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Panthers fall in new ESPN Power Rankings

CarolinaLivin

By CarolinaLivin,
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CarolinaLivin Grand Master

CarolinaLivin

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Many believe the Carolina Panthers were one of the biggest winners from the 2021 NFL Draft, myself included. New GM Scott Fitterer did a tremendous job of letting the board fall to him, not reaching for players, and trading back multiple times. 

Carolina filled a huge need at corner by selecting South Carolina's Jaycee Horn 8th overall, drafted LSU WR Terrace Marshall Jr. to replace Curtis Samuel, took BYU left tackle Brady Christensen to give Sam Darnold more protection, and drafted Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard in the 4th round - a prospect that was considered a day two pick just a year ago.

Despite having a solid draft class, ESPN dropped the Panthers from No. 23 to No. 25 in their most recent power rankings with the Chicago Bears and Atlanta Falcons both jumping ahead of them.

I understand having the youngest team in the NFL will keep the Panthers toward the bottom of these lists but I'm not sold on the idea that they somehow got worse following the draft. They made some key additions at areas of need and established depth in the back end of the draft which is something they did not have a year ago. 

With all the talent this team has on both sides of the ball, I would slate them somewhere between 20-23 and not a spot lower.

https://www.si.com/nfl/panthers/gm-report/espn-releases-post-draft-power-rankings

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LinvilleGorge Grand Master

LinvilleGorge

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We gotta prove it. Honestly, more to the point, Sam Darnold has to prove it. We have a lot of young defensive talent that overachieved last year and should be even better this year. We have a ton of talent on offense and get the best RB in football back. This ranking is all about the very well founded doubt about Darnold being the answer at QB.

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CarolinaLivin Grand Master

CarolinaLivin

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Well nobody will put us and higher than say 20th. Mainly due to Sam Darnold. Everyone will agree that we have an upgraded defense that has a high chance of being top 10 this year. We have a top 10 receiving room and a top 3 (arguably #1) RB in the league. OL has been slightly upgraded and was 18th last season. 

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joemac Grand Master

joemac

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24 minutes ago, Khyber53 said:

It's all speculation at this time of the season, but honestly, considering last year's performance and our free agency efforts, were we expecting better?

Our free agency efforts?  What does that mean?  They did great in free agency.  They also knocked the draft out of the park.  How can anybody objectively look at the roster today and somehow say it is worse than the end of the season last year?

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CarolinaLivin Grand Master

CarolinaLivin

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1 minute ago, joemac said:

Our free agency efforts?  What does that mean?  They did great in free agency.  They also knocked the draft out of the park.  How can anybody objectively look at the roster today and somehow say it is worse than the end of the season last year?

A lot of people around the NFL aren't even sure if we truly upgraded at QB. I believe this is the main reason. Most of our pickups are overshadowed by the trade for Sam and the trade to rid ourselves of Teddy. Stats wise we traded an average QB that probably won't get any better for a QB that just hasn't seemed to make the transition to the NFL still making the same mistakes he made in college. 

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rayzor Grand Master

rayzor

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3 minutes ago, joemac said:

Our free agency efforts?  What does that mean?  They did great in free agency.  They also knocked the draft out of the park.  How can anybody objectively look at the roster today and somehow say it is worse than the end of the season last year?

From what I could gather, it has more to do with their faith in ATL and CHI being better than us and bumping them up ahead which dropped us. 

Screw 'em.

 

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joemac Grand Master

joemac

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2 minutes ago, rayzor said:

From what I could gather, it has more to do with their faith in ATL and CHI being better than us and bumping them up ahead which dropped us. 

Screw 'em.

 

Yeah, meanwhile Atlanta is on the verge of trading Julio Jones....so who even knows with them.

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CarolinaLivin Grand Master

CarolinaLivin

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2 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Honestly, ATL is crazy to trade Julio while trying to make one last run with Ryan. 

What happens when you don't have a legitimate plan with your cap space and contracts for the long term. Teams end up having to part ways with players and it's just business at that point. Luckily they already have their future WR1 on the roster in Ridley.  

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