1) No holes will be filled prior to the draft. Usually free agency goes first and teams bolster their roster and add pieces to fill holes. This year, teams will have to try to fill holes from the draft first. Whats the potential impact? It's possible that teams will not be as risky with their picks, they can't afford to draft non-need positions. Of course the flip side is that teams will expect to have free agency at some point. Which means they can still draft whom they like knowing they still have another chance to add players when free agency does finally come around.
2) The top picking team can't sign their guy prior to the draft. This may affect the Bills. By signing or even negotiating with players, the top team revealed their plans so to speak which helped anyone below them to formulate their own plans. Now, I think the teams pretty much know the pool of players that Carolina will be looking at. But, guys who may sneak into the equation are real possibilities like Gabbert and Newton. If the Bills have genuine interest in either or both, they will be flying more blind on draft day not knowing whether the Panthers are serious about drafting one. They can speculate, and will of course, but it becomes much more stable a situation when the team actually begins to negotiate. The Panthers could throw a curve ball which may throw the next few teams into a bit more chaos.
2) The top picking team can't sign their guy prior to the draft. This may affect the Bills. By signing or even negotiating with players, the top team revealed their plans so to speak which helped anyone below them to formulate their own plans. Now, I think the teams pretty much know the pool of players that Carolina will be looking at. But, guys who may sneak into the equation are real possibilities like Gabbert and Newton. If the Bills have genuine interest in either or both, they will be flying more blind on draft day not knowing whether the Panthers are serious about drafting one. They can speculate, and will of course, but it becomes much more stable a situation when the team actually begins to negotiate. The Panthers could throw a curve ball which may throw the next few teams into a bit more chaos.
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