Impact Rookies in Playoffs (Beyond Round 1)

[Bear Hands]

The short version: We need to draft better

The long: "You can't expect day 2 or 3 guys to make an impact".  Well, beyond the 1st rounders (Daniels, Quinyon, Barton, etc.), these are dudes with significant playing time or starters in the playoffs for solid squads.  I'm probably not even hitting them all.  

This tells me you absolutely can and should target impact guys in R2-3 at a variety of spots.  We absolutely need to break this round 2-3 torment we put ourselves in.  

Just check this out..post-R1 rookies WITH SIGNIFICANT PLAYING TIME this weekend:

Keon Coleman WR - BUF R2

Ladd McConkey WR - LAC R2

Johnny Newton DL - WAS R2

Mike Sainristil DB - WAS R2

Cooper DeJean DB - PHI - R2

Braden Fiske DL - LAR - R2

Kamari Lassiter DB - HOU - R2

Zach Frazier C - PIT - R2

Blake Fisher OT - HOU - R2

Edgerin Cooper LB - GB R2

Javon Bullard DB - GB - R2

Jalen McMillan WR - TB R3

Jalyx Hunt DE - PHI R3

Kamren Kitchens DB - LAR R3

Calen Bullock DB - HOU R3

Troy Franklin WR - DEN R4

Beaux Limmer C - LAR R6

 

 

[ImfromClayton]

Last year was also a very deep draft IMO. Not a good year to not have many picks. I think this draft is a little more average as far as depth goes. It's not bad, it's just not as good as last years. 

When there are more first round QB's, more talent falls to round 2 and 3, especially when teams start reaching for needs. 

[45catfan]

I liked: McConkey, DeJean, Fiske, Frazier, McMillan and Franklin.   All three of the WRs had better tape than XL, yet we traded up and took the guy that needed the most development.  GM, scouts and coaches can't help themselves when trying to 'mold' underdeveloped players. Take the freaking layup and draft the more polished player!

[Johnstonny]

22 minutes ago, 45catfan said:

I liked: McConkey, DeJean, Fiske, Frazier, McMillan and Franklin.   All three of the WRs had better tape than XL, yet we traded up and took the guy that needed the most development.  GM, scouts and coaches can't help themselves when trying to 'mold' underdeveloped players. Take the freaking layup and draft the more polished player!

Yea..I hate that philosophy. Our talent evaluation seems piss poor at best.

[PantherBoy95]

21 minutes ago, 45catfan said:

I liked: McConkey, DeJean, Fiske, Frazier, McMillan and Franklin.   All three of the WRs had better tape than XL, yet we traded up and took the guy that needed the most development.  GM, scouts and coaches can't help themselves when trying to 'mold' underdeveloped players. Take the freaking layup and draft the more polished player!

lol yeah that's one thing I didn't love about our draft at all. We picked Brooks who was coming off of a Torn ACL and was a gamble to even picka RB that high.  And Legette who was a known body catcher with limited sample size from college. Both of our picks were a little too based on potential for us to be so bad.

We need a few guys that are ready to step in asap. I guess every rookie is based on potential, but some guys are projects.  We can't afford any projects.

[mrcompletely11]

27 minutes ago, 45catfan said:

I liked: McConkey, DeJean, Fiske, Frazier, McMillan and Franklin.   All three of the WRs had better tape than XL, yet we traded up and took the guy that needed the most development.  GM, scouts and coaches can't help themselves when trying to 'mold' underdeveloped players. Take the freaking layup and draft the more polished player!

when the huddle has been smarter then our front office for at least the past 3 years, then yeah you know we have a problem

[mrcompletely11]

4 minutes ago, PantherBoy95 said:

lol yeah that's one thing I didn't love about our draft at all. We picked Brooks who was coming off of a Torn ACL and was a gamble to even picka RB that high.  And Legette who was a known body catcher with limited sample size from college. Both of our picks were a little too based on potential for us to be so bad.

We need a few guys that are ready to step in asap. I guess every rookie is based on potential, but some guys are projects.  We can't afford any projects.

and we traded 2 5ths as well in a deep draft, fuging insanity

[Tr3ach]

39 minutes ago, 45catfan said:

I liked: McConkey, DeJean, Fiske, Frazier, McMillan and Franklin.   All three of the WRs had better tape than XL, yet we traded up and took the guy that needed the most development.  GM, scouts and coaches can't help themselves when trying to 'mold' underdeveloped players. Take the freaking layup and draft the more polished player!

I was going to forgive taking XL over Ladd if we took Franklin when he fell to the 4th but nope.

[45catfan]

53 minutes ago, mrcompletely11 said:

when the huddle has been smarter then our front office for at least the past 3 years, then yeah you know we have a problem

Hurney was at least smart enough to take the no-brainers in round 1.  After that is when he did his best turd polisher-in-chief gimmick. The BPA philosophy really shouldn't change until day 3.  There are few, if any,  slam dunks on day 3, so if you think there's real gem out there that needs the extra polishing, THAT'S when you roll the dice on those type of guys.  In the first 3 rounds, take the most NFL ready guy on the board that can help your team.  That's unless you are so stacked at that position that is doesn't make sense.  Very few team are in that scenario, however.

[WhoKnows]

59 minutes ago, mrcompletely11 said:

when the huddle has been smarter then our front office for at least the past 3 years, then yeah you know we have a problem

I saw a Panthers article about what we could have done in the draft like McConkey and then Sainristil, but what hurt was seeing Beaux slimmer instead of Wade in the 6th. I didn’t realize Limmer went that late because I remember Huddle folks mentioning him as later (not 2nd like Frazier) center and we still avoided him that late like Trey Smith a few years ago for a long snapper.

It’s truly sad to look at our last few drafts and how good they could have been if the Huddle did our draft.

[PNW_PantherMan]

2 hours ago, 45catfan said:

I liked: McConkey, DeJean, Fiske, Frazier, McMillan and Franklin.   All three of the WRs had better tape than XL, yet we traded up and took the guy that needed the most development.  GM, scouts and coaches can't help themselves when trying to 'mold' underdeveloped players. Take the freaking layup and draft the more polished player!

The other problem with the approach of taking underdeveloped players is that their rate of working out is lower than players that can contribute today.  When you have to fill a roster with 53 players, you can't play scratch off odds to fill those positions.  We would need 100 draft picks a year at the rate we pick good players.

Edited January 13, 2025 by PNW_PantherMan

[Gapanthersfan]

This team has been allergic to the obvious pick since Hurney left. 

[45catfan]

10 minutes ago, Gapanthersfan said:

This team has been allergic to the obvious pick since Hurney left. 

Only in round one.  Hurney nailed about every one of those.  His hit rate after day one  was ugly.

[Shotgun]

3 hours ago, 45catfan said:

I liked: McConkey, DeJean, Fiske, Frazier, McMillan and Franklin.   All three of the WRs had better tape than XL, yet we traded up and took the guy that needed the most development.  GM, scouts and coaches can't help themselves when trying to 'mold' underdeveloped players. Take the freaking layup and draft the more polished player!

We never take the layup. We like half court behind the back trick shots. They're probably looking at some small school QB they want to convert to WR as we speak.