Posted by Andy Benoit

NFL Players are returning to work Friday morning. One of the first to show up at his team’s facility was Jimmy Clausen in Carolina.

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Sam Wyche of NFL.com reports that the Panthers had a voluntarily team meeting at 8:45 a.m. Clausen arrived at the team’s facility at 7:25.

Wyche asked Clausen the obvious question: what does he think of the Cam Newton selection?

"They've got to do what they got to do," Clausen said.

It will be interesting to see how Clausen and Newton jive when the two start working out and practicing together. As Joe Fortenbaugh of National Football Post points out, Clausen currently wears number 2 -- Newton's number at Auburn. Generally, rookies purchase their numbers from veterans. But how would it look for Clausen to sell to the man brought in to replace him so soon?

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Posted by Will Brinson

NEW YORK -- You wanna know how the rich keep getting richer? The poor keep reaching for quarterbacks, that's how.

In one of the strangest drags in recent history, four potentially disastrous quarterbacks went in the top-15 picks, as Cam Newton (1), Jake Locker (8), Blaine Gabbert (10) and Christian Ponder (12) were all of the board before we got halfway through the first round.


The fact that quarterbacks went early isn't shocking, because right now the league is quarterback-needy as hell. Lots of people projected a pile of signal-callers coming off respective big boards throughout the first round.

But by pulling trigger on some questionable quarterbacks so early in the draft, a bunch of teams -- who were drafting early for a reason -- ended up allowing a ton of top tier talent to fall down to a bunch of teams who were drafting -- you guessed it -- late for a reason.

The Colts (Anthony Castonzo), the Saints (Cameron Jordan and then Mark Ingram), the Giants (Prince Amukamara) and a number of other teams ended up hitting home runs with their first-round picks because teams who needed quarterbacks couldn't, for lack of a better phrase, keep it in their pants.

Look, the trio of Gabbert/Ponder/Locker could end up working out for these teams. Ponder's NFL-ready and could be an immediate benefit for the Vikings, while Gabbert and Locker have veterans -- David Garrard and Kerry Collins, respectively -- in front of them and will get a year or two to learn and get prepped to take over.

They could certainly end up being successful quarterbacks in the NFL, but they could also certainly be busts.

But the reason why they went so early isn't because they're guaranteed to be big-time successes in the NFL. They went early because 1) teams were limited in maneuvering because of the labor situation and, more importantly, 2) failed to recognize that in this draft, depth was present at positions that are not named quarterback.

There were certainly "lots of quarterbacks" but that has nothing to do with there being "significant depth at the position."

It's something that you expect general managers and the people who run teams to recognize. But for whatever reason, in this draft, they didn't.

Which is why we shouldn't be too shocked if we see a similar draft order in the first round of 2012 as we saw on Thursday night.

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Posted by Andy Benoit

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We’ll know soon enough, but in case you can’t wait, we have a Cam Newton rumor to pass along. ESPN’s Chris Mortensen says a source tells him it’s 99.9 percent likely that the Panthers will draft the Auburn quarterback No. 1 overall.

One positive side effect of the lockout is that there has at least been some mystery surrounding the No. 1 pick. Last year, the Rams negotiated a contract with Sam Bradford well before Draft Day. The Lions did the same with Matthew Stafford in ’09, and the Dolphins did the same with Jake Long in ’08. But with the lockout in effect, the Panthers would not have been able to hash out an agreement with Newton even if they’d wanted to.

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Posted by Josh Katzowitz

It’s either going to be QB Cam Newton, DT Marcell Dareus, CB Patrick Peterson and WR A.J. Green. One member of that quartet, according to ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio, will be the Panthers’ No. 1 pick Thursday night.*

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Like I wrote earlier this evening, Newton is the most likely to hear his name called first (his advisor Warren Moon thinks so anyway), but Green also could make sense, especially if Panthers WR Steve Smith keeps his locker cleaned out and doesn’t want to return to Carolina.

For the record: in their mock drafts, Rob Rang and Chad Reuter had the Panthers taking Newton, the Broncos taking Dareus at No. 2 and the Bengals grabbing Green at No. 4. Rang has Peterson going to the Browns at No. 6, and Reuter has him going to the 49ers at No. 7.

*Isn't a little hard to fathom that, less than 24 hours before the NFL draft, the Panthers STILL don't know who they're going to take and that they've ONLY narrowed it down to four players? That, for me, is rather hard to believe.

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Posted by Josh Katzowitz

I did a radio show in Edmonton tonight, and the hosts asked me if I thought Cam Newton was a safe bet to go No. 1 to the Panthers.

I said that even though we hear different scenarios all the time (Carolina could trade out of the top spot, the Panthers could take somebody else or they could grab Newton, and all have valid points why they might be true), I told the hosts that I figured it was a pretty good bet Newton would hear his name called first.

Former Oilers QB Warren Moon – and one of Newton’s advisors – agrees with that assessment.

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He told 620 KTAR in Arizona today (via Pro Football Talk) that he’s 90 percent sure Carolina will take Newton.

And not even Newton knows for sure. After all, with the lockout dragging on, it’s not like the two sides could begin negotiating with each other for the top spot.

Moon said the Panthers are playing their pick “close to the vest.”

Which makes pretty good fodder to talk – and write blog posts – about. And luckily, we’ll have our answer in less than 24 hours.

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Posted by Josh Katzowitz

Since when did Andy Dalton become a top-10 pick for this week’s NFL draft? Hell, when did he become a first round pick? I must have missed that memo, but apparently, somebody thinks quite highly of the former TCU quarterback.

That team, according to NFL.com’s Jason La Canfora is the Titans – who apparently are thinking of picking Dalton with the No. 8 pick (rather than, as convention (and our mock draft gurus Rob Rang and Chad Reuter) dictates, go with Auburn DT Nick Fairley).

La Canfora’s sources told him that Tennessee – which, after losing Vince Young and probably Kerry Collins, is in desperate need of a starting quarterback whose name happens not to be Rusty Smith – considers Dalton an elite prospect who is less of a risk than the other quarterbacks who might fall to No. 8.

Considering Auburn’s Cam Newton and Missouri’s Blaine Gabbert likely will be off the board by the time the Titans pick, Tennessee could want to avoid Washington’s Jake Locker and Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett and pick Dalton instead. The Titans also could be worried that by the time they get to their second-round pick, Dalton would be gone.

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Greg Cosell of the NFL Network disagrees, telling the Sacramento Bee that Dalton is no better than (gasp!) a fourth-round pick.

“He won't go there. He'll go higher," Cosell said. "But he doesn't throw it very well. He doesn't spin it very well. He's a guy you'll have to camouflage. He needs a strong running game to be successful."

Either way, it’s nice to know that Dalton’s red hair might not be that big a consideration with at least one NFL team.

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Posted by Will Brinson

No less than 48 hours ago, I told a relative at Easter that I had "fully talked myself into the Panthers taking Cam Newton." That's a by-product of several things, including: a) the franchise's need for a "face" that people care about, b) the unparalleled upside that Newton represents, c) the lack of any decent quarterback on the roster and d) the need to sell tickets and get fans re-invested.

When I woke up on Monday though, I felt entirely differently, and now I'm pretty sure that the Panthers absolutely need to pass on Newton, acquire as many decent assets as they can, and focus on getting Andrew Luck in 2011. (Quite conveniently, Clark Judge is hearing they'll do just that.)

That's not saying they should "tank" -- and, disclaimer time: I'm actually a Panthers fan, so that would be kind of miserable for me. They shouldn't. No one should tank in the NFL because, unlike the NBA or MLB, things can change quickly, and teams can become successful overnight.

But have you seen Carolina's schedule? It's nuts. There are -- at most -- five winnable games on the slate in 2011, and it wouldn't matter who they had quarterbacking, as long as that person is either a rookie or a second-year Jimmy Clausen, because it's going to be a struggle.

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Obviously the Panthers get the Falcons, the Saints and the Buccaneers twice in 2011, and only an insane optimist could expect more than two wins against those three times total. Two, which is dangerously hopeful, would include a win against the Bucs at home and either a random upset of Atlanta or New Orleans, or a late-season win where one of those teams doesn't trot out their full "A-team" because their seeding decision has been settled.

Look at the rest of the schedule, and the even the most bullish fan would find a hard time arguing that, with Cam Newton and/or Jimmy Clausen at the helm, the Panthers will win five games. I mean, where are the wins? Against the Cardinals, in Arizona, during the opening week of the season? Maybe.

Week 2 against the Packers can already be ruled out, as can Week 12 against the Colts in Indy and the Week 15 matchup against the Texans in Houston; all of those teams have too much offense for the Panthers to compete. So let's say they lose those three games and go 1-5 in the division.

That leaves a home matchup against Jacksonville in Week 3, a trip to Chicago in Week 4, a home matchup against the Redskins in Week 7 followed by the Vikings coming to town in Week 8, a Week 10, post-bye matchup against the Titans in Charlotte and a trip to Detroit in Week 11. Winning three of those games, based on the success that the 2010 team had, would be considered a tremendous success. That's a 4-12 record for the season, a miserable year, and a learning experience with regard to whether Jimmy Clausen can be the future of the franchise (my answer is no, but Marty Hurney apparently still wants to find out).

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It's also probably good enough to land them the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, which will net them Andrew Luck of Stanford, unless he decides he really loves graduate school.

And yes, I understand that this is a game of chicken that no NFL front office can reasonably play; it predicates itself on thinking that your team will be awful, and that's not a mindset you see in the NFL. But the schedule is what the schedule is, and then there's this: everyone in this draft is pulling trigger on a quarterback.

Most folks believe that there's a chance six -- SIX! -- quarterbacks could be gone as early as the first round. If six of the 10 (or so) teams that are truly desperate for quarterback help take a first-rounder, there's a pretty good chance that they won't even be looking for Luck come next year, significantly improving the Panthers chance that they would wind up with the most coveted option in the 2011 draft, even if they didn't finish with the worst record. (For instance, if the Bills draft Blaine Gabbert or Cam Newton third overall and finish 2-14, are they taking Luck? They can't.

And that should be the scariest fact for Hurney and new coach Ron Rivera when they start looking at their options for the coming season: even if they do take Newton, they could finish with the worst record in the NFL (in fact, one could argue drafting Newton improves their chances ...) and be faced with a decision on having to draft their third straight franchise quarterback. That's something that isn't even considered an option. Even if Luck was there, Carolina would have to think defense, which would be a shame.

Look, landing Luck vis-a-vis the No. 1 overall pick next year is far from a guarantee. But the odds of it happening for Carolina are at least as good, if not better, than hitting a home run with Cam Newton.

Posted by Will Brinson

The NFL just announced the specific 25 rookies that will appear at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday when the NFL Draft takes place.

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The number of players for 2011 is an all-time, record high for invitees -- 17 players attended in 2010 and that was the previous record for rookies who showed up at the NFL Draft.

That's fascinating since there's currently a bit of a situation going on with the lockout, but it's understandable, because there's really no clear-cut way in which the draft will shake out come Thursday night, especially because the Panthers hold a top pick that will set of a chain reaction of dominos when they select, and they have yet to tip their hand.

Player	Position	School
Prince Amukamara	CB	Nebraska
Akeem Ayers	LB	UCLA
Adrian Clayborn	DE	Iowa
Randall Cobb	WR	Kentucky
Marcell Dareus	DT	Alabama
Nick Fairley	DT	Auburn
Blaine Gabbert	QB	Missouri
A.J. Green	WR	Georgia
Mark Herzlich	LB	Boston College
Mark Ingram	RB	Alabama
Cameron Jordan	DE	California
Julio Jones	WR	Alabama
Ryan Kerrigan	DE	Purdue
Corey Liuget	DT	Illnois
Von Miller	LB	Texas A&M
Rahim Moore	S	UCLA
Cam Newton	QB	Auburn
Patrick Peterson	CB	LSU
Mike Pouncey	OL	Florida
Aldon Smith	DE	Missouri
Tyron Smith	OT	USC
Phil Taylor	DT	Baylor
Danny Watkins	OG	Baylor
JJ Watt	DE	Wisconsin
Ryan Williams	RB	Virginia Tech