Let’s go back to what we knew heading into the draft. The Panthers needed to land at least two part-time starters to have any hope of improving their roster from last year’s 8-8 effort. Carolina put themselves in this situation by refusing to shop the free agent market for starter-quality help. Fine.

Now, ask yourself exactly who among Jimmy Clausen, Brandon LaFell, and Armanti Edwards is going to start? Who do you have a serious reason to believe is an upgrade over the current roster? Let’s take it one-by-one.

  • Clausen: There is already copious speculation as to why Clausen fell from a Top 10 prospect all the way to #48. The supreme irony for Panther fans is that some of it centers around Clausen very publicly blaming a WR for an INT he threw. Recall that the Big Cat personally ran Keyshawn Johnson out of town when Johnson merely refused to take the blame for Jake’s wild red-zone INTs.

    None other than Pat Yasinskas is saying Clausen is a young Jake — another Foxy-Hurney gunslinger. From that Yasinskas concludes Clausen will be looked to sooner rather than later should Matt Moore falter. The comparison to Delhomme is one I considered for Clausen, but thought it far too unflattering to Jimmy. Now the similarity between the two QBs is some kind of an advantage for Clausen. Talk about weird. But the film don’t lie.

    Like Delhomme, Clausen relies on a quick release rather arm strength to make completions. His deep ball is only good to adequate. Clausen did make progress in cutting down on INTs, but his final season at ND could hardly be called compelling. Clausen threw the ball 51 times against Navy — and lost. He very much looked the second-best QB on the field to Bill Stull in losing to Pitt in a huge game for the Irish.

    On the plus side, Clausen did complete over 80 balls — about 6.5 per game — to backs and TEs last year, indicating a willingness to take what was there. The Panthers immediately became similarly diversified once Moore became the starter and stopped trying to force the ball to #89. But from what we’ve seen, Moore has a more of a downfield cannon than Clausen, another aspect which argues against Clausen clearly displacing him as the starter. That together with Moore’s experience edge makes it impossible for anyone to say that the Panthers — for certain — got a starter with Clausen.

  • LaFell: Here’s guy who may or may not be better than Dwayne Jarrett. That is really all you can say about a big receiver who lacks blazing speed and was considered somewhat unproductive in his senior season when his catches fell from 63 to 57. LaFell is something of project, which is exactly what you’d expect for the #78 pick at a skill position. His greatest short-term value might just be in helping to motivate Jarrett to play up to his potential. As such, this was probably as close to a big upside pick as the Panthers made. Carolina might manufacture a legit #2 NFL WR as a result, which was a crying area of need.
  • Edwards: The ASU phenom might want to thank former Delaware Blue Hen nemesis Joe Flacco for the Panthers reaching a bit for the local star. Flacco proved that I-AA QBs could excel in the Niffle. But the learning curve for Edwards is very, very steep. He has never returned kicks or played WR. Having said that, the kid is tough as nails for such a small frame. For that reason putting him in the slot and letting him work underneath has some promise, as does motioning him into the back field to take over the Wildcat role — and punishment — #89 performed last year. In fact, an actual imaginative OC could cause fits by deploying Edwards, Smitty, DeAngelo Williams, and Mike Goodson in the same package.

    But that is what ultimately puts a huge question mark over this pick. A franchise with a proven inability to get the ball to a proven All-Pro playmaker in #89 has taken a flyer on kid who may or may not be a playmaker at this level. Were Edwards to have landed with the Saints, Indy, or another top-tier creative offense, then you could reasonably expect him to make a contribution. Not at Carolina, however.

    Having said that, should Edwards somehow breakthrough and generate offensive sparks for the Panthers, he will own the hearts of local football fans.

What we are left with then are two maybes and a doubtful in terms of actual on-the-field, play-by-play impact out of Carolina’s top three picks. In the 4th round the Panthers did pick up some special teams and Jon Beason insurance in the form of Gamecock LB Eric Norwood. Norwood is a solid pick, but it does not change the fact that the Panthers did not really solve any of the outstanding questions about their roster with this draft.

In fact, by taking Clausen the Panthers may have just guaranteed themselves a season of doubt, second-guessing, and more questions than ever.

Update: It is a bit of a gimmick, but over at NFL.com, the Panthers’ fan “war room” currently has the worst “mood” in the league over the team’s draft. Compared to Marty Hurney’s near giddy aura, that is quite the disconnect.

Update II: Why does it take the Winston-Salem paper to note that Edwards re-joins — and will compete for a roster spot with — former ASU WR Dexter Jackson? Jackson was a bust as 2008 2nd round WR/KR pick for Tampa and spent last year on the Panthers practice squad.