Could The 2021 QB Class Rival 1983 And What It Means For The Panthers?

[45catfan]

I know this is VERY far out on the heels of the 2020 draft, but I can tell it's getting extremely boring around here by some topics the past few days.  In an attempt to get back on path to strictly football, I figured this would be a tasty morsel to chew on.

In 1983 there was an unprecedented 6 QBs taken in the first round of the NFL draft.  It would never be matched.  Why? There were only 28 teams in the League at the time.  That nearly put it a 1/4 of teams took a QB that draft day 1.  To even match that draft with 32 teams now, 7 QBs would have to be drafted on the opening day.

1983

1983 - QB
RD	SEL #	PLAYER	POSITION	SCHOOL	TEAM
1	1	John Elway	QB	Stanford	Baltimore Colts
1	7	Todd Blackledge	QB	Penn State	Kansas City Chiefs
1	14	Jim Kelly	QB	Miami (Fla.)	Buffalo Bills
1	15	Tony Eason	QB	Illinois	New England Patriots
1	24	Ken O'Brien	QB	California-Davis	New York Jets
1	27	Dan Marino	QB	Pittsburgh	Miami Dolphins
5	137	Jeff Christensen	QB	Eastern Illinois	Cincinnati Bengals
6	162	Reggie Collier	QB	Southern Mississippi	Dallas Cowboys
6	168	Babe Laufenberg	QB	Indiana	Washington Redskins
8	197	Gary Kubiak	QB	Texas A&M	Denver Broncos
10	267	Tom Ramsey	QB	UCLA	New England Patriots
10	272	Bruce Mathison	QB	Nebraska	San Diego Chargers
11	280	Jim Bob Taylor	QB	Georgia Tech	Baltimore Colts

Only twice since then have 5 QBs been taken, most recently in 2018 and also back in 1999.  So only three times in the modern NFL draft era have 5 or more QBs been taken in the first round. This class seems to be loaded.  Remember, projected 2nd and 3rd round QBs get hot after the all-star games, combine and Pro days.  The 2020 draft was weak overall (top heavy) and still had 4 QBs get drafted in the opening round. Here is one draft site with their early rankings:

Early 2021 QB Rankings

They already have 6 QBs ranked in the top 45 and assume some second rounders will move into round 1.  That being said, what is the impact a loaded QB class have on the Panthers?  Assuming we don't have a top 3 pick, would it be smart to move back, gain more draft capital to take advantage of such a loaded class?  An example would be move back and take the franchise OT (OT is super solid next draft too) and then move back into round one and take a QB?  Just one scenario.  The point being unlike this year, there will be options in the draft outside the top 5 for QBs if we end up having a better season than some project.  Short of landing the #1 pick, which the move would be obvious, what kind of scenarios would you like to see unfold for the Panthers considering the tremendous depth of next year's QB class?

 

 

[DFive]

I’d love to see Trevor Lawrence drop to wherever we are in the draft. Be it #1 or #32, if Trevor fell to us regardless of our draft position, that would be ideal. 
 

Thats how you play the game in these hypothetical threads, right? 

[jumpman910]

I'm cool with a number of the young prospects but oh the irony if we pick the guy Cam's been mentoring since damn near middle school in Fields. 

With that said I still hope that Teddy balls out 

[45catfan]

3 minutes ago, DFive said:

I’d love to see Trevor Lawrence drop to wherever we are in the draft. Be it #1 or #32, if Trevor fell to us regardless of our draft position, that would be ideal. 
 

Thats how you play the game in these hypothetical threads, right? 

Nope, because short of him having a major scandal or significant injury he wouldn't fall outside the top 5 even with a Herbert-like pedestrian final season.

 

[LinvilleGorge]

I really wish we'd have the opportunity to see Trey Lance play with a better supporting cast against better competition. Like Jordan Love this year, he's going to be the small school wildcard QB next year.

[45catfan]

3 minutes ago, jumpman910 said:

I'm cool with a number of the young prospects but oh the irony if we pick the guy Cam's been mentoring since damn near middle school in Fields. 

With that said I still hope that Teddy balls out 

That would be ironic with Fields, for sure.  The neat thing with Teddy is he serves two purposes, to be that initial QB in Brady's system to get the ball rolling, firstly.  Secondly, if he doesn't prove to be more than an average starter, we can draft a rookie QB and have the luxury of Teddy mentoring the rookie in Brady's system and can sit the rook for a portion of the season or all of it.

[LinvilleGorge]

3 minutes ago, 45catfan said:

That would be ironic with Fields, for sure.  The neat thing with Teddy is he serves two purposes, to be that initial QB in Brady's system to get the ball rolling, firstly.  Secondly, if he doesn't prove to be more than an average starter, we can draft a rookie QB and have the luxury of Teddy mentoring the rookie in Brady's system and can sit the rook for a portion of the season or all of it.

Yeah, I honestly think Teddy was brought in to be the Alex Smith for our yet to be drafted Patrick Mahomes hopeful.

[45catfan]

4 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I really wish we'd have the opportunity to see Trey Lance play with a better supporting cast against better competition. Like Jordan Love this year, he's going to be the small school wildcard QB next year.

It didn't really deter the Eagles with Wentz.  Secondly, NDSU could move into the BCS if they chose to.  They simply dominate at their level.  App State didn't fall of the map after they made the jump.  Granted they aren't winning it all like in FCS, but have been very competitive nearly every season since making the jump.

NDSU is a known commodity and I think the "lack of competition" perception is a non-factor in this case.

[onmyown]

6 OTs were taken in the 2020 draft and like 10(?) olineman in the first. Pretty sure that’s a lot more than in years.

The year of olineman followed by the year of QBs and something tells me the Panthers plan to miss out on both :(

[t96]

15 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Yeah, I honestly think Teddy was brought in to be the Alex Smith for our yet to be drafted Patrick Mahomes hopeful.

It’s pretty clear the way the deal is setup that that’s the case, and that we weren’t looking too hard at QBs this year likely in anticipation of the 2021 class (as was reported we like better). Not a bad play if we can truly scout a QB well and get a stud without a top 5 pick for Lawrence or Fields. But if we can’t do that then we missed out on a perfect opportunity to get Lawrence, without Teddy and with Allen or Grier starting instead and this D 1st overall would be guaranteed.

[LinvilleGorge]

18 minutes ago, 45catfan said:

It didn't really deter the Eagles with Wentz.  Secondly, NDSU could move into the BCS if they chose to.  They simply dominate at their level.  App State didn't fall of the map after they made the jump.  Granted they aren't winning it all like in FCS, but have been very competitive nearly every season since making the jump.

NDSU is a known commodity and I think the "lack of competition" perception is a non-factor in this case.

Wentz was a senior so they also had the opportunity to evaluate him at the Senior Bowl. Lance isn't.

[Shocker]

That Iowa State QB sure does throw a Purdy ball

[45catfan]

Besides Brock Purdy, Sam Ehlinger is a QB from the Big 12 that intrigues me.  I've seen little of the Longhorns, but the NFL seems to love QBs out of that conference because it is so pass-happy.  Ehlinger's stats are really good, he has nice size to him, so I could see him going in the 1st round if he continues his sharp play and avoids injury.

[45catfan]

1 minute ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Wentz was a senior so they also had the opportunity to evaluate him at the Senior Bowl. Lance isn't.

Very true, but if Lance somehow matches, or even somehow improves upon last season's incredible numbers, I doubt there will be a ton of debate about if the NFL would be too big for him.  The only question would be if he could start immediately.  Luckily we would have that luxury to sit him a year, if needed, assuming Teddy stays healthy and doesn't utterly implode.