Is running back on the table for the panthers this draft?

[frankw]

6 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

I am only gonna put up with one more Fitterer draft from him before I am done with it. He did well in free agency but our future can't be built on overpaying free agents, good choices or not.

[kungfoodude]

3 minutes ago, Johnstonny said:

Yea...another Brooks move and I yelling. I'll reserve that till I see how many holes he fills in the draft. We all know our needs at this point.

XL is trending bust.

Brooks is a bust.

Wallace is even money-ish.

Sanders is trending positive.

Smith-Wade is a surprise.

Crumedy/Barrett are irrelevant.

It's Fitterer to the nth degree.

I fear we will see it again this season.

[PappyMay]

If we grab one with our 2nd 4th or later i wont be mad. Before then would seem like a waste or resources. I still wonder if Sanders comes back or maybe he'll take 20% pay cut or something to stay.

[Johnstonny]

50 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

XL is trending bust.

Brooks is a bust.

Wallace is even money-ish.

Sanders is trending positive.

Smith-Wade is a surprise.

Crumedy/Barrett are irrelevant.

It's Fitterer to the nth degree.

I fear we will see it again this season.

Ughhh ... fear it too.

[MHS831]

4 hours ago, ColumbusCounty said:

I'd say its definitely going to be addressed this off-season. 

We went into the last draft with a roster of RBs including: 

Chubba, Blackshear, and Miles Sanders. We picked Jonathan Brooks in the second and still signed Rashaad Penny afterwards. 

Fast forward....One turned into a top 10 back, 1 is injured/out for most if not all the '25 season, 1 retired, 1 will either take a huge paycut or be cut, and the last is a restricted free agent. We brought in Mike Boone as well. Add him to the free agent list also. 

We need a physical option.   

Which qualifies: 

Ashton Jeanty(Boise St): Overall ranked Top 10. Almost 2k yards after contact, 28 tds. Would take our first rounder. My money would be on an NFC East team selecting him. (97.2 PFF run grade) - 121 forced missed tackles. 

Omarion Hampton(UNC): Ranked everywhere from 20 - 59 overall. Consensus #2 back after Jeanty. He'll be a second rounder. 1,222 Yards after contact w/ 15 tds.  (90.5 PFF run grade) - 72 forced missed Tackles

Kaleb Johnson(Iowa): Ranked from 38 - 69 depending on which media outlet you prefer but generally #3. 2nd/3rd possibly. 1,060 Yards after contact w/ 21 tds.(86.7 PFF run grade)- 66 forced missed tackles

Cam Skattebo: Ranked from the 50's - 104. Every mock I do he ends up BPA at some point. 969 Yards after contact w/ 17 tds(92 PFF Run Grade). Probably the best receiving back of the group. 81 forced missed tackles. 

If the '24 and '25 draft classes were combined, IMO the rankings would be, in order:

Jeanty, Hampton, Brooks, Johnson, Skattebo.

I wouldn't take one high but I'd take one for Chubba and Brooks insurance. 

If you have a list of 8-10 RBs, one will drop to day 3-

[Gapanthersfan]

I know it has to be difficult on Dan, especially with an owner like tepp, to convince him to take, ‘yes Mr Tepper, we’re picking another lineman.’ ‘No,no sir, yes I realize X has a big upside, but sir, we’re really thin along both lines. It’s how you win footba…’ 

And with the 8th pick in the 2025 NFL draft, the Carolina Panthers select blah blah blah, WR, out of tank your roster U. 

Every team will be thin somewhere. I would MUCH rather run thin at RB or WR than ANY position on the lines. Consistently good teams have depth on lines.

Teams like the panthers keep a ‘good enough’ approach, with the o line, especially. Put some decent line starters out there, call it done, then blow high draft picks with raw skill position guys with a supposed high ceiling… Picks that owners love. Draws crowds at training camp. Not many people flock to see the first round center in action. 

… then a tackle and guard go down for 3 weeks, and by week 6 you lose another starter for the season…. and it’s back to being a dumpster fire again, while fans clamor on about how this team can never build a good o line. 

Pay attention to teams that win championships. Their line is NEVER good enough. They Always reload. If too deep at a position, trade them for high draft capital to a sorry ass desperate organization who always feels like they are ‘just a couple pieces away’ … when in actuality, they’re only a couple key injuries from being a 4 win team. Sounds familiar. 

I’ve said it in a couple other threads, obvious homerism aside, when in doubt just pick a lineman from UGA or Bama, or any of the other big boy schools. What is the percentage of early pick Bama and UGA linemen that are complete flops? How many UGA and Bama players just played in the SB? 

This past season would have been COMPLETELY different had this team not completely whiffed on the first 2 rounds. they did. First and second round picks are supposed to have the current starters looking in the help wanted pages. They are expected to come in compete for starting roles from day one. Any other talk is placating what was a flat out bad pick. 

Building teams are not allowed to whiff on first and second rounders. Period. Get lineman from big boy schools and reap the rewards. 

With this draft, I want the 5th round edge player they get to realize he’s the THIRD DE this team just took with their first 5 picks, and that he may be a long shot to even make the team, unless he really shows out. 

Only way I want to see an RB is if they scoop up an undrafted mauler. I wouldn’t even care if he had hands like tennis rackets. I want a sledge hammer. An early round skill position for this team is parking a Range Rover in front of  double wide trailer. 

 

[Aussie Tank]

5 hours ago, kungfoodude said:

XL is trending bust.

Brooks is a bust.

Wallace is even money-ish.

Sanders is trending positive.

Smith-Wade is a surprise.

Crumedy/Barrett are irrelevant.

It's Fitterer to the nth degree.

I fear we will see it again this season.

The draft experts on either draft coverage could do better. The Eagles always just seem to draft BPA on the draft coverage and look when them bastards are 

[Verge]

This is the deepest running back draft class in recent memory. Doesn't make sense not to nab someone in rounds 3-7

[micnificent28]

19 hours ago, kungfoodude said:

We also have to start being intelligent eventually. If the draft is stacked at RB, take a RB. If the draft is stacked at OG, take an OG. If the draft is stacked at EDGE, take an EDGE. 

Our issue is that we don't do that. We do what we did with Brooks, we reach in a weak RB draft. We reach in a weak WR draft on XL. We. Reach.

You gotta stop doing that if there is any hope of ever getting good at drafting.

You think last year's wr class was weak? I think it was very good we just took the wrong guy. Laad mcconkey was there for the taking. We just said we rather have the project. When  Brian Thomas jr fell to 23 I was screaming omg trade up! That doesn't include Marvin Harrison jr,Malik Nabers, Rome odenze, worthy and a few other contributors.

[Tr3ach]

13 hours ago, Gapanthersfan said:

I know it has to be difficult on Dan, especially with an owner like tepp, to convince him to take, ‘yes Mr Tepper, we’re picking another lineman.’ ‘No,no sir, yes I realize X has a big upside, but sir, we’re really thin along both lines. It’s how you win footba…’ 

And with the 8th pick in the 2025 NFL draft, the Carolina Panthers select blah blah blah, WR, out of tank your roster U. 

Every team will be thin somewhere. I would MUCH rather run thin at RB or WR than ANY position on the lines. Consistently good teams have depth on lines.

Teams like the panthers keep a ‘good enough’ approach, with the o line, especially. Put some decent line starters out there, call it done, then blow high draft picks with raw skill position guys with a supposed high ceiling… Picks that owners love. Draws crowds at training camp. Not many people flock to see the first round center in action. 

… then a tackle and guard go down for 3 weeks, and by week 6 you lose another starter for the season…. and it’s back to being a dumpster fire again, while fans clamor on about how this team can never build a good o line. 

Pay attention to teams that win championships. Their line is NEVER good enough. They Always reload. If too deep at a position, trade them for high draft capital to a sorry ass desperate organization who always feels like they are ‘just a couple pieces away’ … when in actuality, they’re only a couple key injuries from being a 4 win team. Sounds familiar. 

I’ve said it in a couple other threads, obvious homerism aside, when in doubt just pick a lineman from UGA or Bama, or any of the other big boy schools. What is the percentage of early pick Bama and UGA linemen that are complete flops? How many UGA and Bama players just played in the SB? 

This past season would have been COMPLETELY different had this team not completely whiffed on the first 2 rounds. they did. First and second round picks are supposed to have the current starters looking in the help wanted pages. They are expected to come in compete for starting roles from day one. Any other talk is placating what was a flat out bad pick. 

Building teams are not allowed to whiff on first and second rounders. Period. Get lineman from big boy schools and reap the rewards. 

With this draft, I want the 5th round edge player they get to realize he’s the THIRD DE this team just took with their first 5 picks, and that he may be a long shot to even make the team, unless he really shows out. 

Only way I want to see an RB is if they scoop up an undrafted mauler. I wouldn’t even care if he had hands like tennis rackets. I want a sledge hammer. An early round skill position for this team is parking a Range Rover in front of  double wide trailer. 

 

You're still really thinking drafting bad players is on Tepper?  Dan and Fitterer have been exactly who they always were.  Both chasing types of players that fit their glory days that don't work in the modern NFL. 

[kungfoodude]

2 hours ago, micnificent28 said:

You think last year's wr class was weak? I think it was very good we just took the wrong guy. Laad mcconkey was there for the taking. We just said we rather have the project. When  Brian Thomas jr fell to 23 I was screaming omg trade up! That doesn't include Marvin Harrison jr,Malik Nabers, Rome odenze, worthy and a few other contributors.

Not strong on #1 guys outside the top 3-4 guys. Good slots, which we instead opted for a marginal 2nd rounder. Not really sold on Worthy as much more than a gimmick guy.

I agree on Thomas Jr. For fugs sake, THAT is a trade up. Not that idiotic poo we ended up doing.

[45catfan]

Yes, Brooks will be shelved all season or at least should be.  We need more than Chuba, FA bust Sanders  and some randos.  Spend FA money elsewhere and get a dude on a rookie deal to split time/back up Hubbard.

[Shotgun]

20 hours ago, kungfoodude said:

XL is trending bust.

Brooks is a bust.

Wallace is even money-ish.

Sanders is trending positive.

Smith-Wade is a surprise.

Crumedy/Barrett are irrelevant.

It's Fitterer to the nth degree.

I fear we will see it again this season.

That draft is a fireable offense to me. A receiver that can't catch and a RB that can't run with the first two picks? We keep digging the hole deeper every year.

[45catfan]

2 hours ago, Shotgun said:

That draft is a fireable offense to me. A receiver that can't catch and a RB that can't run with the first two picks? We keep digging the hole deeper every year.

It's like the GM says, "hey scouts, what would be the top 3 stupidest things to ruin our draft?" They say, don't do a,b,c."  GM says "Great! love the input, so we drat players a,b,c."  Scouts say, "Wait, I thought you said things we SHOULDN'T do?"  GM to scouts, "okay, have a nice day."

Edited February 17 by 45catfan