Schefter: Andrew Luck or bust for Panthers

There are so many other things the Panthers can fix before taking another early round QB, let alone the first overall pick. Either way, we’ll see what happens draft day.

Would be legit

The worst part is….

I can’t rag on him too much because he’s doing so excellent in college. I don’t know what it is about Andrew Luck though. I just don’t like him and I don’t like the hypemachine he has become. I don’t like that he’s a sophomore. I don’t like Stanford’s easy schedule inflating his statistics everyone likes to repeat so much. I don’t like him being praised by ESPN like he’s the god of war when Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco hardly got any media coverage when they came out of college. I don’t like his NFL-Caliber O-line that has kept pressure off him the entire year. I don’t like his defense that can create THREE scoreless games and keep putting the offense back on the field again and again and again so that he can further inflate his stats against terrible teams and look like the good of war that he is against a deflated defense with nothing to play for. I don’t like Jim Harbaugh and his connections to the NFL scouts and ESPN to help create earlier mentioned media hype for Andrew Luck.

And to be honest, I don’t feel that any of these QB’s coming out in this draft can be successful right out of the gates in the NFL. Jake Locker is an on and off again QB, and I think he will be a bust due to inconsistency. Ryan Mallett is just as likely to be a success than he will party his way out of the NFL. As a matter of fact, the guy I like the most in this draft is Christian Ponder from Florida State, and even he will be a project coming out of the gate.

Is Andrew Luck going to be the best QB on paper? Sure! You look at his stats, and it looks all nice and shiny. Could he be a good NFL QB? In due time. But if everyone gets on this hype-train and Andrew Luck comes out as a #1 pick and get this huge contract, it may ruin him. Just like it has ruined countless other QB’s in the past. Given more time in college and success in a tougher schedule, my opinion may change. But there are far too many variables coming together all at once for me to jump on the hype train with everyone else. Too many red flags that aren’t being mentioned in the media. I don’t like people on ESPN telling me what to believe, I trust the man upstairs in my skull and the gut feeling in my chest. I like to think for myself.

And Andrew Luck? It feels like a hype train heading for letdownville.

You want to know who I do like? His #1 receiver: Doug Baldwin. 4.0 GPA in school and a 1,000 yard season by the time the year is over with the bowl game? His coach is spending so much time shining Luck’s boots that he’s going to go pretty low in the draft. There’s a lot to like about this kid.

Ryan, Brees, Freeman,….Clausen or Luck. This division is getting very pro bowl QB driven. Some of the best QBs in the league now reside in the NFC South. Carolina has the chance to get a top tier QB they have to do it. Could Clausen be that guy sure but Luck is rated so high on all the charts that passing on him could be a dark spot on the franchise for the foreseeable future. If Luck turns into the NFL QB that every Scout thinks he will turn into and the Panthers passed on that the damage would be immense to a fan base already scratching there heads. Andrew Luck is this drafts gem. You got the pick you take the pick. Not to mention Andrew Luck will be great coach bait and both would help start anew in Carolina and begin a whole new era.