This late in the season https://www.carolinapanthersfanshop.com/Da_Norris-Searcy-Jersey , it’s wise to invest only in meaningful games, particularly those in which both teams have something at stake. Unfortunately, on the final weekend of the schedule, we don’t find too many of those. Most intriguing is Carolina (No. 7 in AP Pro32) at Atlanta (No. 10, AP Pro32), where there’s plenty on the line. The Panthers own a playoff berth and still can win the NFC South, though they need Tampa Bay to upset New Orleans. Atlanta, which came so close to winning the Super Bowl in February, must win or have Seattle lose to qualify. Although the Panthers appear to be the much better team, they are 3+-point underdogs at Atlanta – the idea being there’s much more desperation for the Falcons. We’ll buy that Greg Van Roten Color Rush Jersey , though if they were to meet in the playoffs, we’d go the other way. FALCONS, 21-20 KNOCKOUT LEAGUE TIP Kudos to anyone who has gotten to the final week of the season without being knocked out. Certainly that was not the case for Pro Picks, which finishes off the schedule with ATLANTA to play its way into the postseason. No. 6 New Orleans (minus 7 1-2) at No. 28 Tampa Bay Saints won’t stumble this close to an also-ran to penthouse turnaround. BEST BET: SAINTS, 30-16 No. 14 Buffalo (minus 2 1-2) at No. 24 Miami The Bills’ playoff drought continues. UPSET SPECIAL: DOLPHINS, 17-13 No. 23 Cincinnati (plus 10) at No. 11 Baltimore Ravens’ D could be scary in postseason, which they get into with … RAVENS, 23-14 No. 22 Oakland (plus 7) at No. 13 Los Angeles Chargers From 0-4 to a wild card. Nice rally, Chargers. CHARGERS, 28-19 No. 25 New York Jets (plus 15) at No. 1 New England Patriots secure yet another AFC top seed. PATRIOTS https://www.carolinapanthersfanshop.com , 31-13 No. 16 Dallas (minus 3) at No. 4 Philadelphia Eagles already have home-field advantage for NFC playoffs. COWBOYS, 26-17 No. 8 Jacksonville (plus 3) at No. 15 Tennessee Jaguars are locked into AFC’s third seed, but they send Titans home. JAGUARS, 24-23 No. 32 Cleveland (plus 10 1-2) at No. 2 (tie) Pittsburgh Wonder if members of the 2008 Lions will applaud Browns’ perfecto. STEELERS, 30-16 No. 9 Kansas City (plus 4) at No. 26 Denver Chiefs are No. 4 seed, want to keep folks healthy. BRONCOS, 17-15 No. 27 Chicago (plus 12) at No. 2 (tie) Minnesota Vikings take No. 2 seed in NFC, set sights on hosting and playing in Super Bowl. VIKINGS, 26-9 No. 20 San Francisco (plus 6) at No. 5 Los Angeles Rams Hey Niners, pay Jimmy G now. Rams resting starters so … 49ERS Carolina Panthers Customized Jerseys , 30-17 No. 19 Arizona (plus 7) at No. 12 Seattle Disappointing and injury-plagued season for both teams. SEAHAWKS, 26-13 No. 21 Green Bay (plus 7) at No. 17 Detroit When schedule was made, this looked like NFC North title showdown. Not quite. LIONS, 20-10 No. 18 Washington (minus 3) at No. 31 New York Giants What a mess the Giants have become. REDSKINS, 30-14 No. 29 Houston (plus 1) at No. 30 Indianapolis What a mess the Colts have become. But … COLTS, 17-12 — 2017 RECORD: Last week: Against spread (4-11-1). Straight up (12-4) Season Totals: Against spread (108-113-10). Straight up: (153-85) Best Bet: 9-7 against spread, 10-6 straight up. Upset special: 9-7 against spread, 9-7 straight up — If the Panthers are going to address the gap at defensive end through the draft, they had better pick well - and early." />Skip to main contentclockmenumore-arrownoyesCat Scratch Reader homepageHorizontal - WhiteCat Scratch Readera Carolina Panthers communityFollow Cat Scratch Reader online:Follow Cat Scratch Reader on TwitterFollow Cat Scratch Reader on FacebookLog in or sign upLog InSign UpSite searchSearchSearchCat Scratch Reader main menuFanpostsFanshotsSectionsAboutPanthersOddsShopStubHubMoreAll 321 blogs on Horizontal - WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Keep Sounding PodcastPanthers 2019 Training CampCSR Film RoomWhat are the odds the Panthers land a late-round sleeper at defensive end? New,18commentsIf the Panthers are going to address the gap at defensive end through the draft Carolina Panthers T-Shirts , they had better pick well - and early. ESTAddressing the defensive end position needs to be a priority in the 2019 draft. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Carolina invest a first or second round pick at the position. But since the Panthers still have their picks in Rounds 4 through 6 (they traded Round 7 in the 2017 Kevon Seymour deal) I wanted to explore how likely it would be for Carolina to land a solid defensive end in the later rounds. You know, finding a “sleeper”, a term almost all of us have used before with either late Panthers picks in years past or during our own fantasy drafts. But how likely is it that the Panthers can actually land a solid defensive end in the late rounds? One way to assess this is to simply look at the draft position of today’s “good” defensive ends. For “good” defensive ends I used Football Reference’s Approximate Value (AV) from 2018 and found a natural cutoff point at an AV of five or higher. I then cross-referenced AV with free, public data from Pro Football Focus and feel comfortable that while this list isn’t perfect, it’s at least directionally correct (full spreadsheet here). Here are the draft positions of the Top 32 defensive ends in 2018 as rated by AV:Not surprisingly, 18 of the 32 best defensive ends in 2018 were drafted in the first two rounds, but it did raise my eyebrows a bit to see an even split of nine first rounders and nine second rounders. Only six of the top 32 were drafted between rounds 4 through 7, so the odds aren’t great for the Panthers finding a sleeper. As a frame of reference, the six solid defensive ends drafted in the later rounds are Everson Griffen (4th), Alex Okafor (4th) https://www.carolinapanthersfanshop.com/hats , Brent Urban (4th), D.J. Reader (5th), Darius Philon (6th), and Stephen Weatherly (7th). Now, let’s look at the “hit rate” of late-round picks at defensive end. While this is an arbitrary number on my part, a solid NFL career can last eight years if not longer. Based on data from Football Reference a total of 92 defensive ends were drafted in Round 4 or later between 2011 and 2018. In all, of the 92 defensive ends drafted between Round 4 and 7 over the last eight years only six are among the NFL’s Top 32, putting the hit rate at just 6.5 percent (six of 92). Another interesting observation is four undrafted free agents are among the NFL’s better defensive ends. This includes our very own Mario Addison, Romeo Okwara, Michael Bennett Carolina Panthers Hoodie , and Cameron Wake. However, every year upwards of 500 UDFAs get signed every year, so good luck if that’s your path forward. If history continues to repeat itself the Panthers aren’t going to find a quality starter in the back half of the draft, though I would be delighted if they proved me wrong. This isn’t a shocking conclusion in and of itself, but it really illustrates just how rare it is to find true quality at defensive end in Round 4 or later. If anyone is holding out hope for a late-round defensive end sleeper, it’s probably time to wake up and smell the data.