What do you guys think about the Panthers drafting a Tight End this year?

[Hoenheim]

Hopefully, Carolina will continue to use the draft strategy of taking the best player available regardless of the position.

Assuming they do continue that practice, it is always possible that we'd draft a TE, but I doubt it. Here is our complete draft history for TE's:

1997: Round 7 : Kris Mangum (1424 yds/10 seasons) ~ 142yps

2001: Round 7 : Chris? Roberg (-/-) ~ n/a

2002: Round 6 : Keith Heinrich (65 yds / 6 seasons) ~ 11yps

2003: Round 3 : Mike Seidman (158 yds/4 seasons) ~ 40yps

2004: Round 7 : Michael Gaines (869 yds/ 6 seasons) ~ 145yps

2006: Round 5 : Jeff King (923 yds/ 5 seasons) ~ 184.6yps

2007: Round 5 : Dante Rosario (894 yds / 4 seasons) ~ 224yps

2008: Round 5 : Gary Barnidge (242 yds / 1 season) ~ 242yps

Fox/Hurney drafted a tight end almost every year. Seidman was the worst of the bunch.

Now, our roster has Jeremy Shockey:

5,688 yds / 9 seasons ~ 632yps.

Stats are for pussies/geeks I know, but at some point you'd better recognize. Shockey is a more proven receiver (~3x yps) than any we've produced from draft picks throughout Panthers history.

Can Hurney make a convincing case that the tight ends he selected in the draft were competent but underthrown receivers, or will Shockey's catches distinguish himself above the other TE's, and indicate that Hurney is not good at evaluating TEs in the draft?

A TE that is averaging 250 yds a season is not going to be regarded as a serious receiving threat. That much should be obvious.

Thanks for the stats..

I think that our tight ends in the past (or at least in the John Fox era) were not utilized enough in the passing game to really display the number of yards they probably would have had if they were thrown to on a regular basis. If this new offensive scheme really does use the tight ends much more, the stats for Rosario and Barnidge will be much higher than previous seasons (assuming we have a qb that can throw to the accurately, and that they have decent pass catching ability).

I would like to get a decent TE somewhere in the draft. Like what some people above already mentioned, some decent ones seem to include Luke Stocker, Jordan Cameron, and Julius Thomas. Kyle Rudolph is an absolute beast, but he's probably going to be picked too high for us to obtain. If he somehow drops to first in the third, I think that is a really good move.