First off, try to trade Kris Jenkins and the 14th pick to the Redskins for the 6th pick. Sitting at 6th spot, the Panthers should then take LSU safety Laron Landry.
The Skins might go for the deal because they need DTs and because Jenkins would be coming back home to Maryland, thus making him much more willing to greatly restructure his contract in order to get his cap number down. It is all a bit of a reach, but worth chasing a little bit. Landry is the one difference-maker in a deep safety class.
If that doesn’t work, I’d stay at 14 and pick Miami TE Greg Olsen. I can’t believe I’m saying that, but it comes down to drafting more for value than for need. The Panthers need a pass-catching TE, yes, but they need help on defense more.
The trouble is that what you can get at 14 on the defensive side of the ball is not likely to be as ready to make an immediate impact as Olsen should be. Bottomline, forget about putting half the defense on Steve Smith with Olsen in the game.
The big gamble with taking Olsen in the first round is that real help for the defense might be gone by the time the Panthers pick at 45th in the second. Perhaps Texas safety Michael Griffin or Olsen’s troubled teammate Brandon Meriweather will be there, maybe not — it all depends on who the Panthers like at this point.
They may have to get creative to move up to get the guys the want, or the number of picks they want to cover all the positions of need. This might throw a Jenkins trade back in the mix in order to pick up an extra 3rd rounder — teams will not likely part with more on draft day, straight up — or some other combo.
Like what? Like dangling Jenkins in front of Al Davis and the sad-sack Raiders. Offer Jenkins and the Panthers’ 3rd round slot (83rd pick) in exchange for the Raiders’ 2nd rounder, the 33rd pick. That should give the Panthers a good shot at getting quality defensive help with two second round picks.
Davis loves to take big name castoffs from other teams, maybe he would bite on this one as well.
Marty Hurney is going to have to swing for the fences with this draft no matter what, however. Charlotte wants another NFL playoff run and right now, the current Panthers roster would have trouble reaching last year’s 8-8 mark.
