Addenda Provided

I’m in the process of writing a mock draft as well as an in-depth as to what the Vikings should do at No. 12, but something else has occured which has taken me to look with a different perspective.

As my university American Football Team (Go Wolves!) prepares to do a mock draft of our own, team-mates are assuming the roles of GMs across the NFL in making decisions for the franchises they represent. The Vikings were already taken, so in addition to my in-depth review that I am planning to write for them, I will also be looking at my initial second choice, the New York Jets. But when deciding on what other team I would do, I didn’t go for one of my other crushes in the Ravens, as that would be too easy. Instead, I went for one of the most interesting options in the draft – what will Carolina do at #1?

It’s always a quandry for teams at the top of the draft, as the money involved is so high and picks can seem obvious, but as  can be seen in many instances (JaMarcus Russell over Adrian Peterson, Troy Williamson over Aaron Rodgers, Alex Smith over Aaron Rodgers etc.), top 10 picks can be some of the hardest to nail down, and can often cost a head coach, scouting director and GM their reputation and jobs with a team reasonably quickly, as well as setting a franchise back for many years. So assuming the role as GM for the NFL’s worst team last year, this is what I came up with:

Looking at the roster and the talent that is available, I believe that this pick can be spent on one of three areas: a quarterback, a defensive tackle, or a wide receiver.

I’ll get the ludicrous one out the way first – there is no way this pick will be a receiver. Despite Steve Smith losing the speed burst he relies on to be a big play threat, the rest of the corp not playing at all well and with A.J.Green sitting right there, it’s the smallest of the three considering they have no defensive tackles that could even be labelled as a serviceable starter, and the QB situation doesn’t look great.

Discussion into the QB and DT options after the jump.

“But Marcus”, I hear you all say, “they drafted Clausen in the second round last year, and they also have Matt Moore and Tony Pike on the roster, so surely they are all sorted right?”. Wrong. Matt Moore is a free agent and it is very unlikely he will be resigned due to the new regime under HC Ron Rivera and OC Rob Chudzinski (see below) When second stringer Jimmy Clausen made it in due to an injury to Moore, he was exposed to poor blocking (from an oft-injured offensive line), a receiving corp lacking in ability and some very questionable coaching.

However, this exposed the main problems that many draft analysts called out on him last year – his intangibles. Some of the body language he displayed was quite frankly disheartening, and his lack of leadership in tough situations should show up some massive red flags for the new coaching staff. He also made some very questionable reads in his play, even for a rookie, so it would be doubtful that Rivera would look to keep him.

Which brings me to my next point – many new coaches bring in their own guy in order to truly reform the program into their own. The extreme example of this is Josh McDaniels trading away his All-Pro QB in Jay Cutler and receiving Kyle Orton in return and basing the franchises offense around him. Obviously this didn’t end too well as McDaniels was fired this season, but it’s the approach that very often brings in the most success – Colt McCoy, Matthew Stafford, Matt Cassel (when traded to KC), Sam Bradford, Josh Freeman, JaMarcus Russell – All brought in because of the ‘new regieme, new QB’ principle. Not always does it hold true, and some of the names above didn’t pan out (one in particular), but it generally holds true that you build the franchise around a new QB to define your leadership.

So what options are there? Well the only two prospects I would consider even taking at No. 1 are Blaine Gabbert and Cam Newton. Newton is the prospect gaining most of the attention, and rightfully so, as his perceived HWS, Leadership and Durability are preferable to Gabbert’s, and although he was at Auburn for just one season, he led them to a national championship. However, there are concerns about his character due to thefts in 2008 and academic cheating whilst he was at Florida, as well as scrutiny into his decision making, as he tends to take too long to make the right read and then not trusting it once he makes the call.

With Gabbert, hardly any of these negatives exist. Sure, he comes from the spread system and has barely any experience of running an offence from under center, but all his other traits are incredible – accuracy, power, mobility, intelligence and leadership are all key traits that he has down to a tee. Not to mention he was an All-Academic for the Big 12 and never missed a game for Missouri. With Chudzinski utilising tight ends and shorter routes more often than the deep ball, Gabbert would be my preferable choice.

The other position to look at is defensive tackle, because, as I said earlier, they have no nameable starter on their roster.

Nick Fairley stands as the consensus best defensive tackle in the draft, as well as being in the debate for one of the best players in the draft. All of last season at Auburn, he dominated in both the pass and the run game by beating double teams, consistently beating blockers and possessing excellent technique. His work ethic has been questioned but you cannot question his production and his selection would form an anchor for the Panthers line for many seasons to come.

There is another reason why, if I was the General Manager of the Panthers, that Fairley could be the pick over Gabbert – the cash. Panthers owner Jerry Richardson is known to be in the group of owners that doesn’t like paying big money to high draft picks, and therefore he would naturally push for the cheaper option of a defensive tackle over the riskier and more expensive option of a QB, and if it needed to be a key factor, then it would most likely be the pick, even with the large cap space the Panthers would have.

But let’s assume for a moment that I have the final say on the draft pick and roster movement, regardless of internal financial constraints. In my honest opinion, despite the fact that with Fairley, you can anchor your defensive line and your front seven for many years around him, I would have to advise the coaches on the ‘new regime, new quarterback’ principle in order to truly have an effect on the team and to develop someone for this year and then begin to build around them with the remaining picks and the following draft.

With that deliberation – With the first pick, in the 2011 NFL (Warwick Wolves Mock) Draft, the Carolina Panthers take – Blaine Gabbert, Quarterback, Missouri. I would also look to ship WR Steve Smith out of town for more draft picks and to remove his negative character from the locker room in order to aid the development of Gabbert.