2012 NFL Draft: Ron Rivera Has Confidence in Panthers' Defensive Tackles

You didn't have to look at many mock drafts to see a pattern with the Carolina Panthers' No. 9 overall pick. Whether it was Fletcher Cox, Dontari Poe or Michael Brockers, many had them taking the best available defensive tackle.

It made too much sense. The Panthers started two rookies at the position in 2011 (Terrell McClain and Sione Fua) and their run defense was among the worst in the league for more than half of the year. The 2012 NFL Draft had one of the best classes of defensive tackles in recent memory. Certainly, the Panthers would be able to find one to their liking, considering they would probably have their pick of the crop.

Cox, Poe and Brockers were all available when the Panthers were on the clock at No. 9. Instead, they went with Luke Kuechly, who plays linebacker, a position of relative strength for Carolina. Poe, Cox and Brockers went 11th, 12th and 14th respectively, so it wasn't that the top of the DT class was overrated by draftniks.

In fact, the Panthers didn't take one defensive tackle in the draft. Head coach Ron Rivera bristled at the suggestion that the team shouldn't have neglected the position.

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"I agree that we weren't good enough there, but we weren't good enough until Week 12, when you started seeing things come together. Why? Because we had enough guys in place that finally got it and understood it."

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Bryan Strickland of Panthers.com ran the numbers, and Rivera is right. The Panthers allowed only 114.3 yards rushing in the last six games after allowing 146.8 in the first 10. The defensive tackles notched four sacks in the last six games after posting only 2.5 in the first 10. 

When we see teams fail to address a perceived need in the draft, we assume that they have a distorted view of their strengths and weaknesses.

In this case, maybe it was us in the draft media who failed to see the real story of the Carolina Panthers' defensive tackles group as they head into the 2012 season.