Dan Patrick

[rayzor]

Or, he could declare, we could draft him, and he could still have a bad showing next year and get upstaged, only as a Panther. Hope not though, I hope he is as good as advertised.

I recall years ago, when two hot-ticket QB's came out at the same time, one from the SEC and the other from the PAC-10. The SEC guy was legit, but the PAC-10 guy was a huge bust. Will it be different this time around?

yes. both of these guys should succeed.

with leaf...people were crazy about him despite his lack of intangibles. all people saw was a guy that could win games despite his lack of maturity. many saw him as having enough raw talent that a team could be built around his strengths. they saw his size and thought he would be most able to handle the beating that a lot of QBs take. people said because of his raw talent that he would have a longer and better career than peyton. most people close to leaf, coach and family, said that he needed to stay in college.

meanwhile....peyton was considered to be coached well, but quite a few thought that he may have maxed out his potential. they saw him struggle in his bowl game against nebraska and doubted he would be capable of winning big games. it also didn't look good that he couldn't beat the gators. he was seen as more mature and polished and had a solid work ethic, but that didn't keep people from being more impressed by leaf's physical attributes and his cannon for an arm.

who does luck sound more like? leaf or manning? the main things that people talk about with luck is his maturity, work ethic, leadership skills, decision making, and overall intangibles. just like manning, he can make all the necessary throws and has an accurate arm, but what really matters, and what really messed up leaf and jamarcus russel for that matter, is maturity.

also, consider what leaf's coach and family said about leaf coming out...that he should wait. have you heard that with luck? no one is telling him that he would be better off staying. those closest to him say that if he wants to go, he's ready for it.

[Proudiddy]

I still think he sounded like he was leaning towards coming out, he's obviously at least thought it over and didn't shoot it down, so I think he's coming out. I was hoping he'd pull a Stanford alum-Gerhart flub and say he was going to start training for the combine and then say he didn't say that, lol.

But, with what you guys have said, I've gotta balance this slight optimism with the fact we are the Panthers, and what were the odds that we would earn the #1 pick the year there was no CBA in place when the draft happened?

Sucks ass.

[rayzor]

If he leaves for the NFL he will abandon or delay his Stanford degree for the sake of coming out early. That sounds like a fair trade-off if he were to get $60 mllion guaranteed, but the more likely scenario is that 1) there is a rookie salary cap in place and he gets a third of that, or 2) there is no rookie salary cap which means there is no season because a CBA was not reached.

he's still going to be making a ton of money, regardless of rookie cap. still going to be a huge trade off. a third of a $60mil contract is a whole lot more than he would get as just a stanford grad right away (or maybe ever). if he wants to finish, he'll have plenty of time to do it. his career will be what, 15- 20 years max? he'd be getting done before he's 40 and he'd still be able to get back in school and finish without much problem if he hadn't already in offseasons.

if there is no CBA reached, i still don't see the incentive to stay. he'd get drafted and he'd still be on a team. his spot and place on a team would be secure. he wouldn't be playing a more or less meaningless (in the gand scheme of things) season without getting paid that could seriously hurt his chances of getting drafted so early.

[rayzor]

I still think he sounded like he was leaning towards coming out, he's obviously at least thought it over and didn't shoot it down, so I think he's coming out. I was hoping he'd pull a Stanford alum-Gerhart flub and say he was going to start training for the combine and then say he didn't say that, lol.

But, with what you guys have said, I've gotta balance this slight optimism with the fact we are the Panthers, and what were the odds that we would earn the #1 pick the year there was no CBA in place when the draft happened?

Sucks ass.

why would this matter? the draft would happen regardless and he'd still have job security. the pick would be high and therefore the money, whenever that happened, would still be high.

[Proudiddy]

why would this matter? the draft would happen regardless and he'd still have job security. the pick would be high and therefore the money, whenever that happened, would still be high.

Because as mentioned above by some of the other guys, there IS a rookie cap in place now... So although the money is still high, it isn't as high as Bradford, and if his stock stayed the same after staying another year, he'd still make the same amount as this year if I'm not mistaken.

Additionally, it matters because if a new CBA isn't completed soon, he may decide to stay in school because he may end up leaving school and then sitting out the year with no work because of a lockout. At least that's what I am getting out of the possible negatives to coming out this year.

[rayzor]

Because as mentioned above by some of the other guys, there IS a rookie cap in place now... So although the money is still high, it isn't as high as Bradford, and if his stock stayed the same after staying another year, he'd still make the same amount as this year if I'm not mistaken.

Additionally, it matters because if a new CBA isn't completed soon, he may decide to stay in school because he may end up leaving school and then sitting out the year with no work because of a lockout. At least that's what I am getting out of the possible negatives to coming out this year.

there isn't a rookie cap in place...at least not yet. more than likely there will be one when a new CBA is reached. more or less it's a foregone conclusion. when it takes place is another matter entirely. very well could be in place for the 2011 draft and season, but it is also possible that it won't go into effect until the 2012 season. in either case, it wouldn't benefit the players by staying.

while i agree that he might not be working (playing) for a season, he'd still have his employment all lined up. as soon as the CBA got taken care of, he'd be getting paid. more than likely he wouldn't have to wait a whole season, if much at all. even if he did wait a whole season, what could happen if he decided to stay in college and play? could his stock rise any higher than it is right now? it's hard to believe it could with as many people are drooling over him currently. you can't go any earlier than first overall. you can only go down from there and that is entirely possible. injuries can happen.

if there was a lockout and he didn't feel like sitting around and doing nothing for a whole year he could go back to stanford and finish his degree. he wouldn't have to play. why would he? i would suppose he would work out with the team some to stay in shape, but beyond that he wouldn't have to do much.

[pantherfan81]

Audio link is up in the first post.

[Cavscout]

I don't think that he has decided one way or the other, but he has to have given it serious consideration