TEN BEST
10. Jonathan Stewart RB (2008, 1st round)-Stewart burst on to the scene in 2008 becoming the best rookie RB drafted in the first round that year. He outperformed Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, and Rashard Mendehall was put on IR with Pittsburgh. J-Stew consistently broke tackles and ran MFers over while running the ball, his 836 yard first year is a little bit less than DeShaun Foster's career high, which is interesting considering Foster got his yards getting the ball handed to him most of the game, while Stewart spent much of his time as the complement back to DeAngelo Williams. His awesome rookie campaign is only the beginning of what I hope is a very good career for him.
9. Ryan Kalil C (2007, 2nd round)-Kalil struggled early on when the Panthers put him in at RG I think, when Hartwig was still around in 2007. Last year, however, he broke out of his shell and became a reliable blocker for us. It's looking more and more like the perception of him being the best center to come out of school in ten years is proving true.
8. Richard Marshall CB (2006, 2nd round)-Marshall was called upon early and often in his career. His rookie season he looked better than a lot of starting CBs when Lucas was banged up throughout the year and he had to fill in. He's not really improved from there but he still has plenty of time to turn around and become a ballhawk.
7. Chris Gamble CB (2004, 1st round)-Gamble was drafted and immediately started ahead of the CBs we had the year before. He had 6 picks his first year and like 7 his second. Then he had a bad year in 2006, but he's rebounded very well, and his intentions are really good for us. He re-signed real easy during the season, the only guy of the "BIG 3" to do so far.
6. Travelle Wharton OL (2004, 3rd round)-Travelle's been a starter his whole career with the exception of 2006 where he blew out his knee and was out for the year. It turned out to be a bad loss, since line play wasn't very good overall that year. He started at LT in 2005 but his best fit is inside a little at LG. He was a very big reason the Panthers running game was so successful this year and I hope that's only the beginning.
5. Julius Peppers DE (2002, 1st round)-Julius would be higher if he wanted to stay here but that's his choice. Regardless he is still a top 5 Panthers draft pick, and performed very well, ...most of the time. He holds the all time sack record with the Panthers, though that's not saying much since the Panthers haven't been around for that long.
4. Jordan Gross OT (2003, 1st round)-Jordan has been nothing but a consistent key cog anchor in the Panthers offense. As a matter of fact he's the only lineman who's been with us throughout the superbowl run and still here today. That could very well change since his status on returning is still pending. But here's hoping he accepts an extension and we can see him on the field again next year protecting our QB and blocking for Smash and Dash.
TOP 3
3. Will Witherspoon LB (2002, 3rd round)-For where he was drafted Will turned out to be a very good linebacker and reliable too. Overall he was better than Dan Morgan when you consider how many games they were able to start. He and Morgan side by side made an excellent tandem, ...when Morgan was actually on the field. In choosing between Dan and Will, the Panthers went with Morgan, they made a mistake and gave him the contract, so Witherspoon walked and got a deal with the Rams where they can't win a game because nobody else there has talent. ...cept for maybe Torry Holt but he's getting up there in the age dept.
2. DeAngelo Williams RB (2006, 1st round)-DWill staked his claim as the best runningback of that 2006 class by running for the highest yardage total out of any of them in their careers and scoring like 20 touchdowns. He was like the Steve Smith of runningbacks this last year, and the best one the Panthers have ever had so far. Hopefully, he can consistently be productive and continue to emerge as one of the premier backs in the league.
1. Jon Beason LB (2007, 1st round)-Here he is ruining Terrell Owens' life haha. Beason quickly emerged as one of the best MLBers in the entire league, very early on. In my opinion he's outperformed Willis so far in his career, and is far better than Posluszny in Buffalo. He's an outstanding cover linebacker, extremely reliable in the tackling department, and best of all, he brings it every single play. He's got one of the best motors in the NFL. The point of drafting Beason I think was to try to bring that Witherspoon/Morgan dynamic back into play, but he's better than both of them, and he's tough as nails. Another great trait of him is that he's a terrific leader on the field, he's the defense's mouthpiece and rightly so.
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