When Carolina played at Seattle the year before last in the NFC Championship game I was shocked so many people gave the edge at quarterback to Carolina. Hasselbeck had matured into an elite QB after putting up nice preseason stats in Green Bay and winning some games and being solid to good in his first four years at Seattle. But Delhomme, whom then lowly New Orleans had given up on, had a nice playoff run to the Super Bowl a few years prior so everyone know him. But he was throwing to Steve Smith and Muhsim Muhammed, he was playing behind a great line, and he always had a running game. Seattle contained Steve Smith, they've been a power in the weak NFC West ever since, and Carolina has missed the playoffs the last two years despite a stacked roster. Delhomme has been exposed as at best capable.
After cutting former Heisman trophy winner Chris Wienke, the Panthers needed a backup QB to challenge Delhomme. Today they announced the signing of David Carr to a two year deal, recently cut by the Texans. Carr was the number one pick in 2002; Carolina drafted Julius Peppers number two, and he might be the best player in the NFL. Conventional wisdom is to draft quarterbacks high, but why? Houston spends five seasons deciding he's not the answer, now he goes to Carolina in his prime and they give up nothing. Peppers is dominant out of the box. The moral of the story: don't draft a guy to groom, draft a guy to play.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment