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Person: Trading up for Burrow is an option for the Panthers

Mr. Scot

By Mr. Scot,
in Carolina Panthers

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

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Perhaps an unlikely one, but in his latest article for The Athletic, Joe Person says it is on the table.

If Joe Burrow shuns Cincinnati, the Panthers could trade up for the No. 1 spot

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The Bengals hold the top pick in the April draft, which most observers believe they should use on Burrow. Unless those observers happen to have previously played quarterback for the Bengals — like Carson Palmer, who told CBS Sports Radio he didn’t believe Cincinnati was committed to winning a Super Bowl.

Couple Palmer’s words with the fact his brother, Jordan, trained Burrow ahead of this week’s combine, throw in Burrow’s lukewarm response to the Bengals question, and it’s fair to wonder whether the Ohio native is about to pull an Eli Manning and force his way out of Cincy.

If so, the Panthers should be ready to pounce.

 

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There are plenty of factors working against a Burrow-to-Carolina scenario, and we’ll get to those. But let’s first address the two big things the Panthers have going for them:

• Of all the potentially QB-needy teams — and there are several picking ahead of them — the Panthers are the only one with Burrow’s college coach on staff. You can argue whether Joe Brady helped make Burrow a star at LSU, or vice versa, but it’s clear the two were good for each other.

• You might have noticed, Panthers owner David Tepper likes making a big splash. From lavishing seven years and $62 million on Matt Rhule to landing the country’s hottest college coach in Brady, Tepper is not afraid to throw his $12 billion around. If he happens to ruffle the feathers of his fellow billionaire owners, eh, whatever.

Tepper likes to dream big, and when he mentions something to reporters — even seemingly offhandedly — it has a way of happening.

 

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There is no bigger fish in the NFL Draft than Burrow, who won a Heisman Trophy and a national championship in his final college season, just like Cam Newton before the Panthers drafted the Auburn star No. 1 in 2011.

And it might mean something — or nothing — that Tepper name-dropped Burrow recently when asked about hiring the 30-year-old Brady as offensive coordinator.

“I think we got with Rhule and Brady people that really develop talent,” Tepper said. “I don’t want to give too much credit to anybody, but you can see what happened with Burrow down there. Whether it was (Brady) or something else, it’s a heck of a coincidence.”

And maybe it’s a coincidence that the brother of Burrow’s pre-draft quarterbacks coach is sounding a cautionary note about the Bengals. Carson Palmer isn’t the only ex-NFL QB to do so.

Steve Bartkowski, the No. 1 overall pick by the Falcons in 1975, suggested to Burrow’s family that he stiff-arm Cincinnati when he spoke with them last week during a Davey O’Brien Award event, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

 

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It was at the same event that Burrow seemed to leave the door open to channeling his inner Eli or John Elway, both of whom were drafted first overall before orchestrating their way out of San Diego and Baltimore, respectively.

“I do have leverage,” Burrow told the Star-Telegram. “They have their process and I have my process. We haven’t even gotten to the (NFL) combine yet. There’s a lot of things that happen leading up to the draft and a lot of information gathered.”

Burrow, who went to high school in Athens, Ohio, but grew up a Saints fan, can end the vacuum-filling and reading of the tea leaves by getting behind the lectern Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine and saying nice things about the Bengals and his desire to play for them.

But if Burrow remains noncommittal during his media session and his meetings with teams in Indianapolis, let the jockeying begin.

 

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As previously mentioned, a lot would have to happen to get Burrow to Charlotte, not the least of which is the Panthers first deciding they’re moving on from Newton and that Burrow is a generational talent they want to lead their rebuild.

And even if they do, there are still major obstacles, beginning with the bundle of draft picks the Panthers would have to give up to move up to No. 1. In addition to the No. 7 pick, the Bengals would want the Panthers’ first-round pick in 2021 and possibly ’22, or some other combination involving major draft capital.

If Burrow shuns Cincinnati, the Bengals will still need a quarterback. Heading into the combine, most experts have Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert rated as the top three quarterbacks, although Jordan Love and/or Jacob Eason could get into that mix by the end of April.

 

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With the Bengals, Dolphins (who pick fifth) and Chargers (sixth) all looking for a QB, Cincinnati could miss out on one of the top three quarterbacks if it trades with the Panthers.

Plus, there’s the question of just how much the Panthers would want to give up for Burrow. Tepper and general manager Marty Hurney hired Rhule because of his reputations as a program builder, but that process gets tougher when you start trading away a slew of picks.

A coach who’s worked with Rhule previously said the former Baylor and Temple coach is “not really wired that way,” in terms of going for broke at one position at the expense of others.

But other league insiders believe Tepper is the wild card here, and — as he did for Rhule, Brady and Mick and the Boys — might be willing to push in all his chips in a power move for Burrow.

 

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LinvilleGorge Grand Master

LinvilleGorge

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I just don't see how we could swing that trade and still be able to put a decent enough team around him to have much hope of truly competing for a SB while he was on an affordable rookie contract before he signed a mega contract (assuming he worked out).

But, we're pretty obviously all in on Rhule/Brady right now. If this is what they want...

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

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6 minutes ago, ellis said:

 I just don’t see it happening.

I don't either.

But it's valid to point out that David Tepper is indeed a) a wild card b) a fan of big, splashy moves and c) a guy who loves to get fans excited.

So who knows?

Person's scenario is dependent on Burrow indicating he doesn't want to play for the Bengals, so if that doesn't happen, then I'd say the chances of anything else following go way down.

But if it does...

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

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4 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I just don't see how we could swing that trade and still be able to put a decent enough team around him to have much hope of truly competing for a SB while he was on an affordable rookie contract before he signed a mega contract (assuming he worked out).

But, we're pretty obviously all in on Rhule/Brady right now. If this is what they want...

That's my fear.

About the only way I could see that working out is if we had a pretty active couple of free agent periods, and obviously that's not gonna happen with Marty Hurney running things. Beyond that though, it's not as conducive to building a long term winner (like we say we want to do).

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