Who IS worth the gigantic contract for us in the top 3?

Is the best option to just take one of the stud WRs or even DTs? By all accounts Joseph and Kennedy are as close to a “sure thing” as there is in this draft. One of them would make us forget about Gilbert and be the final ingredient to a very solid D-line. If we take the top WR (Rogers or Williams?) then we will also have a guy who can contribute right away in an area of need. It’s just all that top 3 money that will suck so hard on our cap for the next 7 years or so. It will no doubt be very poor value when we could probably get a guy at either position in round 2 for a fraction of the cost who would be so close to the same quality as a player.
I am aware that there is no such thing but . . . who do you guys think is the closest to being a “sure thing” as a top 3 Panther pick?

PS - What about CB at the top? Is there any lock-down guy who would solve our CB problem worthy of that high pick and the dollars?

 

Leftwich or Manning. Not Rogers. I would like Johnson in a trade down better. Roy Williams in a trade down works too.

Taking a WR in top 3 - even if it Superman is risky especially considering there are 2 other WR close to him in talent.

McGahee might make things interesting at the top however. Stay tuned on him. If he runs sub 4.4 he might just go top 3 himself. That would be a huge plateau for him to get to - but who knows - maybe he can run a time like that on a fast track?

And to be completely honest - LJohnson looks a tad bit faster than McGahee in the open field. LJ has come out of nowhere to be a legit #1 back.

 

I think Rogers is more than worthy of a big contract. He will get it somewhere.

 

Other than the two DTs, there aren't any defenders I'd take top ten.

Past that, Rogers is the only sure fire guy IMO. He'll be worth that money regardless, and IMO he's the #1 guy. Certainly, Shock has a point, the two guys below him are of similar value and ability. There's no guarantee that Rogers will succeed that much more than Johnson or Williams.

And that's where it is with most positions. You gotta get the guy you like most rather than going with the safest.

 

agreed

 

I just wanted to say thanks for all the input in this and other recent threads concerning 2003 draft related shit. I know it's annoying to some of you to be talking draft this early but I ALWAYS dig it . . . I guess that next draft represents "hope" to me and as bad as the Panthers got bent over and banged yesterday I needed a little sense of hope on the horizon.
I'll give it a rest for a while.)

 

Fortunately for us, we badly need a WR.

Or 2 or 3.

And a QB.
And an OT.
And an RB.
And a CB.

Won't be hard for the best available talent to fill a need.

 

I was talking draft in May. Hell, before the 2001 draft was over, I was compiling lists for 2002. Turns out so much changes that there wasn't much point, I was going to judge the last year more than the first couple. But anyway, I love the draft. One of the nice parts about being a Carolina fan is that I've always had plenty of holes to fill with my team. I've done the same, when I had more time, when the Bills and Bucs were coming down from being good or just starting to be good. It's interesting to me. I know others will talk it all year as well.

The frustrating thing, to me, isn't that we are done already. It's that it's been another year, and all we've earned is another high pick, and picked up a couple more FAs of worth. And I thought of that before with guys like Jay Williams, and he tanked. Peppers, as well, adds considerable hope, but it seems as if it's all but come at the cost of Morgan. SO that's the hard part, is looking back and seeing that we're really in no better shape than we were...actually we're probably worse. The thing is we shaved off all the ornamentation, and then once we stripped the paint off half the house fell off.

 

Yep.

Yep. Peter, Terry, Rashard, and Morgan were our top picks the 4 years previous to Peppers. Morgan has been injured almost half of the time he's been here, the others are gone.

That's a very bad fucking track record. Add Steve Smith and Foster, and it could get alot worse.

That means we got Jenkins and Peppers and Rucker. Deon Grant could be added to that list. Witherspoon might pan out. Might not.

Bad shape. We're in bad shape.

 

Well if we lose to the Bears (tied record) and somehow the Bungals win another game before they play us and we lose there we get the first pick