Meh, not with two high picks. You take your punt on your QB of choice at #2 and still have a shot at an excellent defensive player with #12. Both of the teams who picked those players are doing just fine now even after they traded them. And both QBs took their original teams to the SB.
Meh, not with two high picks. You take your punt on your QB of choice at #2 and still have a shot at an excellent defensive player with #12. Both of the teams that took Goff and Wentz are doing quite okay today and both took their teams to the SB.
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/04/10/nfl-draft-2023-1984-peter-king-fmia/ The receivers are all bunched up. One team thinks it’s nuts for Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba to be ranked ahead of USC’s Jordan Addison. Another team has BC’s Zay Flowers the top-ranked wideout on the board. In short, we’re going to see some surprises at receiver on draft night. Smith-Njigba caught just five passes last year for Ohio State as he battled and eventually succumbed to a hamstring injury. Addison caught 100 balls from Kenny Pickett at Pitt in 2021, then 59 more in a new offense for USC in 2022. With a lesser supporting cast at Boston College, Flowers caught 200 balls in four seasons and has been hugely impressive in interviews with teams. The Bryce Young-to-Carolina talk increases. Though ESPN’s Chris Mortensen stressed the final call has not been made, the plugged-in Mort did say he thinks the Panthers “will stick with him when it’s time to turn in the card” on draft night. This jibes with what I wrote last week — that Young has a lot of fans in high places in the organization. I agree with Mortensen that it’s not a done deal, but the momentum toward Young is real. What’s interesting if the 5-10 Young goes before the 6-3 (and accomplished) C.J. Stroud is how it signifies how much the game has changed over the past few years. Young likes people comparing him to a point guard, a distributor of the ball to the open man, because it illustrates a lot about modern quarterbacking. In today’s game, a short quarterback can work better than a generation ago because it’s more of a horizontal, short-passing game overall. One coach of a team with a pick in the top half of the first round had an interesting observation about Young/Stroud. This coach told me he had Stroud a strong number one on his board, with Young two. The overriding point was about size. If Young plays at 5-10 and, say, 198, he’ll be one of the smallest quarterbacks ever, obviously, in the NFL. Not just short, but slim. This coach asked me about the defensive fronts Young will face. “Alabama’s line was superior,” this coach said, “and Young consistently had enough time to throw. Taking away nothing from him, because he made the throws and made the plays to be great. But the offensive line for him will be crucial. Think of the defensive coordinators he’ll face, and how much they’ll emphasize putting good hits on him. I don’t see how that’s not a big factor when you put a grade on him.” Think of 6-8 Calais Campbell and 6-3 David Onyemata bull-rushing Young on the Atlanta defensive front—Campbell has 10 inches and 110 pounds on Young. People will say Young faced great defensive linemen in the SEC, and he did. But he’s not likely to have an NFL offensive line as foreboding as the one he had at Alabama. The Adieu Haiku Won’t Caserio have to take a quarterback? Will Anderson tempts.
Now they do due diligence on Young? Says to me they were fixated on Stroud to spend all that draft capital in the beginning. Could be a smokescreen, but dang, you don't make a move like that without knowing who you wanted in the first place.
I originally thought that.. but I’m leaning a bit that they’re still doing there due diligence on the prospects. There still bringing in all the other qbs as well if I’m not mistaken.. I wouldn’t be surprised last min that AR creeps up to the top spot.
Spoiler https://theathletic.com/4391888/2023/04/10/panthers-nfl-draft-cj-stroud-bryce-young/ The Panthers have been on the clock since March 10, when a number of NFL insiders figured they knew which quarterback Carolina was targeting after trading up for the first pick. It was the guy who’d gone up and down the field against Georgia in the College Football Playoff semifinals on New Year’s Eve. But with less than three weeks before the start of the draft, there’s a growing buzz surrounding Alabama quarterback Bryce Young and the Panthers. And for good reason, according to one of The Athletic’s draft experts. “In my opinion, Bryce Young’s the best quarterback in the draft. So I think naturally he should be talked about quite a bit when it comes to the Panthers and what they might do at No. 1. It just comes down to are you comfortable with his size?” draft analyst Dane Brugler said Friday. NFL observers — and maybe the Panthers, if they haven’t already — have 17 days to answer the C.J. Stroud versus Young debate. And while Stroud, the Ohio State quarterback, remains the betting favorite, the case for Young seems to be picking up steam. While ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay recently mocked Stroud to Carolina, Chris Mortensen — the longtime NFL reporter who also works for ESPN — said last week he believes Young will be the pick. While acknowledging the 6-foot-3, 214-pound Stroud has a build closer to the quarterbacks Frank Reich has previously worked with, Mortensen said of the Panthers, “They all love Bryce Young.” There’s a lot to like about Young — from his 23-4 record as the Crimson Tide starter to his 2021 Heisman Trophy to his reputation as both an accurate passer and gifted processor. The one knock against Young is something he’s been hearing for most of his 21 years. “He will be the smallest quarterback in the NFL the moment he is drafted,” Brugler said. “And so you have to be comfortable with that and everything that comes with it.” Beginning this week, the Panthers will bring in the top four quarterbacks for pre-draft visits — Young, Stroud, Florida’s Anthony Richardson and Kentucky’s Will Levis. The Panthers took a big contingent on the road to see all four throw during their pro days, as well. But most believe this is a two-man race between Stroud and Young, who threw for close to 5,000 yards — with 47 touchdowns and only seven interceptions — in 2021 in his first season after succeeding Mac Jones as Alabama’s starter. In a poll last week of nearly 200 former players, coaches, officials, talent evaluators and media members conducted by longtime NFL writer Rick Gosselin, more than half of respondents (51.9 percent) predicted the Panthers would take Stroud with the first pick. Young was next at 34.7 percent, with Richardson (10.2 percent) and Levis (3.2) a distant third and fourth. Young also is showing up as the Panthers’ selection in many mock drafts. But the only opinions that matter are those of the decision-makers at Bank of America Stadium. And to this point, David Tepper, Scott Fitterer, Reich, et al, aren’t showing their hands. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell would prefer the Panthers keep it quiet rather than spoil the buildup to the prime-time announcement April 27 in Kansas City. And so we wait, looking for any signs that might indicate which way the Panthers are leaning. An official with another team who was at the pro days at Ohio State and Alabama came away thinking Young would be the Panthers’ choice based on their interactions with the two quarterbacks on consecutive days last month. Because Stroud checks so many boxes in terms of arm strength, athleticism and — not lastly — size, he has always felt like the safer pick. But after trading four draft picks — two firsts and two seconds — and wide receiver DJ Moore to Chicago for the No. 1 pick, does the big-swinging Tepper really want to play it safe? Young has drawn comparisons to NBA star Steph Curry because of his confidence and in-game awareness of where everyone is around him. Young doesn’t hate the comparison: He’s a fan of Curry, the Charlotte, N.C., native who banged the Panthers’ “Keep Pounding” drum before Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, Calif. A former NFL coach said Young was a tremendous leader while playing for Nick Saban but lacks elite arm talent. Brugler had a similar assessment of Young’s arm strength, particularly when throwing from a collapsing pocket. “But when he has a chance to use his instincts, move throwing platforms, that’s where he’s really special,” Brugler added. “His body rhythm, his controlled urgency, everything’s in lock sync — mind, feet, release. There’s a lot of special to his game. You just have to be comfortable with the size.” That’s where the discussion always returns with Young, who measured 5 foot 10 1/8 at the combine. Only two quarterbacks 5-10 or shorter have attempted a pass in a regular-season game during the Super Bowl era — Doug Flutie and Kyler Murray, who’s been to two Pro Bowls since Arizona took him with the first pick in 2019. But it’s Young’s weight that is more troublesome for NFL talent evaluators than his height. Though Young weighed in at the combine at 204 pounds, Brugler said Young’s natural playing weight is in the low- to mid-190s. “That’s just how he’s built and what he’s most comfortable at. And maybe over time that could change a little bit,” Brugler said. “But that’s the big difference between him and Kyler because Kyler was like 207 at the combine. But then he kept getting bigger and bigger. He had a different build, whereas Bryce is just more slight with how he’s built. So it won’t be as easy for him to put on that much more weight.” The former head coach, granted anonymity to speak freely on the topic, said he watched Young’s tape expecting to see a quarterback who could throw and run like Murray, whose 819 rushing yards in 2020 are the ninth most by a quarterback in NFL history. But that wasn’t the case. “I don’t think (Young) has either of those in his skill set,” the coach said. “But I do think he can play the position at a high level.” Much has been made about Reich’s history with tall quarterbacks. In 17 seasons as a head coach, offensive coordinator or quarterback coach, all but six games have been started by QBs 6-4 or taller. And the exceptions were the 6-3 Ryan Lindley and 6-1 Sam Ehlinger, who was Jim Irsay’s choice last year just before the Colts owner fired Reich. Then again, the guy with final say on the Panthers’ roster has a history with one of the NFL’s most successful, diminutive quarterbacks. Fitterer was Seattle’s college scouting director when the Seahawks drafted Russell Wilson in 2012. Of course, that was with the 75th pick, not the first. Brugler said there’s no precedent when it comes to taking someone like Young at No. 1. “He’s a complete outlier. We’ve just never seen anybody like this before. But we never saw anyone quite like Drew Brees before. We never saw anyone quite like Kyler Murray before, and Russell Wilson,” Brugler said. “There’s always outliers that turn into — he can do it. Everything from the neck up is elite. If you’re gonna bet on a guy, I’m gonna bet on the instincts, the football IQ, the accuracy and just hope he stays healthy, which is not the most sound plan. But that’s kind of what you have to do with Bryce Young.”
Well if AR rises to the number one spot, they haven’t truly done their due diligence. In no way is he the caliber QB of either Stroud or Young.
Seems they still don’t know lol.. I’m not sure if I remember the Lawerence/Burrow drafts.. but did Jacksonville and Cincinnati bring in all the qbs in those respective drafts around this time so close to the draft? I would guess they started to zero in on one prospect and the other qbs knew the intel so there was no need to travel to those teams. With all the qbs still traveling to Carolina my guess is they still think they have a shot being the first pick.. I could be wrong but that’s what it seems like
Someone will take him in the first round purely based on potential but I find it hard to believe a team would trade as much as they did to get to number 1 to pick a project.
Would this greatly disappoint you? 1-2 Anderson ED(LB) 1-12 Robinson HB 2-33 Mazi Smith DI(DT) 3/65 Hyatt WR 3/73 Hooker QB
Concerning C. Is there something in the works which leads us to believe coaching will change our weakness at C after re-signing Quessenberry? Change of responsibilities? More help from the Guards?
They need to draft a long term answer at Center. I would use 2-33 to draft Schmitz or Mauch. Both of those guys are 10 year starters. Well worth 2-33.
Can't find it but John Harris had the best back up mock should Bryce be gone. No doubt I like it because it's what I would like. 1. Stroud 17. Nolan Smith, after trading with the Steelers for a 2nd (pick 49) 33. Hyatt 49. Jahmyr Gibbs ok found it. Not feeling the Gibbs pick, but the other 3 are pretty gewd.
Spoiler: The Beast on Stroud and Bryce Bryce Young: STRENGTHS: Quick-minded player and processes his surroundings extremely well (is “genius level” on the board, according to one NFL GM) ... his vision and ability to create out of structure are special ... instinctive pocket presence and had extensive basketball training growing up (his favorite athlete is Steph Curry), which developed his ability to create space to throw (Nick Saban: “He plays like a point guard.”) ... deftly negotiates pressure and has a knack for setting up and eluding rushers with controlled, cunning movements ... very quick to reset his eyes/feet on the move and get the ball out with his twitchy release ... naturally accurate from any arm angle (78.0 percent adjusted career completion rate) ... consistently throws the football before his target’s body/eyes are turned toward him ... identifies pre- snap blitzers like a seasoned pro and always knows his hot routes (set and reset protections with pro-style verbiage) ... level-headed and grasps the mental side of the game, which allows him to perform with a calming presence (one of seven two-time team captains under Saban) ... slow heartbeat in high-pressure situations ... very well-prepared and dedicated to his craft (NFL scout: “Winning is the most important thing to him.”) ... posted a 23-4 win-loss record as a starter ... played at a high level versus top opponents (314.6 yards per game with 35 touchdowns and 6 interceptions in 13 starts versus ranked teams) ... threw a touchdown in all 27 starts over the last two seasons (an Alabama record for consecutive games with a touchdown). WEAKNESSES: Vastly undersized with a slight frame – measured 204 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine, but his playing weight is “around 190 pounds,” according to NFL scouts ... minimal growth potential and doesn’t have the body type to get much bigger ... his size will restrict his effectiveness operating muddy pockets and ability to slip tackles in the NFL ... his pocket arm strength is closer to average than above-average ... his deep ball will lose some life downfield ... won’t be able to get away with holding the ball in the NFL as long as he did in college (average time to throw in 2022 was 3.02 seconds) ... often welcomes chaos to buy time as a passer, raising the odds of him taking hits ... 12 career fumbles ... his lack of size leads to obvious durability concerns ... missed one game as a junior because of a sprained AC joint sprain in his right (throwing) shoulder. SUMMARY: A two-year starter at Alabama, Young thrived in offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien’s pro-style spread attack, becoming the first quarterback in school history to win the Heisman Trophy. The first Alabama player to throw for 3,000-plus yards in separate seasons, he set the single-season school records for passing yards (4,872) and touchdowns (47), while finishing his career No. 2 in passing yards (8,356) and passing touchdowns (80). A point guard on the football field with his rare vision and spatial awareness, Young plays with impressive body rhythm and controlled urgency with his mind, feet and release. Although some of his magic acts will be tough to replicate in the NFL and will lead to durability concerns, he has a sixth sense for pressure and the crafty reaction skills to improvise, buy time and create off-script. Overall, Young is a size outlier (he will be the smallest quarterback in the NFL the moment he is drafted) with average arm power, but he is a natural passer with an instinctive feel for throw location and play extension. Despite limited physical traits, he has the high-end intangibles and talent required to be an impact starter. GRADE: 1st Round (No. 1 overall) CJ Stroud STRENGTHS: Smooth delivery, clean feet, and the ball comes out quick and tight ... uses a plant-and-drive motion to generate functional velocity on his passes ... layers the football with outstanding touch and control ... puts a premium on accuracy and places his throws away from defenders to avoid turnovers (85-to-12 touchdown-to-interception ratio the last two seasons) ... strong decision-maker and made incremental improvements getting deeper into his progressions ... identifies coverages pre-snap to anticipate the voids and understand where to attack the defense ... his comfort zone is inside the pocket, but he is also able to slide and make subtle movements to change throwing platforms ... showed more of a willingness to scramble and use his legs towards the end of his Ohio State career ...faced considerable adversity throughout his childhood because of his father’s situation, but it built character and Stroud doesn’t mentally wilt in tough times ... named a team captain in 2022 and is described as “reserved and confident” and one of the “funniest” players on the team by his teammates ... averaged 9.8 yards per attempt in his career and ranked No. 1 in the FBS in 30-plus yard completions (31) in 2022 ... posted 21-4 record as a starter ... one of the most productive quarterbacks in college football over his two-year starting tenure, averaging 324.9 passing yards and 3.4 passing touchdowns per game. WEAKNESSES: Narrowly-built and needs to continue adding weight to work off NFL contact ... doesn’t have a power arm ... guilty of locking and lingering on his preferred read ... accustomed to being protected very well in the pocket ... subpar backfield elusiveness will lead to punishment from NFL pass rushers ... inconsistent ability to reset and figure out plan B when the defense fools him ... capable of using his legs to scramble (forced 3 missed tackles in the Peach Bowl against Georgia), but was an inconsistent improviser and didn’t look comfortable escaping for the majority of his OSU career (only 1 missed tackle in his first 27 games) ... must become a more competitive finisher as a ball carrier, especially on short-yardage runs ... needs to improve his ball security in the pocket (10 career fumbles, including a strip sack, scoop and score against Iowa in 2022) ... lost both of his starts against rival Michigan (other two losses came to Oregon and Georgia) ... benefited from an all-star cast around him ... missed one game because of a separated AC joint in his right (throwing) shoulder (September 2021) as a redshirt freshman. SUMMARY: A two-year starter at Ohio State, Stroud was a record-setting passer for the Buckeyes in head coach Ryan Day’s multiple spread offense. While leading the FBS in touchdown passes (41) in 2022, Stroud broke Drew Brees’ Big Ten record for the most touchdowns in a two-year span and finished with 17 Ohio State records (second in school history with 8,123 career passing yards). Structurally sound, Stroud throws with patience and poise and he can make all the throws. Though he appears comfortable on plays designed to move his launch point, his improvisation skills when things break down are a work in progress (his outstanding performance on the 2022 Georgia tape raises the level of optimism). Overall, Stroud must become more comfortable embracing his athleticism and escapability, but he is an outstanding rhythm passer with touch, pacing and ball-speed control to carve up the defense. His passing skills give him an encouraging floor as an NFL starter and his development as a creator will ultimately determine his NFL ceiling. GRADE: 1st Round (No. 4 overall) https://theathletic.com/4387692/2023/04/10/nfl-draft-mock-the-beast-dane-brugler/
