Round 1: The Carolina Panthers select OT Monroe Freeling (Georgia)

[electro's horse]

6 minutes ago, TheSpecialJuan said:

Monroe Freeling to the #Panthers

Awesome to see GMs that have foresight. Ekwonu suffered a major knee injury, Taylor Moton will have the third highest cap number among RTs in 2027, and Rasheed Walker on a one-year deal. Good OTs are hard to find. Freeling has a ton of potential.
 

https://x.com/jordan_reid/status/2047669880778875272?s=46&t=xeIgh_-Vr2aKxBkBJdfnKA

Moton’s contract isn’t real

he’s renegotiated that thing more times than Shaq Thompson did. It’s fine. He’s retiring a panther and will always fix his contact unless we ship him off or cut him. 

Edited April 24 by electro's horse

[flagfootballcoach28]

2 hours ago, Rubi said:

He gave up the lowest pressure % in college football. What else are you looking for exactly? 

Give me a break. UGA has one of the most "gimmicky" offenses i've ever seen since their QB is very limited as a passer. The ball was out immediately on almost every pass. When UGA did the traditional 3 step drop, routes that take longer to develop etc, his pass blocking leaves a lot to be desired if you watch his film closely, which 99% of the posters loving the pick haven't done. That's fine if you haven't watch him play, but the people who have watched him play have the right to their opinion. Its a message board. He didn't go up against any great pass rushers. Average run blocker. There's a lot of unknowns with this kid that makes it a risky selection. He's truly a boom or bust prospect. Everyone on here assumes he's going to reach his ceiling when in reality that rarely happens with "potential" prospects. 

[electro's horse]

1 minute ago, flagfootballcoach28 said:

Give me a break. UGA has one of the most "gimmicky" offenses i've ever seen 

There’s nothing gimmicky about Bobo’s offense.

limited? Very 

idiotic? Yes 

child like? Oh yes 

but at the end of the day it’s just a dumbed down version of Kirby’s preferred murder ball and that’s fine if they have an actual qb for when they get to the playoffs and need to complete a forward pass.

I think you’re a little harsh on freeling but mostly correct. 

[PanthersNCSU]

1 hour ago, The Huddler said:

why do you say that? ive seen several references to this.  is there legit concern he killed someone? 

His interviews. Combine interview that went viral, scout rumors saying he's immature and individual team interviews were a disaster. Granted, maybe he's playing 4D Chess and trying to coax certain teams not to draft him, but weird none the less. 

[TheSpecialJuan]

Dane Bugler in his The Beast draft guide compared Freeling to Raiders all-pro Kolten Miller and was his #17th rated overall player 

[Cavscout]

It's just so much fun watching all the people who are so anti "trenches-picks" get so butt hurt because we didn't draft a WR.

[MechaZain]

1 hour ago, electro's horse said:

Morgan also gave a very questionable, risky contract to a pass rush specialist which is what you do when you think you’re a player away. Improve the team sure but that and a developmental offensive tackle doesn’t make sense to me.

now if we’re hoping we’re building the team and line for the next qb after Bryce puts out another top 26 performance this year then yeah I’ll be less mad but Morgan hasn’t struck me as some Machiavellian operator yet. 

Phillips was a desperation plug for a dire need. The fact that we paid so much for a guy with his risks tells you all you need to know about how bad our pass rush and the market for that position is.

[electro's horse]

44 minutes ago, flagfootballcoach28 said:

No, it’s NIL. Talent is more spread out. UGA still has an elite staff 

NIL doesn’t hurt teams like Georgia or Ohio state because they’re legacy programs that have infinite money anyway with top tier staffs and it just let them pay players out in the open.

it hurts teams like Clemson who no one really gives a poo about and has a moron head coach.

And I guess every west coast team that isn’t Oregon. 

[flagfootballcoach28]

19 minutes ago, electro's horse said:

There’s nothing gimmicky about Bobo’s offense.

limited? Very 

idiotic? Yes 

child like? Oh yes 

but at the end of the day it’s just a dumbed down version of Kirby’s preferred murder ball and that’s fine if they have an actual qb for when they get to the playoffs and need to complete a forward pass.

I think you’re a little harsh on freeling but mostly correct. 

Ehh whatever.  I'll happily be the contrarian on this pick. Its too positive in here. 

[flagfootballcoach28]

5 minutes ago, electro's horse said:

NIL doesn’t hurt teams like Georgia or Ohio state because they’re legacy programs that have infinite money anyway with top tier staffs and it just let them pay players out in the open.

it hurts teams like Clemson who no one really gives a poo about and has a moron head coach.

And I guess every west coast team that isn’t Oregon. 

It definitely hurts UGA, mainly the depth in the trenches. Why be a backup at UGA for a year or two when you can get paid starter money at another power 5 school? Money talks and a lot of schools have $ to spend, not just Bama, UGA, OSU etc. 

[carpanfan96]

1 hour ago, Jon Snow said:

I have a question for the class. How many days 1 starters do you think were in this draft class? Because the conscience out there seems to be less than 10. 

6-7 and another 3-5 that have first round talent. Very weak at the top 

[electro's horse]

10 minutes ago, flagfootballcoach28 said:

It definitely hurts UGA, mainly the depth in the trenches. Why be a backup at UGA for a year or two when you can get paid starter money at another power 5 school? Money talks and a lot of schools have $ to spend, not just Bama, UGA, OSU etc. 

offensive line specifically doesn’t matter that much because you need to get bigger to play at the main schools and people aren’t dropping huge amounts of money on an 18 year old who’s going to start and if you’re a high end prospect you’re not going to UNC for 500k instead of Alabama.

and there’s only so many spots with nfl caliber staffs to train up o line talent. And then there’s stuff like the big 12 playing a style of football that doesn’t translate at all to the nfl and high end prospects avoiding it like the plague, money be damned.

I cant think of an instance UGA has lost an offensive lineman to a school because they could pay him more or he wanted to start early, but I don’t really follow recruiting that closely anymore. I mean Georgias problem last year was the qb, not offensive or defensive line depth. And Georgia qb problems is just a weird quirk with Kirby.

the main player UGA has lost to NIL money is Carson Beck and good riddance 

Edited April 24 by electro's horse

[TheSpecialJuan]

Promising setup for Freeling.

Good LG next to him in Damien Lewis, and Carolina doesn’t have to force the issue immediately. Freeling gets runway if he needs it, with a chance to take the job quickly if he proves he’s better than Walker in camp.
 

https://x.com/brandonthornnfl/status/2047708354928144463?s=46&t=xeIgh_-Vr2aKxBkBJdfnKA

[electro's horse]

From my best friend who is a die hard UGA fan who follows the team religiously.

He’s a 6’7” baby. He’s an old faithful. Always ready to play even with little nagging injuries and performs well through them too. I like it but also happy the lions got Miller