Who's The "1"? (Part 1)

By:Carrington Caul

"With the first pick of the 2011 NFL Draft, Carolina Panthers pick”…. Hold on! We don’t know who, and that’s for two reasons.1)The NFL Draft is still a month away and 2) and most importantly,this is the first draft that I can remember, that we had no idea who was going to be the first pick. Normally we have a general consensus decision on who will go first; even if it’s not that person we usually can predict it. This year we have 6 Potential number 1 draft picks.

From QB’s: Cam Newton & Blaine Gabbert to DL: Nick Fairley, Da’Quan Bowers & Marcell Dareus and probably the best player out of the draft CB: Patrick Peterson. The most crazy part of it was from February till today every one of the players I have named have been projected to be the number one pick of the draft. Every one of these players has the chance to be a top draft pick and can all have great careers. During this article I will break down every one of the top 6 draft picks and explain why they could and couldn’t get drafted as the top pick of this year’s draft.

QB: Cam Newton

What is there not to love about this kid he came out of high school and was the top college prospect of his year. Signed his letter of intent and decided to go to University of Florida. Only problem with this is - he was behind arguably the greatest player to ever play the game on collegiate level Tim Tebow. After not liking getting the chance to start over Tebow, Newton transferred to Binns College where he won a National Junior College Championship before transferring to Auburn University taking them to a undefeated record and winning a National Championship in just his first and only season with the Tigers.

At 6’5” 248lbs Newton has tremendous upside and freakish athleticism. Running a 4.58 at the combine, Newton also has a strong arm that allows him to throw down field. But there are still plenty of questions surrounding him. Can he run a pro-style offense? Can he sit in the pocket and make the throws that NFL QB’s make? There are some off the field questions also. Honestly I would call Cam Newton a risk choice with him you could get the next Ben Roethlisberger or you could get the next Jamarcus Russell

QB: Blaine Gabbert

Gabbert is probably one of the best NFL Ready QB’s in this year’s draft. At the combine he ran a 4.61 being 6’4” 235lbs he has a strong solid arm though not as strong as Newton. During his pro day he completed 44-49 of his passes all under center while NFL Scouts said three of his incompletions were catchable and wasn’t his fault. He can make the short throws and also the deep ones.

During his sophomore season he completed 262 passes out of 445 attempts giving him a 58.9 completion percentage and 3,593 yards while throwing 24 TD’s and only 9 INT in his first season as a starter. Entering his Junior year and 2nd year as a starter Gabbert completed 301 of 475 passes for 3,186 with a 63.4 completion percentage and a 16-9 TD-INT ratio including 6 games were he threw over 200 yards and 3 where he cracked the 300yd mark. Gabbert is a exceptional QB With a high FB IQ.

If the panthers decide to go QB with their first pick I would expect him to be that pick.