This time of year you have take any comments made by a NFL GM or Head Coach with a grain of salt. Everyone is afraid that another team will trade up to snag their most coveted player. John Fox and his staff are no different. They have dangled the idea of drafting a QB (Ryan), a DE (Harvey) and an OT (Clady). It’s been assumed by many people, including myself, that their greatest need is an OT since they plan to move last year’s LT Travelle Wharton to left guard. Here’s my question:

What if moving Wharton to guard is the smoke screen?

Wharton did give up nine sacks last season but maybe the Panthers feel it’s more a result of our receivers not getting open. They certainly upgraded the WR position via free agency. Brad Thomas over at Panther Insider makes a very good case that the Panthers true target is a running back, in particular Rashard Mendenhall.

We don’t believe that the Panthers will draft an offensive lineman with the thirteenth pick overall because of the depth of the position in the draft and the likely opportunity that they will be able to get nearly equivalent talent in the second round. The Panthers’ brass has stated on a number of occasions that they need to get playmakers on offense. With the availability of running backs such as Rashard Mendenhall and Jon Stewart in the first round, the Panthers would get better value drafting them and a tackle in the second rather than drafting a tackle and a lesser-talented running back in the second or third.

But isn’t the Panthers offensive line in need of a serious upgrade? Consider this comparison of the Panthers current line with that of our 2003 SB team:

Let's also talk about the O-line that we used to get to the Super Bowl in 03 compared to the one we've assembled so far in 08:

In 03 you had Todd Steussie, Jeno James, Jeff Mitchell, Rick Donnalley and Jordan Gross.

Donnalley was a 35 year old guard who was returning from injury two seasons prior and was on steroids. Initially, Donnalley was a 1991 third round pick of the Houston Oilers. He'd had a decent career but was over the hill and only came to the panthers because of his familiarity with the scheme OL coach Paul Boudreau employed in Miami.

Jordan Gross was a first round pick of the Panthers in his rookie season out of Utah and was considered by many to be the best OL in that draft.

Jeff Mitchell was 29 and was regarded as one of the best players on the roster at the time.... Mitchell was a 5th round pick of the Baltimore Ravens. Mitchell started 10 out of 11 games his rookie season, and went on to start most of the games in his career. Mitchell only lasted two more seasons before he was out of the league.

Jeno James was 26 and a 2000 6th round pick of the Carolina Panthers who had previously not done anything of note in the three previous seasons with the team. James left the panthers after the 2004 season for big money in Miami and was considered a free agent flop. He's currently a free agent now, searching for a job.

Todd Steussie was 33 and on the downside of a long career with the Minnesota Vikings, who selected him 19th in the first round of the 1994 draft. Stuessie gained the nickname "turnstile" because he had a problem protecting the QB from outside speed rushers. Steussie was released after the 2003 season. Steussie was a direct cause of a blindside hit during the super bowl that resulted in a Delhomme fumble, and generally was a poor pass protector in his time with the team.

So... looking at this offensive line, there was nothing special. In fact, a similar line started in 02 -- Steussie, Nesbit, Mitchell, Donnalley and Chris Terry / Melvin Tuten. Nesbit moved on after the season, and Terry, who was regarded as one of the best RTs in the league at the time could not stop beating his wife and was released by the Panthers and replaced by Tuten, necessitating the drafting of Gross.

In 2002, the Panthers ran for 1,586 led by Lamar Smith and Dee Brown. Brown and Smith combined for 11 rushing touchdowns.

In 2003, the Panthers ran for 2,091 yards, mostly on the legs of Stephen Davis, who had 1,444 yards and 8 TDs by himself. DeShaun Foster rushed for 429 yards and no touchdowns. The most notable part of this is that Davis averaged 4.5 yards per carry behind an average to below average offensive line.

In 2002, Rodney Peete threw 15 TDs and 14 ints, was sacked 31 times and finished with a rating of 77.4.
In 2003, Jake Delhomme threw 19 TDs and 16ints, was sacked 23 times and finished with a rating of 80.6.

Both had equally pedestrian offensive lines, however Delhomme had the benefit of the emergence of Steve Smith and A STUD RUNNING BACK in Stephen Davis.

Now lets talk about the players we have on the roster now:

Jordan Gross -- best player on the line, likely staying at RT.
Travelle Wharton -- fairly solid LT, can play LG, BETTER than 03 version of Todd Stuessie, I think we'd all agree.
Ryan Kalil -- played well at C during the end of 2007, was the best C in the draft in 07, was a standout player at USC, one of the best teams in the nation on the collegiate level.

This is where it gets murky, so lets wade through this carefully:

Toniu Fonoti -- regarded as a stud out of college, started nearly every game in his first two seasons with the Chargers, who selected him in the 2nd round of the 02 draft. He's 26 years old. Was ran out of the league largely because of his weight, which hovered around 390 lbs. Reportedly, he's around 330 now, and the panthers generally do a good job of helping players who want to control their weight maintain it. Fonoti HAS been a Pro Bowl level player in his career and could be again if his mind is in the right place. I think he'll end up starting at LG.

Keydrick Vincent -- vincent hasn't had a stellar career, but he's 29 and has started several games in the past. Vincent signed with the Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2001.

Milford Brown -- Brown was a 6th round selection in 2002 by the Houston Texans, and has started at least 12 games in each of the last three seasons with the Texans, Cardinals and Rams. Brown can also play RT...The squad they have assembled right now, at this moment, is already more talented than the unit they had in 2003.

What this team is lacking is a Power Back -- a difference maker.

I have a hard time thinking the current unit is better than the 2003 unit but the only flaw I see in his analysis is Wharton being better than Stussie, not too sure about that one. If the Panthers truly think that C Justin Hartwig and G Mike Wahle were the weak links in the OL then this hypothesis makes sense. The Panthers could certainly wait until the later rounds to draft some depth for the line if they are going to leave Wharton at LT. If the Panthers are happy with their talent on the o-line as it stands and if DE Derrick Harvey is gone then I would love to see us draft Mendenhall or Stewart. It is certainly a sexier pick than taking a tackle and is sure to generate excitement in Pantherland. If there is one thing I learned from last years draft is that I'm pretty bad at predicting what the Panther brass is going to do.

It’s been a while since I asked this question so now that we’re essentially a week away from the draft let’s see what people are thinking now.