It's always fun to root for the underdog in the NFL. That holds true for 49ers fans who might want to start rooting against the underdog 4-6 Carolina Panthers, and hope they continue to screw up their 2009 season as thoroughly as possible. Because guess who owns Carolina's No. 1 draft pick.
The 49ers acquired Carolina's first-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, back last April when they traded a second and fourth round pick to the Panthers in exchange for next year's #1. That move is looking pretty genius in retrospect for the 49ers, as the Panthers' season has been a roaring failure.
As the regular season records currently stand, the Panthers are among the ten worst teams in the NFL. If that stands through Week 17, then the 49ers have fleeced Carolina out of a top ten pick.
Don't expect the hapless Panthers to move up the totem pole too far. They still have games scheduled against the league-leading Saints, Vikings, and Patriots. These Carolina Panthers may be lucky to finish 5-11.
And it doesn't make life any easier for them that Jake Delhomme is injured. ProFootballTalk.com is reporting that Delhomme is unlikely to play Sunday against the Buccaneers because of a broken finger, and waiver wire wonder Matt Moore would start in Delhomme's place.
That Buccaneer game is arguably the only winnable game left on Carolina's schedule. Good times.
Tim Kawakami sizes up the deal in one of his signature, off-topic preambles often found in his San Jose Mercury News blog. "Everette Brown, the player Carolina took with the 49ers’ pick, #43 overall, has come along slowly," Kawakami writes, "Brown had .5 of a sack (this past Sunday) vs. the Jets and has 1.5 on the season."
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"Yeah," Kawakami concludes, "if Carolina had that to do over again, I think it might not."
Whereas if the 49ers could do that over again, they would copycat that deal with the Panthers in a second.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who still has leftover Panther hatred leftover from the previous NFC West alignment.
