Carolina has no Luck at all

Andrew Luck has made his decision, and he is remaining at Stanford. The 2011 NFL Draft has lost it's brightest star, but there is still plenty of talented players on the board and yet to declare. Now the Carolina Panthers have a franchise altering decision to make. Do they use the 1st Overall Selection of the draft on a quarterback, or do they believe that Jimmy Clausen or Matt Moore is the answer and go in another direction.

The top four quarterbacks are Ryan Mallett, Cam Newton, Jake Locker and Blaine Gabbert. I believe that Carolina will see their two incumbents and say that they are better off with Clausen and Moore. So it looks like they may be headed to shoring up the defense.

When Carolina came off of a 1-15 season in 2001, their first draft pick the next year was Julius Peppers. Peppers was a freak at the defensive end position. Tall enough to play basketball in college, and strong and fast enough to consistently pressure quarterbacks in the NFL. He was the cornerstone of the Panthers defense that made it to the Super Bowl after the 2003 season and earned the #2 Seed in the NFC after the 2008 season. But Peppers left for Chicago via free agency, and though Charles Johnson emerged as a pass rushing threat, the Panthers defense still ranked near the bottom of the league.

The NFL is a quarterback driven league. You need one to lead the offense, and you need to get to the other teams' quarterback to stop the opposition. If the Panthers do not get Johnson help on at the other end, he will face more and more double teams and his production will drop. So with the 1st Overall Pick of the 2011 NFL Draft the Carolina Panthers select...Da'Quan Bowers, defensive end fro Clemson.

Bowers was all but unblockable last season at Clemson. 24 tackles for loss and 15 sacks. If he were paired with Johnson the Panthers would have a pass rushing duo that compares favorably to a younger version of Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis in Indianapolis. If Bowers can translate his success at Clemson to the NFL he coudl very easily be the taken at the top of the draft.

Carolina has 3 and a half months to determine if they player they are going to select will have the impact that Julius Peppers had 9 years ago. The right decision get them out of the cellar. The wrong decision keeps them on the clock for the 2012 NFL Draft. We shall see.