmaker for Cam. We had a choice of John Ross or OJ Howard. Maybe we didn't clear Ross for medicals because he didn't appear to be in the conversation. Also, the NFL didn't see another RB worthy of a pick until round 2. Both were likely off our board due to character concerns (Cook and Mixon). 59 picks after McCaffrey, Kamara was the first RB without character concerns to go as the Saints landed him with pick 67. 

40 Samuel- By this point he was the best speed guy left and it wasn't even close. Funny thing is you could have said this as soon as soon as pick 10 after the Bengals took Ross at 9.

We only missed an opportunity at 2 WR's from picks 9-39. John Ross and Zay Jones. 

I firmly believe we would have taken Samuel over Jones. Samuel's speed smokes Jones'. 4.32 vs 4.45. 

After Samuel, the NFL moved on from WR'S for a while. Next one to come off the board was JuJu to the steeers at pick 62.

If for some reason we decided to gamble and go OT here it would have only netted us the chance to pick between Moton and Dawkins who went 1 pick before us. Voth confirmed if it was down to those 2, Moton was still the pick anyway.

64 Moton and 77 Hall. This is where things get interesting. Could have taken Jordan Willis at 64( went 73rd) and traded up for Antonio Garcia (went 84th) instead. 

I don't know that those 2 would have been a better combo but its really the first picks we can possibly 2nd guess, even with hindsight on our side. Perhaps the most interesting thing to me is they Chose Hall with Basham still on the clock. Basham looked like a great prospect to me but I feel good knowing they had a chance at him but preferred Hall. Another player many experts thought highly of was Derrick Rivers and he was also available. So fair to say we got our guy unless we really wanted Willis.

If we stayed at 98 we would have missed on all of those guys just mentioned. Hall, Basham and Rivers. So this make this trade up worth it. Unless you preferred a combo of Josh Reynolds WR and Carl Lawson DE.

152 Corn Elder - We narrowly missed on a chance on getting a 2nd TE. Jake Butt ,George Kittle and Jordan Legget  went 1,2 and 6 this round. We were pick 8. 

172 Alex Armah - He was the first FB taken. We had our choice at any of them and we chose him. 

233 Harrison Butker - He was the last of 4 kickers taken. Strange fact. The other 3 all went to the AFC North.

Other random observatIons

McCaffrey was the 1st RB taken in the NFC.

Samuel was the 1st WR taken in the NFC

Moton was the 2nd OT taken in the NFC ( Ramczyk went to some shitty team in Lousiana in the 1st)

Armah was the first FB taken in the NFL

Butker was the 1st and only Kicker taken in the NFC

All of these pre-draft huddle favorites landed in the AFC.

• Leonard Fournette (Jags)
• Corey Davis (Titans)
• Jamal Adams (Jets)
• John Ross     (Bengals)
• Malik Hooker (Colts)
• David Njoku (Browns)
• T.J Watt        (Steelers)
• Cam Robinson (Jags)
• Obi Meflonwu (Raiders)
• Jordan Willis (Bengals)
• Tarell Basham (Colts)

lastly wanted to share this gem someone posted on twitter. Every Cam 2016 completetion's to RB's. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ace_Aladdin]

I fear OJ Howard will give us some fits with the Bucs.

Saints defense has improved along with ATL 's LB corp. 

[Ace_Aladdin]

Healthy does of competiton is great , and should push this team to another level for the Playoff hunt.

IMO NFC South is going to #1 divison in the NFL for couple of years.

Panthers: 13-3 | NFC South champs | NFC #1 seed | SB Champs

Rinse & Repeat. 

 

 

[PanthersATL]

USAToday gave us an A- in their draft analysis. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/draft/2017/04/29/nfl-draft-team-grades-2017-best-worst-classes-picks/101083944/

 

Quote

Carolina Panthers: If the mission was to reduce stress on QB Cam Newton and his surgically repaired wing, GM Dave Gettleman seems to have accomplished his objective. In first-round RB Christian McCaffrey and second-round WR Curtis Samuel, Newton will have two explosive weapons who could be somewhat interchangeable in the slot and backfield and perhaps present quite a nightmare if paired together in certain packages. Gettleman also found another bodyguard for the 2015 MVP with second-round OL Taylor Moton. As a bonus, Round 3 DE Daeshon Hall is insurance for graybeard DEs Julius Peppers and Charles Johnson.

 

[SOJA]

I'm salivating thinking about having CMC running those routes as oppose to Mike Tolbert 

[KB_fan]

17 minutes ago, sanjay_rajput said:

IMO NFC South is going to #1 divison in the NFL for couple of years.

We know Panthers - New Orleans games have often been shoot outs in recent years.

Several Panthers - Atlanta games have been huge blowouts (with one each to CAR & ATL in 2015 - 2016)

Now, Panthers - Bucs have a chance to join the fun as potential high flying games on offense for both teams.

Should be Must-See tv.

 

[Ace_Aladdin]

1 minute ago, #PanthersKing said:

No he won't. I thought this class of TE was so overrated by everyone. OJ Howard is a

good prospect but not great. Howard is not the prospect of Ebron or Eifert. Howard was just a safe pick. Could block, two really good games in college (both vs Bama), and no off field. 

 

Idk whose alter ego you are but I'll put money on it that Howard will far more succuesful than Ebron or Effect barring any serious injury. 

$20.00 

 

Put up or Shut up 

 

[panther4life]

6 minutes ago, SOJA said:

I'm salivating thinking about having CMC running those routes as oppose to Mike Tolbert 

Tolbert fell off a lot last year. Heres a better idea of how CMC will look taking over Tolbert's role in the backfield when we has good! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elZvtcgpaG0

 

[RumHam]

holy fug we got a kicker and i didn't even realize. Thank god i'm glad that they realize Gano is poo

[KB_fan]

14 minutes ago, PanthersATL said:

USAToday gave us an A- in their draft analysis

Don't have the link handy, sorry, but I saw Walter Football gave us a B+

[LinvilleGorge]

3 minutes ago, #PanthersKing said:

No he won't. I thought this class of TE was so overrated by everyone. OJ Howard is a

good prospect but not great. Howard is not the prospect of Ebron or Eifert. Howard was just a safe pick. Could block, two really good games in college (both vs Bama), and no off field. 

TEs always worry me. For whatever reason, the Panthers have a history of getting smoked by TEs.

[SOJA]

Another thing that jumped out to me that I didn't expect was that Philly Brown seemed to get a lot more playing time than I remembered. 

 

I like Philly a lot, but it's not surprising we didn't re-sign him. He didn't do much with the playing time we gave him. 

[panther4life]

One more video. Imagine Samuel in this role. 

 

[LinvilleGorge]

6 minutes ago, SOJA said:

Another thing that jumped out to me that I didn't expect was that Philly Brown seemed to get a lot more playing time than I remembered. 

 

I like Philly a lot, but it's not surprising we didn't re-sign him. He didn't do much with the playing time we gave him. 

Philly and Funchess were god awful last year. Most everyone else was right around their typical production, both in terms of yardage and catch percentage. Philly and Funchess fell off a cliff.