Carolina Panthers like Drafting in the Twenties
The Carolina Panthers are drafting on Thursday night. The have pick number twenty-five which puts them late in the first round. You might think that this would mean the Panthers have a better chance of missing on a pick taken so low in the first round. Historically speaking, you would be wrong.
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Not every draft will be a Cam Newton draft where you take the number one guy available with the very first pick. If you win games, you have to get used to drafting later in the first round. The New England Patriots have turned late first round drafting into an art form.
Regardless of who has been at the helm of the franchise, the Panthers have done pretty well in these later picks more often than not. The list of Panthers taken with the 20th pick or later in the first round are:
Tyrone Poole – 22 -1995
Blake Brockermeyer – 29 -1995
Rae Carruth – 27 – 1997
Rashard Anderson – 23 -2000
Chris Gamble – 28 -2004
DeAngelo Williams – 27 -2006
Jon Beason – 25 -2007
Kelvin Benjamin – 28 -2014
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The two clear misses on the list are Carruth and Anderson, but the majority of these guys became productive starters for the Panthers.
Chris Gamble gave the Panthers a taller cover corner that were at a premium when he entered the League. They still are now, but Gamble seemed shiny and new when he joined the team. He was solid, although occasionally injured during his time here. Despite his name, Gamble really wasn’t a gamble.
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There was a time when it was believed that Jon Beason and Thomas Davis were going to be the League’s Bash Brothers. Beason had a couple All-Pro level seasons but he and Davis could not stay healthy together. Beason was traded to the Giants last season, but it is fun to wonder what Kuechly, Davis, and Beason would have looked like on the field together. The Panthers traded down to get him, by the way.
The Panthers went into last year’s draft needing a number one receiver. Somehow they found him at #28 in a draft where several receivers went ahead of that pick. Benjamin has said that he bombed the combine in order to get to play with Cam. However it happened, he was a revelation. Benjamin had a thousand yards receiving, and the problem is who to put next to him.
So have some confidence in the Panthers’ luck with the bottom of the first round. They usually make it work.