Panthers take Kuechly

Quick hit on the Panthers selection of Boston College LB Luke Kuechly.

I like it.

At the 9 spot, Carolina would have been hard pressed to find a player with the skills, athleticism, and football smarts of Kuechly.  He will be a good fit to the Panthers linebacking corps.   Sure, there are questions about whether Kuechly will start, but in the NFL, to me anyway, starts are immaterial.  The 11 guys who start on defense do not play every single defensive snap.  Kuechly has versatility to move from the weakside to the strong, and of course has the middle in his repertoire as well. 

The Panthers questions are more about how soon Jon Beason will be back up to speed (last week, he pronounced himself 80% back), and if Thomas Davis will be able to stay on he field.  Davis is coming off of his 3rd ACL surgery on the same knee, so the odds are long that he will be able to contribute.  Davis had a solid pre-season as well as season opener in 2011.  He re-injured the knee in week 2 against Green Bay, but if he looks anything like he did before the Packers game, Davis will be a factor in the LB corps.

Two more days of the draft remain for Carolina, and it will be interesting to see which way they go to plug some areas of need on their roster.

Mike Solarte