Carolina PAnthers
NFC South Draft
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The NFL Draft is April 26, 2018. So, it is approaching soon.
This can change the fortune for several franchises. The best division in 2017 was the NFC South because they had three playoff teams. Let’s take a look at the division and their 1st round picks.
No. 7 Tampa Bay: The Buccaneers (5-11) were the only team in the division with a losing record. They took a step back because they were 9-7 in 2016. We expected them to improve and make the playoffs. They also added speedy wide receiver DeSean Jackson to pair with Mike Evans but it obviously did not work.
The biggest team needs are defensive back, running back and offensive guard. Alabama DB Minkah Fitzpatrick would be a great pick. He played both safety and corner in college. He can cover and he’s physical and can make tackles. He also has very good size at 6’1, 201 pounds.
No. 24 Carolina: The Panthers (11-5) rebounded last year after regressing in 2016. They addressed a need by drafting running back Christian McCaffrey in the 1st round last year. He was very good as a pass catcher but he did not run the ball well. He only rushed for 435 yards and averaged 3.7 yards per carry.
The biggest team needs are wide receiver, offensive line and defensive line. The Panthers traded their #1 receiver Kelvin Benjamin to Buffalo on Halloween.
Cam Newton needs a good WR so I think they will go in that direction. Courtland Sutton from SMU should still be available. He’s 6’4, 225 lbs. so he’s a big target.
He caught 68 passes for 1,085 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2017. Newton struggles with accuracy so having a tall receiver with a big catch radius is a good move.
No. 26 Atlanta: The Falcons (10-6) had an up and down year coming off last year’s heartbreaking Super Bowl meltdown. They did win in the first round of the playoffs against the LA Rams. They came very close to beating the eventual world champion Philadelphia Eagles in the second round, losing 15-10. Atlanta should return to being an elite team if they make the right personnel moves.
The biggest needs are defensive line, WR and offensive guard. Michigan defensive tackle Maurice Hurst would be a good fit. Putting him next to Grady Jarrett might give the Falcons one of the best young defensive lines in the league.
No. 27 New Orleans: The Saints (11-5) had a great season. They have the best running back duo in the NFL and an elite veteran quarterback. They lost to Minnesota in the divisional round of the playoffs on the last play of the game. The defense ranked 16th in total D and 17th in run defense.
They need to improve the defensive front seven, WR or slot corner. Boston College defensive end Harold Landry might be selected here. He showed he could rush the passer in 2016 when he recorded 16.5 sacks and 22 tackles for loss. Landry is a bit of a one-year wonder though because he did not have a season with more than 5 sacks outside of 2016.
The Super NFC South
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
At the beginning of the season it looked as though a battle would be taking place between the AFC West and the NFC South for NFL dominance.
As we approach the final stretch of the season it looks like the AFC West will only get one team into the playoffs and that basically because they have to have at least one representative.
On the other hand, the NFC South has held up their end of the preseason bargain and are looking to be the toughest division in football.
The question regarding the division isn’t whether or not they’ll get two teams into the playoffs, but could they possibly get three?
For the sake of argument let’s go ahead and assume that Philadelphia (East), Minnesota (North), Saints (South) and the Los Angeles Rams (West) will all win their respective divisions.
Obviously, anything can happen over the next few weeks, but my brain is fried on college football playoff hypotheticals, so I’m taking the easy way out on this one.
Were this scenario to play out, that would really leave only four viable teams for the remaining wild card spots: Seahawks, Lions, Falcons, and Panthers.
Seattle has probably the second easiest schedule of those four teams, but I just don’t have the confidence in the Mom to make a legitimate run at the playoffs.
Their offense has resorted to Russell Wilson running around in the backfield and making some sort of ridiculous throw to Doug Baldwin, off of a busted play.
With injuries plaguing the defensive side of the ball the “Legion Of Boom” has turned into the Legion of “We’d like to hit you hard, but we’re a little fragile right now, so we’re just going to push you and hope that you fall down.”
Could Seattle make the playoffs? Absolutely. Will they ultimately make me regret saying that they won’t make it? Without a doubt.
So, that leaves Detroit as the main threat to the NFC South sending 3 teams to the playoffs.
There are two things the Lions have going for them. First, they have a much easier schedule from here on out. of their remaining games, Detroit doesn’t play a single team with a winning record.
It’s almost the exact opposite for Atlanta and Carolina. Secondly, and this could be what propels Detroit into the playoffs, is that Carolina still has one more game against Atlanta and New Orleans, while the Falcons and Saints will play each other twice. Did I mention they both have a game with Minnesota still on their schedules, too?
The one thing that both the Falcons and Panthers do have on the Lions though, is that they are currently one and two games ahead of Detroit in the standings, respectively.
Not to mention, both teams hold the tiebreaker due to victories earlier in the season. So really, Atlanta has a two game lead and the Panthers’ lead is three. That’s difficult to overcome when you only have a handful of games left to make it happen.
The entire division has their work cut out for them is they hope to get three teams into the playoffs.
Detroit is in prime position to run the table while the entire NFC South will be dueling it out amongst themselves- reminiscent of what the SEC West used to be years ago.
Regardless, ¾ of the NFC South has lived up to the hype, which is pretty damn impressive, when you think about it.
Best Case Scenario
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
I’ve mentioned before how little faith I put into mock drafts and after this year’s first round you can see why. If there was a NFL Draft Bracket, similar to March Madness, predicting the events of Thursday night would’ve been like predicting South Carolina to make it to the Final Four.
Well, I put about as much stock into the post-draft grades as I do the mock drafts. So, rather than give each team a grade that will surely come back to bite me at some point, I’ve listed each team, along with the best and worst outcome they can expect from their drafted players. Some of these may or may not be realistic. I’ll let you decide.
NFC South Draft Preview
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The 2017 NFL Draft in Philadelphia is on the horizon. We get to see where future stars will land and get to see if teams will address their needs. I’m going to take a look at the NFC South and look at some possible landing spots for the 1st round of the draft.
Falcons To Fall Off In 2017?
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For any Atlanta Falcons fan, last season must have felt like a romantic dramedy. You know the one: boy meets girl; boy falls in love with girl; boy spends entire movie trying to win the girl over; girl falls for boy; boy gets hit by a bus; girl ends up with boy’s worst enemy.
Carolina Panthers Blow Playoff Chances
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
At this point in the NFL season you pretty much have an idea where every team stands.
Sure, there may be an anomaly like the Kansas City Chiefs last year, who started out 1-5 and then went on the win their final 10 games, but for the most part there aren’t too many big surprises.
In the case of the Carolina Panthers, they are basically the NFL’s version of HBO’s “Vinyl”. There are high expectations at the beginning of the season due to the person who gets top billing, his supporting cast, and the people behind the scenes who put everything together.
Only it turns out halfway through the season you realize you now spend your Sundays not only wishing for it all to be over, but you’re watching episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm instead because you need a good laugh.
Needless to say, the 2016 campaign that started out with hopes of another possible Super Bowl appearance more or less came to an end when Carolina lost to those aforementioned Chiefs, 17-20 this past weekend.
Sure, they’re not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs as of yet, but at 3-6 they might as well be.
The Kansas City loss was actually fairly apropos when you look at the Panthers season as a whole. Much like those lofty expectations to start the year, the Panthers had a lot going for them coming into the weekend.
After a two game winning streak, where it looked like the Panthers Defense was starting to come around and Jonathan Stewart returned to the backfield, things were starting to go their way.
Even though they entered the game 3-5 a win, coupled with what ended up being an Atlanta loss, would put Carolina in better position than you would normally expect for a sub .500 team. Well, obviously, that didn’t happen.
Carolina played like the better team for most of the game, but like in a number of losses they’ve had this year, they just couldn’t close it out in the end. I can almost count on the missed opportunities and mental mistakes taking place about as often as Bobby Cannavale’s character doing lines of coke, which was just about every week.
Even if Carolina were to avenge all three of their NFC South losses from earlier this year, which is a huge “if”, they still play both the Raiders and Seattle on the road, in back to back weeks, followed by a much improved San Diego Chargers team in Charlotte.
Throw in the Washington game and 8-8 is about the best any Panthers fan can realistically hope for. Even a record of 9-7 probably wouldn’t be enough for a playoff appearance.
Over the next two months there will be a lot of talk about “showing what they’re made of” and “getting a jumpstart on next year” which I’ve always thought was a load of crap. The Jaguars finished last season on a tear and was a popular pick to win the AFC South. How is that whole “jumpstart on next year” thing working out for them?
And putting forth a courageous effort? How is playing hard the remainder of this season going to have any impact on next year?
