Carolina continued the team’s steady slide away from button-down, secure NFL franchise and toward sketchy, flighty NBA outpost with a 2011 draft that eschewed actual production in favor of imagined potential. As a result, it is impossible to say if the Panthers have improved — or rate this draft. The upside would seem a B and the downside not just an F, but a complete zero. In two years, we’ll probably know. For now:
- Cam Newton: More of a business decision than a football pick, but still one that may pay massive on-field dividends in the end. The open question is how long does it take Cam to become a quality NFL starter: One year, three years, never. Newton’s star-power has already made the local media flip for the celebrity of the guy — which is both a blessing and a curse. Expect much pointless ink to be spilled on this topic in the coming months. Meanwhile, I just want to see the guy extend a play and hit a third option down the field.
- Terrell McClain: The closest thing to a sure-thing the Panthers added. A DT of some size and skill, McClain should upgrade a weak DL. Curious to see if the Panthers try him some at DE, if they refuse to pay Charles Johnson.
- Sione Fua: The start of some West Coast reaches by the Panthers — reflecting a Ron Rivera touch? Considering what was on the board, DT Fua is an odd pick — especially considering you took McClain ahead of him. No one thinks Fua is a three-down player, which is pretty damning for an end of 3rd round pick.
- Brandon Hogan: Steve Wyche of NFL.com relates that, “I was in Carolina all week and was told by a team official that bolstering depth and quality at cornerback was a priority.” And Hogan is the solution? A guy with multiple run-ins with the law and coming off ACL surgery, making him unable to run full speed until August? And again, considering the CBs on the board with Hogan at the start of the 4th round, just weird. Almost as if the 3rd round run on CBs — #88 (Saints) #89 (Chargers) #90 (Eagles) — made the Panther braintrust panic.
- Kealoha Pilares: A completely horrid pick. WR depth, sure. But a slow converted RB who suffered a PCL injury in December? Not exactly a vote of confidence in Armanti Edwards. And positively absurd considering that Buffalo snapped up UNC’s Johnny White — a WR/RB/KR hybrid with much better combine numbers and much better performance against much better competition — with the very next pick. Sure as hell looks like the Panthers were reaching for their very own imagined Lance Moore rather than drafting the best player on the board.
- Lawrence Wilson: Insurance against letting LB James Anderson walk? Your guess is as good as mine. Wilson is an undersized LB who fit somewhere in the 6th round — just not for a team with much more pressing needs.
- Zachary Williams: Finally some help for the Panthers’ dreckish OL. Not a lot, but some. Again, a lot of bodies on the board at least as competent as Williams — but Williams can play both C and OG. Which would seem an indictment of last year’s fetid Panther insistence that Mackenzy Bernadeau was a starter-quality player who could play both those positions.
- Lee Ziemba: Incredibly, might wind up the Panthers starting RT as the #244 pick. No one can say for certain what the status of Jeff Otah might be and Garry Williams and Geoff Schwartz did not exactly lock down the position last year in Otah’s absence.
Now onto Court Watch to see if there is anything like an NFL season this year for these players. And what is left of Carolina’s fanbase.
Update: C- from NBC, many of same Qs about the mid-round picks.
Update II: UPoR’s Joe Person gives the Panthers a C+ and the Falcons a C- — ha ha ha!
