2011 NFL Draft: The Carolina Panthers Have a Fairley Easy Decision To Make

The key to winning football games is controlling the line of scrimmage.

The Carolina Panther have the first pick in the 2011 NFL Draft because they were dominated on the line, week in and week out.

But the question remains, what position on the line do you address first, end or tackle?

That is, Clemson’s DeQuan Bowers or Auburn’s Nick Fairley?

For anyone who watched the BCS National Championship, the answer is simple. Nick Fairly was a one-man wrecking machine and single-handedly disrupted the vaunted Oregon offensive attack. Cam Newton got the accolades, but Fairley won Auburn that game.

Bowers also showed the ability to dominate a game, but his performances were on a much smaller stage. It is one thing to dominate in the ACC, and another to do it in the NFL. And very few can do it from the defense end position. Julius Peppers, the player Bowers has been compared to, disappeared in games much too often while in Carolina, and he was virtually nonexistent in the Bear’s loss in the NFC Championship.

Peppers had only 9.5 sacks for the Bears, and he’s the highest paid player at the position. It is too easy to take a defensive end out of a game with tight ends and running backs, but you can’t stop a dominating tackle.

Take a look at the best defenses in the league; they all have an anchor in the middle. The Ravens have Haloti Ngata. The Packers have B.J. Raji and Cullen Jenkins. The Steelers have Casey Hampton.

The Panthers need their anchor.

The Panthers need Nick Fairley.

Besides, the Panthers already have young talent at the defensive end position. Charles Johnson, if they can re-sign him, had a breakout year in 2010 with 11.5 sacks. And Greg Hardy and Everett Brown have shown potential.

On the contrary, the Panthers have struggled at the defensive tackle position since Ma'ake Kemoeatu’s seasoning-ending injury in 2008 and subsequent departure in 2009. Over the last couple of years, the Panthers have brought in several players in hopes of solving the problem, but nothing has worked. It’s high time they address that problem.

Yes, the Panthers sometimes struggled to get pressure in 2010, but Fairley is that rare breed of defensive tackle that can not only thwart the running game but also get to the quarterback.

 Like Warren Sapp and Ndamukong Suh, Fairley will demand a double team from day one, freeing up the Panthers’ ends to get pressure from the edge.

Less time for opposing quarterbacks to find a receiver means less time the defensive backs have to cover their receivers. Fairley can make the entire defense better; Bowers can only improve the Carolina’s pass defense.

The Panthers are a talented team, no matter what their record says. A good draft combined with some luck in the health department, and the Panthers could back to respectability in Ron Rivera’s first year.

And if the Panthers are unlucky in 2011 and remain one of the league’s cellar-dwellers, it’s no big deal. They’ll get some Luck in next year’s draft.