One curious quandary with the Panthers willingness to sign any and every UDFA receiver available was that they lacked anyone to throw the football in the first place. This morning I joked Carolina might pull Ken Dorsey away from his scouting film to throw the pigskin, but it looks like we do have two quarterbacks in for the rookie camp this weekend.
Panthers have 2 QBs in for minicamp: Dalton Bell and Jarrett Brown. Bell, a CFL QB, was w/ Panthers as UFA out of West Texas A&M in 2007.
— Joe Person (@josephperson) May 10, 2012
While veterans can attend if they choose, the majority wont be at the rookie mini-camp, and CBA rules state that veterans only need attend one mandatory camp- so it's unlikely we'll see most guys in Charlotte this weekend. Personally, I'd prefer no veterans participate if for no other reason than for the rookies to get as many reps as possible over the three days. There will be plenty of time to acclimate the draft picks with the veterans, so I'd like to see them turn up and work out, but maybe not participate in the drills.
A look at the guys we brought in to throw after the jump
Rather than start with the 29-year-old CFL QB Dalton Bell, let's start with Jarrett Brown- the 2010 UDFA who has spent time on the rosters of San Francisco, Cleveland and Indianapolis. It's tempting to get excited over the measurables he brings, the high praise he got in the 2010 senior bowl and assume that Brown is the long term answer behind Cam Newton as the athletic, strong arm QB that Ron Rivera alluded to needing, however it's important to remember this was a guy let go by the Browns and Colts.
That being said- it's not like the 2010 49ers, or the 2011 Browns and Colts were the most functional organizations either, with all three teams having either new coaches, or in flux at the quarterback position. Here are Brown's stats from last preseason with Cleveland:
PRESEASON | GAMES | PASSING | RUSHING | FUMBLES | |||||||||||||||||
WK | Game Date | Opp | Result | G | GS | Comp | Att | Pct | Yds | Avg | TD | Int | Sck | SckY | Rate | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | FUM | Lost |
1 | 08/13 | GB | W 27-17 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 50.0 | 13 | 6.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 31.2 | 2 | -2 | -1.0 | 0 | -- | -- |
2 | 08/19 | DET | L 28-30 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39.6 | 2 | 9 | 4.5 | 0 | -- | -- |
3 | 08/25 | @ PHI | L 14-24 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 100.0 | 35 | 8.8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 142.7 | 1 | 16 | 16.0 | 0 | -- | -- |
4 | 09/01 | @ CHI | L 14-24 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 15 | 66.7 | 92 | 6.1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 77.6 | 4 | 24 | 6.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
TOTAL | 4 | 0 | 15 | 25 | 60.0 | 140 | 5.6 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 68.8 | 9 | 47 | 5.2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
The second QB was the aforementioned Dalton Bell out of West Texas A&M. Last season he was with the Toronto Argonauts as a backup behind Ricky Ray- one of the CFL's best, but this season he's a free agent. No offense to Bell, but if you want the definition of 'camp arm' this is it- at 29 years old and no CFL team willing to sign him there's no chance he makes the roster.