“With the 14th pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, the Carolina Panthers select Star Lotulelei, DT, Utah.”

He was the best player on the board and he was the best player that the Carolina Panthers could have selected. Talk about a Hog Molly. Gettleman got his guy and instantly made our defense better. Lotulelei is a special player and I can’t believe he fell to us. This has certainly been a crazy draft. I guess teams were scared by his heart condition. Gettleman doesn’t seem to scare easily.

With such a high need at nose tackle, Star Lotulelei will easily fit right into that role. This guy can do it all. I haven’t been this excited about our defensive line since Peppers/Rucker/Buckner/Jenkins. It’s scary how potentially good we can be with a player as explosive as Star Lotulelei. Think on Hardy/Edwards/Lotulelei/Johnson and salivate.

When I said earlier that this guy can do it all, I mean he can do it all. He is truly an every down player. He’s a natural nose tackle so that means he can eat space and push the pile. He can take on double teams and free up Dwan Edwards to get in the backfield, or he can penetrate himself. He’s also athletic enough to stay on the field in passing situations to get after quarterbacks. He is plainly, and simply put, disruptive.

Gettleman got his guy, got his Hog Molly. He also made a statement in regards to how the Panthers will draft going forward, I think. You could argue that the Panthers lucked out because everyone passed on Lotulelei, but everyone passed on Shariff Floyd, also. I look at it as savvy. Perhaps there was some luck involved, but Gettlman pulled the trigger on the right guy. Traditional defensive tackles are great, but if you can get an athletic defensive tackle that can stay on the field at all times you have to take him. The Panthers already have a Superman, and I’m pretty sure they just got their Hulk.