Delhomme

I'll go one further. I am still glad we drafted Gross and not Leftwich. I know Leftwich was gone when we picked but there was a lot of hoping for Lefty around here. I wanted to give Jake a chance before we drafted a big time QB. It all worked out since we now have a franchise QB and really good OL.

If we had drafted Lefty we would be in a situation similar to San Diego now and wishing we could trade one of our QBs for a guy like Gross.

 

I'm glad things worked out the way they did. We didn't have a chance at Leftwich, who was the same type team leader and strong arm that we got out of JD. But right now, developing a top notch QB is working out better than the average $1 mil/year backup signing or the scrapheap recycle.

In the end Gross has been solid but unspectacular. We lost chance at impact on that one, while I'm happy things worked out with JD and Gross I wish we had a franchise tackle for our effort. Anything less out of a top ten pick is somewhat disappointing. If it were me, I still would have made a very strong push for Rosenthal and seen what the best available was (likely Trufant, though if you're negating need Suggs was the BPA).

 

I am not sure Gross can not become a franchise tackle. He was great last year at RT and it may just take him a little longer to get comfortable at LT.

The thing with drafting a QB in the first round and especially the top ten is that he is going to take a couple of years to develop and is going to cost you a good chunk of your salary cap. For every Ben Roethlisberger there are a whole bunch of Cade McNowns and Akili Smiths. Leftwich is a good young QB but IMHO there is no way we made the superbowl last year with him starting in place of Jake.

 

He was above average at RT. Problem is, we don't know how good he could've been because he had a TE blocking with him half the time. He'll get better, and he'll grow, but he was sold on having this ability to play right now and that it'd be worth him not getting better. He doesn't have the potential of an Ogden or Pace.

True, many first rounders need time, but some don't. The hanging point becomes whether the O can adjust to a rook QB (like Pittsburgh did) and whether they have the staff around him to be good. If the team's looking for someone to lead them right off, then they're going to be disappointed. But Palmer and Leftwich have been very good. And Boller, when they give him enough rope, does well. I still don't like Grossman, and probably never will, but he seems efficient enough to be a long term starter.



Of course, I never thought McNown or Smith were first rounders. People got really nervous about QBs that year - McNabb probably went too high, Culpepper as well. And those other two shouldn't have gone in the first. We traded for Lewis Making need-based QB decisions more often bite you in the ass. Jacksonville and Pittsburgh didn't need to start a QB right away, and yet they've come out the best looking.



That said, we never were going to draft a quarterback.
In my opinion, you grow linemen, you don't push them right in, if you can help it. We had the chance to go get vets, and make a left tackle ready for this year. Of course, I thought a guy like Foster or Stinchcomb would be there at the 2nd pick, and they weren't.

 

I think that not only the position switch has hurt Gross. He played beside Donnalley last year who was still pretty good but he has had musical guards this year beside him. Wharton may be the answer at LG but it has and will take a while to settle down.

I think we needed a veteran QB when we brought in Jake. This team needed a guy who was ready to go. If we had drafted a QB and gave him a huge contract and he busted we would have really been in bad shape.

 

agreed, a veteran presence there would help him. Having Donnalley, then Mitchell inside you can be stabilizing.

 

:xyzthumbs

Figured this was the best thread to come on in and introduce myself... I'm a regular at Panthers Planet and fanviews.com and was around quite a bit before the beloved Panthers Message Board closed.... I do recognize a few names here... PantherPaul, Malapoo, Mr. Scot...

I'm the webmaster of this site and probably one of the hugest DELHOMME fans around...

I think he's going to play possessed on Sunday and I can't WAIT.

 

Have I mentioned this is the BEST THREAD EVER?? :xyzthumbs

 

Do you have a pic of Jake coming in the jacksonville huddle in 2003?

 

oh you missed the Riddell " Drunk in Houston Airport 2003 Super Bowl Thread"

darn PantherCanada.......stop by more often!! :xyzthumbs