Draft Position Watch (Week 8 edition)

[Leeroy Jenkins Ph.D.]

Here we go again, the Panthers are on a 3 game losing streak and it is time to start considering the draft order. Our current 3 wins puts us drafting #13 going into this weekend. We currently have a SOS of .528. Here are the top 8 games that help our draft position.

 

1)      Patriots @ Bills: A Patriots win moves them to 3 wins, and gives them a better winning % allowing the Panthers to jump them in draft order.
2)      Cowboys @ Eagles: A Cowboys win moves them into a tie with the Panthers. However, their SOS keeps them ahead of the Panthers in the draft order. However, whichever team wins this game is technically leading their division and making the playoffs. 
3)      Titans @ Bengals: A Bengals win gives them 2.5 wins and allows the Panthers to move within striking distance.
4)      Vikings @ Packers: A Vikings win gives them 2 wins and allows the Panthers to move within striking distance. (Panthers have a lower SOS, so a tie would move us ahead in draft order)
5)      Jets @ Chiefs: The Jets are currently sitting at the #1 spot as they remain winless. Any Jets win opens up the possibility that the Panthers could take that spot.
6)      Rams @ Dolphins: The Dolphins currently have 3 wins, but have a better winning % than the Panthers.
7)      Raiders @ Browns: The Raiders currently have 3 wins, but have a better winning % than the Panthers.
8)      Colts @ Lions: The Lions currently have 3 wins, but have a better winning % than the Panthers.
 

*The Houston Texans (1 win), Jacksonville Jaguars (1 win), and Washington Football Team (2 wins) are all on bye this week.
**The Broncos and Chargers (both 2 win teams) play each other. We will move ahead of one, and fall behind the other following their game.
***Always cheer for NFCS teams to lose. This lowers our SOS and improves our tie breaking standing. 

There is not a lot of movement available in the draft order this week, but we can inch closer to improving.

 

Position	Team	Record	Win %	SOS
1	NY Jets	0-7	0	0.592
2	NY Giants	1-6.	0.143	0.546
3	Jacksonville	1-6.	0.143	0.559
4	Houston	1-6.	0.143	0.583
5	Minnesota	1-5.	0.167	0.547
6	Cincinnati	1-5-1.	0.214	0.534
7	Atlanta	2-6.	0.25	0.552
8	Dallas	2-5.	0.286	0.463
9	Washington	2-5.	0.286	0.491
10	LA Chargers	2-4.	0.333	0.453
11	New England	2-4.	0.333	0.514
12	Denver	2-4.	0.333	0.543
13	Carolina	3-5.	0.375	0.528
14	Miami	3-3.	0.5	0.458
15	Las Vegas	3-3.	0.5	0.5
16	Detroit	3-3.	0.5	0.505

 

[Varking]

We are losing next week as well so factor that in there. 

[LinvilleGorge]

At least the Bengals, Dolphins, Chargers, and possibly Cowboys definitely won't be looking at QB in round 1. 

[LinvilleGorge]

3 minutes ago, Varking said:

We are losing next week as well so factor that in there. 

3-7 seems like a slam dunk.

[Varking]

7 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

3-7 seems like a slam dunk.

Yeah I can agree with that. Not sure how the Lions game will turn out but if we don’t win that then We might be at 4 wins with a W over Ron later in the year. 

[Move the Panthers to Raleigh]

I'd argue there is more competition for a top-3 pick than the Superbowl this year.

[Leeroy Jenkins Ph.D.]

We could really use some of those 1 and 2 win teams to start stringing together a couple of "feel good" accidental wins. 

[saX man]

We've got KC, GB, NO, & TB left on plate (That's 4)

We can win all of the others...so let's say we only lose one of them (Lions), we're looking at 6-10 at best.

So I'd estimate we finish 5-11 and around the 5th-7th pick. 

Makes a trade up for Fields much more digestible and puts us in clear range of Lance & Wilson.

[MHS831]

5 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

At least the Bengals, Dolphins, Chargers, and possibly Cowboys definitely won't be looking at QB in round 1. 

Dallas could get interesting if one falls to them.

[LinvilleGorge]

44 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

Dallas could get interesting if one falls to them.

Yeah they could. Then the whole injury recovery and prognosis comes into play. Would you rather take the chance on a rookie and his cheap contract or take the chance on Dak, his recovery, and his mega contract? 

[TheSpecialJuan]

Excellent news 

[WUnderhill]

A bunch of those teams will be playing each other, and they can’t both lose, so we certainly have plenty of opportunity to move up.

[ImaginaryKev]

I'm mildly annoyed that we might've overachieved and gotten everyone's hopes up only to push ourselves out of range to get a QB in the first round (and I definitely think four of those guys are going in the top five), but I'm still a bit encouraged because our problem areas, the spots totally lacking in talent are pretty obvious. We have gaping holes in the IOL and defensive back seven, with QB and TE also looking like upgrade spots if the situation is right. Thankfully the high picks we spent on the D Line the last two years all seem like potential good players so we can focus elsewhere, and we have maybe two players in the secondary to try and coach up and turn into long term players (Chinn and at least one of either Troy Pride and Douglas is a keeper, please God). 

[DaveThePanther2008]

17 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

At least the Bengals, Dolphins, Chargers, and possibly Cowboys definitely won't be looking at QB in round 1. 

Dallas has Dak on the Tag so If they end up in a place where they can get a young talented QB.  They'll let Dak walk.   That puts probably one of the other team looking for a QB in the "interested" Category on Dak.  

Many things can play out.

My only wish is that we keep trying to win these games.   I want this team to build toughness and a no lose attitude.   Our overall talent level will dictate our final record.    I definitely don't see us beating NO, TB, KC or GB.

The remaining 4 games against Detroit, Minnesota, Denver and Washington are difficult to pick.  Detroit and Minnesota are probably better than their records show.  Denver is ranked 4th in Defense and Washington is 10th.   We don't fair too well against the better defenses.   Washington IMO is probably a loss.  You know Riverboat Ron is going to pull all the stops out to beat his former team. 

I would say splitting this group of teams is IMO our best outlook for 2020.   5-11.

Then we hope we are in the Top 10.