Defensive tackle was not on the list of top five needs for the

Panthers at the time but the Panthers brass felt defensive tackle Vernon Butler was a value at the No. 31 overall pick. At the time it seemed like a pretty good pick.After three seasons it’s not looking like a good pick. Butler has shown improvement but so far he looks very average Carolina Panthers Womens Hoodie , like a player you could have gotten in the fourth or fifth round. Pro Football Focus has his season grade at 64.5, that of an average or slightly above average player. While I’m not completely soured on Butler I am a little bitter at the players we could have drafted instead.Can we agree defensive end was one of the top five needs in 2016? Defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah (32) went off the board at the top of the second round. Cornerback Xavien Howard (38) was there too. He would have paired more nicely with second rounder James Bradberry (62) rather than third rounder Darryl Worley (77), who we traded up for by the way. That pick could have instead been guard Joe Thuney, but I digress...If the Panthers truly felt they needed another defensive tackle then they completely missed on their assessment of Chris Jones. Jones has now developed into one of the top defensive tackles in the league. He’s number nine on PFF’s list of top performing interior defenders.Our own Kawann Short is No. 16 on this list. More importantly Jones is second in the NFL in sacks with 15.5. Butler has five tackles and half a sack on the season. Maybe we should call him Vernon ‘Half Sack’ Butler but for a different reason than his namesake on Sons of Anarchy (we assume).Butler is actually being outplayed by 32 year-old Kyle Love. Love was on the PFF Team of the Week for his performance against the Falcons.As we wind down a very disappointing season I can’t help but wonder what went wrong. We know the answer is not simple. It’s a lot of little things. Failed draft picks always factors into a season like this. The Panthers have done pretty well in the first round of the draft over the history of their franchise. I can’t say 2016 was one of those drafts. What a disgusting game. The Panthers pulled close in the 4th quarter but they played terribly the first three. Here’s who didn’t suck.WinnersD.J. MooreD.J. Moore is good, guys. He caught 7 passes for 157 yards and scored what would have been the game tying touchdown, it is just too bad Graham Gano missed an extra point and a field goal and put Carolina in a 19-20 position at the end of the game. That said Womens Customized Carolina Panthers Jerseys , Moore is living up to his first round pick billing, and appears to only be getting better.Curtis SamuelGood things happen when Samuel touches the football. He caught 5 passes for 55 yards and a touchdown, most of which came during Carolina’s furious rally to get back in the football game. If Ron Rivera and Norv Turner can learn anything from this game, it should be to GET SAMUEL THE BALL MORE OFTEN!Christian McCaffreyMcCaffrey accounted for 110 yards from scrimmage, and as usual was a focal point to the offense. He can run, he can catch www.pantherscheapshop.com , he can block, it’s really a shame that the team can’t rally around that.Cam Newton/Jarius WrightI included these two together, because Wright should have caught the game winning two point conversion, but Cam missed him. And many will chide Newton for that moment, but he should never have been put in that position to begin with. Newton threw 37 passes for 25 completions and 3 touchdowns, and he was the reason this team was even in the game in the 4th quarter. The Panthers can be outplayed Carolina Panthers T-Shirt , but Newton can bring them back no matter how bad things seem. I really wish he had hit that pass to Wight (who didn’t have a bad game by any means either) because that would have capped off a HELL of a comeback.LosersPretty much everyone elseI’m not going to single out the losers, because collectively, this team shit the bed. The defense was absolutely awful at tackling for the first three quarters, Devin Funchess dropped way too many passes, the defensive line couldn’t get after Stafford after he faced double digit sack numbers the last two weeks, and the secondary couldn’t make plays against a hurt Lions receiving corp. The rest of this team dropped the ball Carolina Panthers Hats , and the coaches didn’t help much. I liked Ron Rivera’s ballsy call to go for the win after the last touchdown of the game, but other than that this team just won’t be able to hang with the better minds out there. And it sucks, because this team is wildly talented and could hang with anybody in the NFL, but they are not executing. I’d be surprised if this team does better than 9-7 after this pitiful showing against a team they should have beaten, road game or not. Playoff teams simply don’t drop the ball like this team has over the last two weeks. We will see if they can get their shit straight.There are plenty who didn’t play bad, but they weren’t really worth mentioning as winners either. Who did you think came out as a winner this Sunday?