Panthers staying in Newton's 'hip pocket'

[iamcline]

This is getting to the point where I hope we don't draft Newton just so I can sit back and watch this place squirm. Getting out of hand. A new Cam Newton thread every 5 minutes it seems, and for what?

[rippadonn]

I think the people not taking the Panthers apparent interest in Newton seriously are totally missing the point all together. If the Bills would take him at three he may be actually better than you think he is. Seems like quite a few NFL teams are drooling over the guy.

Oh yeah, smokescreen... Like I've heard someone say recently, "you pass on Cam and the Bills pick him up and he's dominant in a year or three, you're the idiots who passed on a star."

You can take their movements lightly if you want to but everybody knows we are weak in the QB department so Newton is a strong possibility this year so get used to it. You can play scared but the Panthers can't afford to. We're likely taking the best long term solution at QB we can find this year.

[jtnc]

This is getting to the point where I hope we don't draft Newton just so I can sit back and watch this place squirm. Getting out of hand. A new Cam Newton thread every 5 minutes it seems, and for what?

Yes, I'll be happy when this whole damn draft is over with.

[antame]

Its not every year you get the #1 pick...

It might be, if we don't find a QB.

[Dpantherman]

wow, after reading the rest of the thread, 0/10. massive fail

[iamcline]

@rippadon I am just bored with the influx of "ZOMFG WE GONNA TAKE NEWTON".

People should just sit back, enjoy this process and quit trying to figure out what Hurney is going to do before we even get to April. I mean bottom line is this, he could trade out of the 1st round completely, pick up a next year's 1st rounder and a 2nd this year...you just never know. The guessing game is rather annoying, and I enjoy coming to the Huddle for good discussions but the Panthers Forum has become the Newton Thread.

The way I see it is this....he had a sub-par Combine, had a solid Pro Day where he brought up the wind. This draft class sucks at QB, no way around it.

I dunno, I don't want to take a break from this place because I enjoy it but I am getting close to it.

[rippadonn]

@rippadon I am just bored with the influx of "ZOMFG WE GONNA TAKE NEWTON".

People should just sit back, enjoy this process and quit trying to figure out what Hurney is going to do before we even get to April. I mean bottom line is this, he could trade out of the 1st round completely, pick up a next year's 1st rounder and a 2nd this year...you just never know. The guessing game is rather annoying, and I enjoy coming to the Huddle for good discussions but the Panthers Forum has become the Newton Thread.

The way I see it is this....he had a sub-par Combine, had a solid Pro Day where he brought up the wind. This draft class sucks at QB, no way around it.

I dunno, I don't want to take a break from this place because I enjoy it but I am getting close to it.

Don't jump ship yet. The huddle can be like this in the off season and it can be like beating your head against the wall. We get on one topic and drive it into the ground. Believe me, these guys can be quite entertaining when there is actually something to talk about.

With so many different opinions, everyone is going to have theirs and is going to defend that ground. I'm part of the QB contingent. I don't want us to pass on a 1st round QB, Gabbert or Newton and I'm not ashamed about that.

It's just the yin and yang of this place churning. You may find it hard to stomach some of the bickering but from what I've learned being here 4yrs now, it's worth it, I think!?

[vorbis]

the relevant nugget here is that hurney is methodical and will explore all his options at #1. i think that even if the panthers had an established starter at QB he would look into the bonafides of the top QB prospects if he had the #1 pick.

i think this is something that hurney has gotten significantly better at in recent years as far as drafting, and it may very well be a function of a more solid college scouting department as much as anything else. the panthers have seemed to have a very good sense of the hierarchy of all the positions and their relative value in the draft, so that when the panthers' pick comes up, they can weigh their options relatively quickly and make prudent picks that pay off as depth down the road. keeping close tabs on newton and (maybe with much less publicity) gabbert will probably be the least surprising thing the panthers do this offseason.

[panthers55]

I would think the anti Cam folks would be the ones gettng nervous as we get closer to the draft and Newton is still the front runner. No terrible revelations, no smoking guns and every indication Newton is working and improving by the day.

Funny how if he is so bad that all most all of the top 10 teams in the draft have all scheduled personal workouts with him. I can't remember when so many teams all wanted to work out one player. He sure does create excitement.

Funny thing is that many of the Cam supporters like myself would be fine if we went in a different direction whereas the negative nellies would have a come apart if we actually draft him number 1.

[iamcline]

Don't jump ship yet. The huddle can be like this in the off season and it can be like beating your head against the wall. We get on one topic and drive it into the ground. Believe me, these guys can be quite entertaining when there is actually something to talk about.

With so many different opinions, everyone is going to have theirs and is going to defend that ground. I'm part of the QB contingent. I don't want us to pass on a 1st round QB, Gabbert or Newton and I'm not ashamed about that.

It's just the yin and yang of this place churning. You may find it hard to stomach some of the bickering but from what I've learned being here 4yrs now, it's worth it, I think!?

Oh I'm not a quitter so I'll stay as long as I can take it lol. The good here still outweighs that bad. Just bored with Newton. There are hundreds of other players that can be talked about, for instance our new TE....heck even our new Coach, etc, etc...variety is all I seek lol.

[vorbis]

personally i found the draft discussion last season to be a lot more interesting because the panthers weren't picking until #48 or something like that. so people were mining draft blogs and rankings to find underrated talent or forgotten prospects. nowadays it's all about #1 and aside from a bit of talk about 2nd/3rd tier QB's and DT's nobody's discussing lower tiered talent. makes sense for there to be a lot of focus on #1 but i'd still like to hear peoples' thoughts on lesser prospects that they are interested in or have opinions of.

[Marguide]

the relevant nugget here is that hurney is methodical and will explore all his options at #1. i think that even if the panthers had an established starter at QB he would look into the bonafides of the top QB prospects if he had the #1 pick.

i think this is something that hurney has gotten significantly better at in recent years as far as drafting, and it may very well be a function of a more solid college scouting department as much as anything else.

Agree. You have to give credit to Don Gregory. He has done a really nice job IMO.

[Stumpy]

Funny thing is that many of the Cam supporters like myself would be fine if we went in a different direction whereas the negative nellies would have a come apart if we actually draft him number 1.

I think it would go both ways. Many of Cam's supporters would be irrate if we didn't draft him. And there are certainly just as many detractors that would be just as pissed if we did.

For the most part though, I think most fans will be excited no matter who we pick. It just seems, like most debates, the ones with the most entrenched positions will always be the loudest.

I, personally, am not on board the Newton express. But, if we draft him, I will be just as excited as I was when we took Otah over Phillip Merling, or Beason over Greg Olsen. And yes, I am glad I was wrong on both of those. :p

[panthers55]

I think it would go both ways. Many of Cam's supporters would be irrate if we didn't draft him. And there are certainly just as many detractors that would be just as pissed if we did.

For the most part though, I think most fans will be excited no matter who we pick. It just seems, like most debates, the ones with the most entrenched positions will always be the loudest.

I, personally, am not on board the Newton express. But, if we draft him, I will be just as excited as I was when we took Otah over Phillip Merling, or Beason over Greg Olsen. And yes, I am glad I was wrong on both of those. :p

I think you are not one of the extreme folks who take numerous opportunities every dash to bash Newton at every turn andactively find material which casts him in a negative light to demonstrate how bad he is.

As for Cam supporters being mad if we don't take him, yes there will be some for sure. Most posts, I am reading aren't necessarily Cam fans as they are quarterback fans who want us to find our franchise guy now that we have the first pick. Many of us watched as we passed over quarterback after quarterback under the Fox mantra that drafting a Qb was a waste of a pick. Now that Fox is gone and we have the top pick we want to pull the trigger on Newton or Gabbert given we won't find our guy any other way. Did we want Luck, absolutely. Were we upset when he decided to stay in school? Yep. But we moved on to the next best guy.

Would we be upset if they go a different direction? Since they never pick who I want I can't say I would be surprised. What would upset me is passing in the draft and then not finding an upgrade Qb in free agency and getting stuck with the same mess we had last year. Since I don't see any decent one that we can reasonably get in FA, I am hoping we pull the trigger in the draft. For that matter I would take one in the draft and free agency.