Sporting News Mock

[CatMan72]

Panthers draft philosophy is BPA.

Need figures in, but it's not the primary factor.

I think both Rivera and Hurney have been quoted as saying we would draft the first overall pick based on need.

The BPA philosophy may have changed somewhat by knowing exactly who will be available when you have the # 1 overall pick.

[nagai]

I think both Rivera and Hurney have been quoted as saying we would draft the first overall pick based on need.

The BPA philosophy may have changed somewhat by knowing exactly who will be available when you have the # 1 overall pick.

I've been thinking about how the draft philosophy may or may not change with our current situation. First of all, I'm not sure if not knowing who's still there at any given spot should really change your actual decisions. You should have done your homework on all the prospects anyways and you don't really make any decisions until the pick is staring you in the face. You know excatly who's left at the 25th overall pick as much as you know who's left at the 1st overall pick; that is, your decision making process should be pretty much the same when your time on the clock comes anyway. You may not know who's gonna be left in the 25th overall pick straight away, but that uncertainty doesn't really come into play when it's actually time to make that pick.

Back to my original thought, I wonder how much of the drafting for need at the top of the draft applies to this year. Let me start by asking the question - why would a BPA team draft for need just because you're draftin 1st overall? This is my hypothesis - when you're drafting at the top of the draft, you usually have a homerun prospect that you're comfortable with. ie. You get a guy who a) fits your biggest need, b) is really talented and c) you don't think will be a bust. However, this isn't your typical year. With the way the labor discussions are, a lot of prospects either declared for the draft last year or are waiting an extra year just to get out of out of this CBA mess (eg. Luck). As a result, you get a weaker draft class. This means that you no longer have that homerun prospect you would have at no.1, unlike other years. I think drafting 1st overall this year may be more like drafting 5th overall when compared to other years.

Why does this matter? It matters because Hurney's proposed method of drafting for specific positions may not be justified. The very reasons to employ such a method may not be there this year. Hurney's comments were made at a really early point of the talent evaluation process. I've got to wonder if he's changed his mind. I really think that there's reason to. We could see another year of BPA.

[Catalyst]

DTs do as much to win - or lose - games as any other player.

I don't really care whether a draft pick "excites the fans" or not. Winning is what excites fans. Get the best player available and you stand the best chance of doing that.

I don't care about exciting fans either. I just want to win - long-term - and believe Newton gives us the best chance to do that.

Having said that, Dareus is the guy I want if we don't go offense. I'd rather have A.J. Green if we pass on Newton, but it seems to be coming down to QB or DT and I don't want us going anywhere near Nick Fairley.

[section543]

I keep thinking about JR's press conference where he made some statement about realizing that Panther's had become boring and that the new coach would understand that the games need to be more exciting, as well as win games (or something like that).

That would lead me to think DT may not be the prefered pick, since they rarely excite the crowd. IF that is a big part of their thinking, I see Cam or PP as higher on the list.

[Catalyst]

Yeah, Hurney may still be the GM, but there seems to be a change taking place from the top (J.R.). Not only have they been more open about the whole process, but J.R. has made it clear that we're looking to distance ourselves from the ultra-conservative Foxball approach.

I agree with Darin Gantt's comments on that Bengals.com mock where he basically said they were so set on drafting Luck that they're not going to wait and will pull the trigger on a QB now as opposed to putting it off yet again. I think there's something to that.

If we were picking later in the round (or even top-10 or 15) I think we may be more inclined to go with a "safer" pick like a DT, but J.R. realizes this is the 1st overall pick and that we need (as Hurney has said) not just an impact player, but at an impact position.

I really think J.R. is going to be the one who ultimately signs off on this pick as opposed to the way he's done things in past years pretty much letting Hurney call all the shots. At least with this 1st pick, I think he's going to push for a QB because he realizes the team is stuck in neutral until we fix that position.

[Bj-Monster23]

On Espn this morning it was crazy how Mel kiper rip the panthers franchise. Overall Comment a Really, Really bad team. Needs alot of pieces but it might be best to trade down 4 them.

Wow..!

I understand that we are a not good team but its like people are starting to think we are the Lions or the oakland Raiders or something. Im starting to feel tradeing down want be that bad. Vut we need to stay in the top 5 at least.

[Mother Grabber]

I'd prefer Dareus, but would be ok with PP. If we take Newton or Fairley, I'll be nervous but hopeful. Anyone else, and I'll be wondering what they're smoking.

[Mother Grabber]

DTs do as much to win - or lose - games as any other player.

I don't really care whether a draft pick "excites the fans" or not. Winning is what excites fans. Get the best player available and you stand the best chance of doing that.

The reason the Steelers beat the Cardinals in the Superbowl was because of a DL running 99yds with no time on the clock.

[jarhead]

On Espn this morning it was crazy how Mel kiper rip the panthers franchise. Overall Comment a Really, Really bad team. Needs alot of pieces but it might be best to trade down 4 them.

Wow..!

I understand that we are a not good team but its like people are starting to think we are the Lions or the oakland Raiders or something. Im starting to feel tradeing down want be that bad. Vut we need to stay in the top 5 at least.

If resign our fAs we are not as bad as people think.We had a one dimentional offense last year which made it easy for defenses to tee off on our qb.

[Mr. Scot]

I think both Rivera and Hurney have been quoted as saying we would draft the first overall pick based on need.

The BPA philosophy may have changed somewhat by knowing exactly who will be available when you have the # 1 overall pick.

Not quite. They've talked about what they believe the team's biggest needs are, but haven't specifically said we'd draft purely on need.

In truth, need does play a part in the pick in the sense that they take the best available player that we need. If the overall best available player were a runningback or a linebacker, unlikely we'd pick him.