It’s been a long time since the Carolina Panthers had a clear drafting philosophy, and in just one night, we saw it all. Three trades, three players picked, lots of extra capital acquired. I love it, and I think most people who understand that the Draft is actually more like the lottery than picking a team, they like it too. More tickets, more chances to win. Even better if those tickets have remarkable athletic potential.
We now know based on their selections and the post day 2 press conference that Rhule and Fitterer are big time believers in metrics and measurables. They value guys who are physically ready, and believe that they can handle the rest. Relative Athletic Score (aka RAS) is something we have shown a lot in this draft because THEY have shown they value it.
Here is the RAS of the three guys they took today:
Terrace Marshall - 9.94 (highest in WR class)
Brady Christensen - 9.84 (3rd highest, OT class)
Tommy Tremble - 8.8 (5th highest in TE class)
By comparison to previous regime evaluation... Greg Little had a 4.17
So, where does that leave us for tomorrow? We know the Panthers will want a ridiculous athlete. We know we still have need on the interior line. Where does that need and BPA intersect? On our wing eating gentleman pictured above.
Trey Smith - OG - Tennessee
Boom.
Trey Smith is a OT prospect in the 2021 draft class. He scored a 9.8 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 23 out of 1113 OT from 1987 to 2021.
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) March 25, 2021
Splits projected, times unofficialhttps://t.co/GdRgQa44Kq #RAS pic.twitter.com/dvSOXRoNrR
They have him in the OT group here, but in reality, this guy is an NFL guard, which would actually raise his score as it is harder to compare favorably to tackles than guards in agility metrics. The 32 bench press reps hit you immediately, as does the Broad jump and 3-cone. Since guards work in a smaller area, you want to see that theoretically good footwork that a superb 3-cone time exposes.
So now that you know all the great things about Trey Smith... why has he not been drafted already?
Medicals. Legitimately scary medicals. As in life threatening.
First... do yourself a favor and watch this. Get a feel of who Trey Smith is as a player and as an individual.
Soak in his message, soak in what football means to him, and why he wants to continue to play it even though it could endanger his life. If you don’t get the vibe of “this is my decision. I realize I’m at risk, and I still want to live my dream, and the team that gives me that chance will be rewarded.” then I don’t know how else to show it to you.
His nickname is “cornbread.” Does that put him over the top?
Seriously though, when looking at what team could stand to benefit from giving this extremely talented player with one very unfortunate condition, what team is a better fit than Carolina? Who just loaded up on essentially other teams “free” picks, and has a big time need on the interior offensive line.
Trey Smith is our guy. Damn the medicals. I want this guy to live his dream for the Carolina Panthers, who are we to tell him no?
You know what to do, Matt and Scott.