{"id":139565,"date":"2023-03-23T15:30:36","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T19:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=139565"},"modified":"2023-03-22T21:06:44","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T01:06:44","slug":"panthers-surprise-first-overall-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/03\/23\/panthers-surprise-first-overall-pick\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers Legend Thinks Team Will \u201cSurprise\u201d With First Overall Pick"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Carolina Panthers recently acquired the first-overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, but it\u2019s still anyone\u2019s guess as to what they\u2019ll do with the selection. While the current consensus is that they\u2019ll draft <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/02\/22\/c-j-stroud-2023-nfl-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_self\">CJ Stroud out of Ohio State<\/a>, former Panther Thomas Davis expects the team to surprise a few experts, and called out one specific prospect that the team could target.<\/p>\n<h2>Thomas Davis: Panthers Could Surprise With First Overall Pick<\/h2>\n<p>While appearing on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFLTotalAccess\/status\/1638317068033351682?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NFL Total Access<\/a>, a conversation arose concerning Daniel Jeremiah\u2019s latest mock draft. While Jeremiah believed the Panthers would select Bryce Young with the first overall pick, Davis wasn\u2019t so sure.<\/p>\n<p>Reacting to the mock, Davis said that \u201c[the Panthers selection] will be a very, very, surprising pick\u201d before adding that \u201c[t]here are a couple of guys upstairs that are enamored with the physical ability of Anthony Richardson.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MoveTheSticks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@MoveTheSticks<\/a> has Bryce Young going #1 to Carolina&#8230;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThomasDavisSDTM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ThomasDavisSDTM<\/a> disagrees &quot;It will be a very very surprising pick&quot; \ud83d\udc40 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LqBEMfbdRo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/LqBEMfbdRo<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NFL Total Access (@NFLTotalAccess) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFLTotalAccess\/status\/1638317068033351682?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 21, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Obviously, this is just one report, so you should take it with a grain of salt. That being said, Davis\u2019 long history with the organization is more than enough to give his opinion merit. For the younger readers out there, Davis spent 13 years with the Carolina Panthers, establishing himself as one of the faces of the franchise while at his peak. He obviously made a few connections during his time with the organization, and seeing as he only left the team following the 2018 season, it\u2019s also safe to assume that a few of those connections are still employed in the building.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t the first time we\u2019ve heard about Carolina\u2019s alleged infatuation with the Florida product, either. During the NFL Combine, reports leaked stating that <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/03\/05\/anthony-richardson-panthers-trade-up\/\" target=\"_self\">Carolina \u201cloved\u201d Anthony Richardson<\/a> and would be willing to trade up to secure his services. Not long after that, the Panthers traded up and got the first overall pick.<\/p>\n<h3>Who Should the Panthers Select?<\/h3>\n<p>Based on all reports, it appears as though the Panthers are struggling to choose between three quarterbacks: CJ Stroud, Bryce Young, and Anthony Richardson. Each player has their own strengths and weaknesses, so let\u2019s see what each guy has to offer.<\/p>\n<p>Stroud is easily the safest choice of the bunch, as he possesses elite accuracy and an impressive ability to process a defense. However, he lacks the physical gifts to become an elite quarterback. Unless he gains a Manning-esque knowledge of the game (which is a completely unreasonable expectation) his ceiling is probably in the neighborhood of Kirk Cousins.<\/p>\n<p>Bryce Young, meanwhile, probably has the best combination of floor and ceiling. If everything pans out for him, he\u2019ll be the next Russell Wilson, but his small build is a natural injury concern, as is his complete unwillingness to utilize the middle of the field.<\/p>\n<p>Anthony Richardson, meanwhile, will either be a top-five quarterback or a backup in three years, and there isn\u2019t much room in between. The quarterback possesses physical traits that put Josh Allen and Cam Newton to shame, and if he puts it all together, he\u2019ll be unstoppable. That said, he has atrocious accuracy and he\u2019ll need some time to develop.<\/p>\n<p>You need an elite quarterback to win in today\u2019s NFL, and with that in mind, the Panthers should be going after either Young or Richardson. However, if they want to play it safe and land a quarterback that will definitely keep everybody\u2019s jobs safe for a few years, then Stroud is probably the best option.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo: Kirby Lee &#8211; USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While most analysts expect the Carolina Panthers to select CJ Stroud with the first overall pick, Thomas Davis expects a crazier selection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":139568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[9564,9487,9350,7661,1183],"class_list":["post-139565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-panthers","tag-anthony-richardson","tag-bryce-young","tag-cj-stroud","tag-panthers-featured","tag-thomas-davis"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}