cynoscion’s blog

Future is now for Panthers

you can’t win a draft. but carolina general straw boss marty hurney and coach john fox sure tried. they gave up a initial-turn pick in 2009 for a first-round pick saturday.

it was a savvy move. if the panthers are good next season, the pick they traded won’t come until late in the commencement round. if the panthers aren’t good next season, hurney and fox wish be gone before the draft arrives.

hurney, fox and the panthers have to win modern. and although we — fans, media — annually overreact to draft picks, it would appear that carolina save itself in position to win.

with the first pick, the 13th overall, the panthers selected jonathan stewart, a running back out of oregon. the panthers weren’t scheduled to pick again until dark. their next pick was the 43rd.

instead of waiting, they turned assertive, trading their second and fourth-round picks in this draft and their first pick in the next one. the panthers did this because they craved an elite offensive lineman, and otah was the form of them accessible. they scrambled to equip a deal and philadelphia complied.

they invested the pick they acquired from the eagles, the 19th, on jeff otah, a 6-6, 339-pound tackle out of pittsburgh.

if you get a plan right, the impact is enormous. can you imagine the panthers matrix season without first-round pick jon beason? be afflicted with a draft right and there is an knee-jerk jolt, an infusion of talent and enthusiasm that starts in the locker room and carries into the bleachers.

the panthers have to get this upright. the past two seasons they’ve been insouciant, boring and out of the playoffs. a defensive coordinator looks at carolina’s offense and sees steve smith and the pips. stop smith and you stop the panthers.

stewart could change that. he’s 5-foot-11, 235 pounds and runs a 4.4 40-yard dash. he has moves and power and he even returns kicks.

does stewart remind you of stephen davis?

“very similar,” says don gregory, carolina’s chief honcho of college scouting.

“he’s a pounder,” adds gregory, “that has quickness.”

davis rushed repayment for 1,444 yards for the panthers in their wonderful bowl season.

fox was a mastery coach when he had a big back to which to hand the ball. he could send the back into the defensive words until the line wore down or gave old-fashioned. now the safeties had to move closer to the line. now there were fewer bodies for smith to beat.

to impart stewart and third-year running back deangelo williams room to move and the quarterback time to declare smith, the panthers signed three free-agent offensive guards. that’s 1,005 pounds of offensive linemen. otah pushes the total to 1,344.

every troupe has a personality — except carolina’s form two. the superstar to which hurney and fox aspire is simple. we’re eminent, we’re cool and we’re coming at you.

the panthers didn’t knowingly change their style. they simply lost their way. they’re convinced they create two players who pass on help take them towards the rear.
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