Anyone care to speculate on what the odds of either Cam Newton or Blaine Gabbert having an electric Combine and Pro Day/Private Workout and leapfrogging the top defensive candidates into the #1 overall pick?
In light of the recent success of Sam Bradford, Matt Ryan, Mark Sanchez and to a lesser extent Matt Stafford a lowly team like Carolina might see value in taking a QB #1 overall in spite of elite prospects at defensive positions. Carolina’s one strength last year was it’s defensive line, notably Charles Johnson exploding in Pepper’s absence for 12 sacks making both Nick Fairley and Da-Quan Bowers a bit of a luxury pick. The Panthers do have Jimmy Claussen but he disappointed and under a new caching staff might not get the benefit of the doubt in this second season. The Bills, Bengals, Cardinals, Browns, 49ers and Titans drafting 3-8 all have potentially dire situations at QB and could be eager to trade up, especially if the new CBA lowers the financial burden of the top overall pick.
Remember at this time last year Ndamukong Suh was projected as the consensus #1 pick at this stage of the process last season and ended up falling to #2.
Personally, I predict that there’s a 50-50 chance that neither Bowers or Fairly goes #1 overall. I’d project that there’s a 40% chance that the top QB goes first, a 15% chance that a team other than the Panthers takes a QB first and a 10% chance that A.J. Green leapfrogs everyone and becomes the heir apparent to Steve Smith.