The Luck of the Irish

The 2008 NFL Draft was seemingly a good one for the Panthers. They power blocker Jeff Otah and the powerful Jonathan Stewart. However, it would have a domino effect that may have ended John Fox and GM Marty Hurney’s tenures in Carolina. Picking Jonathan Stewart and Jeff Otah was not bad by any means. However, they traded away their first round pick for 2009. In the 2009 NFL Draft the Panthers traded their 2010 first round pick away for Everette Brown. Brown hopefully will prove to be the departed Julius Peppers’ replacement. It’s a nice pick. The Panthers have had some nice drafts the past few years, but one position has been noticeably absent. What is that position? The QB.

Going into the 2008 NFL draft, the Panthers had Jake Delhomme who was coming off of major elbow surgery on his throwing arm. Delhomme was injured and turned 32. Many teams would consider looking for an eventual replacement. I even mocked that the Panthers would go after Matt Ryan. The Panthers were not concerned. They had faith that Delhomme’s arm would recover and, as can be seen, had the plan to majorly upgrade their running game, lowering the amount of throws Delhomme would have to make. Plus, in the three games that Delhomme played in 2007, he did have a touchdown ratio of 8 to 1.

The Panthers’ faith was vindicated when they got to the playoffs in 2008. However, Delhomme melted down and threw five interceptions in the wildcard against Arizona. So let’s check the rap sheet, injury, turning 33, weakening arm strength, and skill/mental decline. Even more teams would be looking to add a QB for the future. Again, not the Panthers. Like I had mentioned, the Panthers prioritized replacing the departing Peppers and once again left themselves without a first round pick. The 2009 season? Delhomme only threw eight touchdowns and deprived the Panthers of many more. I had Deangelo Williams on my fantasy team, so I watched a lot of Panthers football. Many was the time the Panthers running game would get them into the red zone only to have Delhomme throw an INT. Delhomme absolutely melted down, but as the only other QB was Matt Moore, the Panthers were stuck with Delhomme for much of the year.

Jake Delhomme’s fall from grace could have taken John Fox and Marty Hurney down as well. The Panthers had Matt Moore at QB…and that was it. With Peppers on his way out and a lackluster offensive season looming, the Panthers Front Office was by all appearances going to be on its way out and fairly soon. The Quarterback is arguably to most important position in the NFL and the Panthers’ front office totally ignored it. They refused to admit they had a QB crisis on their hands. Instead of going after young promising talent (although Matt Moore does have promise) they instead continued to drink from the ever diminishing pool of Jake Delhomme’s talent. If something were to happen to Matt Moore and/or the Panthers did not make it to the playoffs this season, John Fox and Hurney would have been out the door. Thankfully though, that was not to be.

Due to the largest disparity between mock and actual pick in Mel Kiper’s career, Jimmy Clausen fell to the Panthers in the second round. Many people (apparently not NFL executives) thought that Clausen was top ten talent. In my own mock I said the following:

“I watched a bunch of game play from this past year and Clausen had gotten rid of the bad decision making that plagued his first two years. Clausen is quick and plays very well in play action. He also is insanely accurate. As far as arm strength. I watched a highlight reel and Clausen threw from the 4 yard line to the 50 yard line. He also threw from ND’s own 44 to about three deep in the endzone. That is a 46 yard pass and a 59 yard pass, both of which were caught. Clausen has the mobility, arm strength, and meticulous accuracy. Clausen could be the long awaited answer to Buffalo’s offensive woes.”

Well, Buffalo passed on him twice and the Panthers got the biggest steal in the draft. Clausen has a powerful arm and is very accurate. Steve Smith might just be crying. He now has a powerful deep arm and a QB who can get it to him in stride, not that Steve Smith is above making circus catches. It is almost unbelievable that Clausen fell to the Panthers and the Panthers got away with one of the worst conceived draft strategies known to man. As a matter of fact, if Clausen succeeds early and gets the Panthers to the playoffs, no one will remember their flub. People will look back and see 2008 as building the running game, 2009 as bolstering the defense, and 2010 as the year of Clausen. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good and the Panthers may just be the perfect example of that.

As far as how the Panthers will do, that is a little in the air. With the Delhomme turnover factory moved to Cleveland, as long as Clausen can keep turnovers down, it is safe to assume that the double headed dragon that is Deangelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, occasionally aided by Steve Smith, will put points up on the board. It has yet to be seen the impact that Peppers departure will have on defense, but regardless the offense can carry the Panthers to at least a wild card bid. It all depends on the Savior from Notre Dame and maybe a little luck.