Long & Rangy- The Panthers Prototype?

[Bear Hands]

1 minute ago, MasterAwesome said:

Yeah that makes sense.  To your point about a league-wide baseline: I wonder how much disparity there truly is at the end of the day between the 32 teams when it comes to their ideal prototype at positions like LB & DB.  Because I always find myself nodding along when our FO is speaking about what traits they look for in a player (length & athleticism in this case for LBs, edge rushers, DBs) - it resonates with us because it makes a lot of sense, right?  Well, making a lot of sense is what also makes me think every other team in the league is basically going to be prioritizing the exact same attributes lol.  Just like long arms is a league wide baseline for OTs, I imagine long arms and athleticism are very much sought-after for DBs and pass rushers as well.  You can say maybe some FOs will value intelligence over athleticism, but I remember an earlier presser this offseason where we were all excited about our FO saying they were looking for "smart" players.  So if you extract everything our coaching staff has said that they value, then it appears we're essentially looking for uber athletic, very smart, skilled players  sounds good, sign me up!

Appreciate all the work you put in on this content.  Helps me learn about new prospects, as someone who doesn't watch college football. 

Great post.  Yeah that's kind of a "doi" type moment for me in realizing: "doesn't everyone want this?" Ideally, of course. I guess the weight at which they let it dictate who they want is what varies squad to squad.  And also what positions teams think it matters more at.

For example, GB has very strict guidelines to who they'll bring in as a receiver.  6'0+, 8.0+ RAS, 200+ lbs

In this day and age, I think you REALLY want it OLB and DB with how RPO has been integrated into so many offenses.  You want the speedy closers that can stick with the TEs and stretch plays. 

As someone else mentioned, Brandon Smith has a lot to like in this department.  Very excited to see if he can bring something to the table.  He's almost 6'4, 250, 34 5/8" arms, 10 1/4" hands, 4.52, 37.5 vert.  That's a heads above any LB in this class. 

[Riverboat Ron]

#39 is almost guaranteed to be a pass rusher, CB or WR.

[Tr3ach]

Im totally good if this is the case but Rhule gets a lot of blame about bad draft picks and stuff so we have to decide how much the RAS push was Fitterer and how much was Rhule.  I definitely prefer drafting athletes.   I believe almost all star to superstar level players in the nfl scored a 9 or higher.

[shaq]

4 hours ago, WUnderhill said:

I recently watched ThatFranchiseGuy’s t10 LB breakdown video on YouTube and I’d highly recommend it. I thought I liked Daiyan Henley for us before, but I’m not so sure after watching that video. I still like Drew Sanders and Trenton Simpson for us as potential 3-4 OLBs, but not sure if either will be available for our 2nd rd pick. I like Dorian Williams possibly at our 3rd rd pick, and Ivan Pace maybe in the 5th. I don’t think we have 6th and 7th rd picks right?

Why do you not like him now? That franchise guy talked very highly on Henley.

[GRWatcher]

3 hours ago, MasterAwesome said:

Is this really any different than our approach the last few years under Rhule?  He constantly went after extremely athletic high RAS players, and we know how he felt about short arms...

and small hands. 

[Mr. Scot]

I remember Scott Fitterer openly saying in a season ending press conference after Rhule's second year that short arms on a tackle weren't that big a deal.

At the time, it felt like a signal that all was not well in Pantherland; that there might be some... disharmony.

Turns out there was.