I'm in the process of writing an article on draft needs for the Panthers and to me the fundamental question is have the Panthers given up on Jimmy Clausen already?

Obviously he was awful last year, my experience of watching him mostly revolved around lowlights on SportsCenter and the full game of Carolina against my Steelers. I'm kind of of a mind that you can't call a QB done in this league after just one season thrown into the deep end on a struggling team.

Is there really no hope for him? Or is the talk of Blaine Gabbert or Cam Newton with the #1 overall pick more of a factor of new coaches and having the opportunity to get a QB?

The more I look at the Panthers' situation the more I think what you really need more than anything is to try and get hold of Matt Hasselbeck or Billy Volek to run the offense for a year or two while Clausen learns the pro game. To me even if you lose DeAngelo Williams the running game is still strong, the receivers are young but promising. I can see a gap there if the trade of Steve Smith happens but not without it.

Would I be waaay off base in thinking the best way for the Panthers to really go in the draft is to get better up front on D? Something that, allied with a veteran QB, would give them the ability to rush more in games and really use their strength on offense? I mean the Panthers rushed almost 20% more in 2009 than they did in 2010.

Would love the input from guys who watch them every week. From where I stand it looks like you have a pretty young team in a lot of positions that typically take a while to develop but DT still looks like a major headache?