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New Orleans fans, you’ll hear plenty more from Jonathan Vilma when we run our Camp Confidential segment on the Saints on Friday.

Matter of fact, I just finished writing that after spending a good chunk of the morning and early afternoon transcribing tape of interviews with Vilma and some others. There were several quotes I didn’t get to use, including some that will appear in some upcoming theme stories about the NFC South.

But there was one particular Saints-related item from Vilma that I thought I’d share that with you now. I asked him about two of the newest additions to the defense -- tackles Shaun Rogers and Aubrayo Franklin.

“One of the first things I noticed when we got into camp was how much bigger we are on the defensive line,’’ Vilma said. “As a linebacker, you want that. That’s every linebacker’s dream to have guys like that in front of you.’’

Rogers, a veteran free agent who previously played in Detroit and Cleveland, is listed at 6-foot-4 and 350 pounds. Rogers also comes with a reputation for not always keeping himself in great physical condition. I didn’t get to see Rogers on a scale, but I did get to see him on the practice field and I was pleasantly surprised.

I know what 350 pounds -- or more -- looks like. Back when Kris Jenkins and Maake Kemoeatu were with the Carolina Panthers, they sometimes let themselves get well over 350 pounds. Rogers didn’t even look close to what Jenkins and Kemoeatu looked like in those days. Yes, he’s big, but he also appears to be in pretty good shape.

Franklin, who came as a free agent from San Francisco, isn’t quite as big. He’s listed at 6-1 and 317. The plan is to pair those two veterans in a rotation with Sedrick Ellis.

“I’ve been real impressed with both of them so far,’’ Vilma said. “Shaun looks great and looks like he’s really excited to be here. I’m excited to have both of them here. When you’re a linebacker and you have guys like that in front of you, it can really free you up to run all over the field and make more plays.’’

We started speculating a bit the other day about possible post-lockout moves by throwing out a scenario in which Green Bay linebacker Nick Barnett could fit with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Let’s build off that and hit another team and another player. Although the Carolina Panthers drafted South Florida defensive tackle Terrell McClain and Stanford defensive tackle Sione Fua in the third round this year, I’m not sure they’re done at that position.

Defensive tackle, a strong point for Carolina in the days of Kris Jenkins and Maake Kemoeatu, has been a glaring weakness the past couple of seasons. McClain and Fua should help, but I see one guy I believe could be a nice fit in Carolina.

That’s Brandon Mebane, who has spent the past four seasons with Seattle. If reports that players with four accrued seasons -- and without a contract for this year -- will become unrestricted free agents, Mebane will be on the market.

Other than McClain and Fua, the Panthers have guys like Nick Hayden, Ed Johnson, Corvey Irvin and Derek Landri. Mebane would be an instant upgrade on any of those guys. Carolina’s in a youth movement, but Mebane could fit the profile. He’s only 26.

He’s been a starter throughout most of his career. At 311 pounds, he plays the run well and he also has shown some ability as a pass-rusher in the past. Mebane had 5.5 sacks in 2008.

There was a time in the early years of the NFC South when top-notch defensive tackles roamed and controlled the division.

Tampa Bay’s Warren Sapp and Carolina’s Kris Jenkins were making Pro Bowl rosters and All-Pro teams and publicly arguing that each was the best defensive tackle in the game. They were rare talents, but there were other members of the species in the division in those days. Guys like Brentson Buckner and Anthony McFarland weren’t bad, and Carolina’s defensive line once refused to pose for a four-person picture unless the frame was expanded to five to include super-sub Shane Burton.

But then, sometime in recent years, the last of the space-eating dinosaurs disappeared. Defensive tackles became a non-factor, even an embarrassment around the NFC South.

Take the game in Charlotte near the end of the 2008 season when Tampa Bay, featuring journeymen Chris Hovan and Ryan Sims in the middle, looked like it was giving Carolina’s running backs a 7-yard head start. Or think back to 2007 and 2008 when New Orleans was scoring all those points and Drew Brees was throwing for all those yards. At the same time, the Saints were turning in mediocre records. That was because of the defense’s poor play all around, particularly in the middle of the defensive line.

Things have started to change in recent years with NFC South teams realizing they need to get back to their roots. They’ve been investing early-round draft picks and big money in defensive linemen and it's about to pay off.

Let’s go ahead and make a prediction now. If there is a 2011 season, it will be the year of the defensive tackle in the NFC South. Everywhere you look there’s a defensive tackle -- in some places, two defensive tackles -- poised to emerge as a force. It could be the year when the NFC South gets back to having Pro Bowlers or All-Pros at defensive tackle.

Let’s survey the landscape of who’s on the verge of emerging.

Buccaneers. After Hovan and Sims contributed to Jon Gruden losing his job, the Bucs weren’t able to do much right away at defensive tackle because they were too busy landing franchise quarterback Josh Freeman. But in 2010, they used their first two draft picks on Gerald McCoy and Brian Price and they also discovered Roy Miller, a valuable role player.

This is still a project because McCoy and Price suffered season-ending injuries in their rookie years. But these are two extremely talented players and the Tampa Bay coaching staff is convinced they’ll emerge.

Price, a second-round pick, looked like he was going to be an instant star when he showed up for his first minicamp and training camp. There was a buzz that he might be better than McCoy, a first-round pick. But Price got banged up in camp, never got completely healthy and appeared in only five games before the Bucs sat him down and he had surgery that included the insertion of four screws into his pelvis.

When the lockout ended very briefly in late April, Price showed up at One Buccaneer Place and indications were that he’s well on the way to being ready for this season. Same for McCoy, who had arm surgery. After a slow start, McCoy had come on with several strong games in a row right before the injury.

McCoy is completely healthy and has spent much of the offseason in San Diego working to add upper-body strength. Throw a healthy McCoy and Price out there with newly drafted defensive ends Adrian Clayborn and Da'Quan Bowers and the Bucs suddenly could have a star -- or two -- in the middle.

Saints. Sedrick Ellis was drafted in the first round in 2008 and his first two seasons were interrupted by injuries. He played a full season in 2010 and responded with a career-high six sacks while playing the run well.

At the end of last season, the only thing between Ellis and greatness was having another strong defensive tackle next to him. That’s why the Saints signed Shaun Rogers just before the lockout started. Rogers is coming off three mediocre seasons in Cleveland, but he had some big years before that in Detroit.

New Orleans is a place where there’s a track record of veterans getting their careers going again. If Rogers can bring anything to the table, Ellis has a chance to emerge as the division’s best defensive tackle.

Falcons. For the past two years, Jonathan Babineaux has been the division’s best defensive tackle. But that’s sort of like putting a kid on a Little League baseball all-star team even though he came from the league’s worst team because every team has to be represented. Babineaux is solid, but he has been the best by default.

Babineaux probably is going to stay solid for the next few years, but the player the Falcons think really has a chance to become a force this year is Peria Jerry. He was their top draft pick in 2009 and his career has been kind of a sad story. He got hurt early as a rookie, suffering a major knee injury that the Falcons have never fully described.

Jerry returned last season, but ended up playing behind rookie Corey Peters, a third-round draft pick. Just when it looked like you could go ahead and declare Jerry a bust, coach Mike Smith and general manager Thomas Dimitroff stepped up and shed a little more light on his situation.

They still wouldn’t go into exactly what his surgery entailed, but at the NFL owners meeting in March, Smith and Dimitroff independently admitted last year was something of a “recovery’’ season for Jerry. They said their plan was to play him sparingly because his knee was not 100 percent.

They went on to say people with Jerry’s type of injury usually take two full years to recover and said they have high hopes for him. If Jerry can somehow get back to being the kind of player the Falcons thought he was when they drafted him, they could plug him in next to Babineaux and Atlanta suddenly could have a new face as its best defensive tackle.

Panthers. You can make a case that this position has been the weakest unit for any NFC South team since the moment Jenkins finally was granted his two-year request for a trade after the 2008 season. Yeah, Maake Kemoeatu could fill as much space as Jenkins, but he couldn’t move.

With Kemoeatu gone last year, the Panthers used a collection of journeymen, got pushed all over the field and went 2-14. Carolina has a major rebuilding program and they started it by using the first pick in this year’s draft on quarterback Cam Newton. But right after that, it instantly became obvious where new coach Ron Rivera was turning his attention.

The Panthers didn’t have a second-round pick, but had two in the third round. They used them to take defensive tackles Sione Fua and Terrell McClain. Both could start right away. After they were drafted, Rivera kept talking about how Fua and McClain would allow the linebackers to play "downhill." That’s a start.

It’s hard to say right now that a third-round draft pick is going to be a star. But if either or both of those players can allow linebacker Jon Beason to run free or make plays, Carolina’s defense instantly will be better than it has been in several seasons.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The third round has ended, so let’s take a quick look at what each of the three NFC South teams did in this round.

Carolina Panthers. No. 65, Terrell McClain, defensive tackle, University of South Florida. This guy has a chance to step in and start immediately. Defensive tackle has been the weakest position on the defense for a couple of years. McClain is the kind of space eater that’s been missing since Kris Jenkins and Maake Kemoeatu departed.

“The opportunity is there,’’ McClain said. “I’m not going to back down from it. I’m going to be one of the hardest workers out there. I don’t want to have any regrets.

No. 97, Sione Fua, defensive tackle, Stanford. The Panthers opened and closed the round by taking a defensive tackle. Can’t argue with that because they need all the help they can get at the position. Like McClain, Fua can play nose tackle or the three-technique spot. Like McClain, he also will have a shot to get playing time right away.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers. No. 84, Mason Foster, linebacker, Washington. After getting defensive ends Adrian Clayborn and Da'Quan Bowers in the first two rounds, the Bucs stuck with their plan to improve their front seven. Last year’s linebacker corps of Barrett Ruud, Quincy Black and Geno Hayes really didn’t produce the number of big plays the team would have liked. Foster is more of an interior linebacker and this could be a sign that the Bucs are preparing to lose Ruud in free agency.

According to Scouts Inc.’s Matt Williamson, Foster is more of a “thumper’’ than Ruud. But he’s not a three-down player and is not a great fit dropping into coverage over the deep middle.

New Orleans Saints. No. 88, Johnny Patrick, defensive back, Louisville. An interesting pick by the Saints because they appear to be in great shape at cornerback. When healthy, Jabari Greer, Tracy Porter and Patrick Robinson can give the Saints as good a trio as any team in the league.

But general manager Mickey Loomis doesn’t always focus on glaring needs when he sees a player he likes. Patrick was close to being a shutdown corner in his last season at Louisville. He’s not known as a real physical guy, but he has the speed and athleticism to cover receivers and break up passes.

Atlanta Falcons. No. 91, Akeem Dent, linebacker, Georgia. This one was something of a surprise. Dent is purely an inside linebacker. He’s a two-down player who can play the run, but isn’t going to be on the field in passing situations. There wasn’t a glaring need for that kind of guy because the Falcons have a very solid middle linebacker in Curtis Lofton. There are greater needs on the outside. Sean Weatherspoon is set as one starter at outside linebacker. But the other spot is a question mark. Mike Peterson is aging and Stephen Nicholas probably will leave as a free agent.

Depending on your generation, consider this story as a classified ad in a newspaper or an item on Craigslist.

Kris Jenkins, a guy who, at times, has been considered one of the best defensive tackles in the game, is looking for a new team. The only real requirement Jenkins lists is that the team plays its home games in a stadium with a natural-grass surface.

Hmmm … there’s one obvious question -- could Jenkins return to the Carolina Panthers, the team that drafted him back in 2001? Since trading Jenkins to the New York Jets, after he spent two years begging out, the Panthers have struggled at defensive tackle. They got some decent play out of massive Maake Kemoeatu for a bit, but he couldn’t stay healthy and cost too much. Since then, there’s been a gaping hole in the middle of Carolina’s defensive line.

Could Jenkins be brought back to stand in the middle of that nice grass at Bank of America Stadium? Probably not. First, Carolina’s in a youth movement and Jenkins is 31. Second, Jenkins in Charlotte again might not be a good idea and that’s not even from a Panthers’ angle. Jenkins, never one to hide his feelings, once said Charlotte -- and I’m going to be diplomatic and paraphrase him a bit -- wasn’t cosmopolitan enough for him. That didn’t sit well with fans. Although Jenkins still has some family ties in Charlotte, I don’t think he’s changed his mind about the city’s cultural landscape.

Another part of Jenkins’ reason for wanting out was he wasn’t happy with the former coaching staff, led by John Fox. Ron Rivera’s running the show now and general manager Marty Hurney never had any problem with Jenkins, but I just don’t see the player wanting to come back.

That leads to only one other NFC South option, because New Orleans and Atlanta play in domes with artificial surfaces. That’s the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That team also is in the middle of a youth movement and the Bucs have used draft picks on defensive tackles Gerald McCoy, Brian Price and Roy Miller over the past couple years. None of those three have developed into stars yet, but the Bucs believe it could happen with any or all of them at any moment. Adding Jenkins might cut down on the opportunities for McCoy, Price and Miller to develop. But, then again, throwing Jenkins into the mix for a year might help them along.

Mel Kiper has his latest Big Board out. If Carolina’s board looks anything like Mel’s on draft day, there’s an excellent chance the Panthers will use the first pick of the draft on a defensive lineman.

With Andrew Luck staying in college and Cam Newton, who hasn’t declared if he’ll enter the draft, falling on Kiper’s board, the top two players are defensive linemen. Kiper has Auburn defensive tackle Nick Fairley at No. 1 and Clemson defensive end Da’Quan Bowers at No. 2.

The Panthers might give Bowers a few extra points because he’s a local kid and that sometimes has been an important factor to owner Jerry Richardson in the past. But, with the emergence of Charles Johnson this season, I don’t think the need is as great at defensive end as it is at some other positions. The Panthers also have ends Everette Brown and Greg Hardy, who have plenty of potential.

Defensive tackle has been a problem spot for the Panthers ever since they lost Kris Jenkins and Maake Kemoeatu. There might be some temptation to go with an offensive player because the Panthers have made it clear they intend to improve their offense.

But the only offensive player in Kiper’s top five is Georgia wide receiver A.J. Green. When new coach Ron Rivera was introduced to the media Tuesday, he made it a point to talk about how he likes Brandon LaFell and David Gettis, who each showed some promise as rookies. The Panthers also have veteran Steve Smith. If Smith decides he wants out, the Panthers would trade him and that would create a need for a No. 1 receiver. That’s the only scenario where I see the Panthers going for Green.

That’s still a long shot. Receivers usually aren’t taken as the No. 1 overall pick and Carolina’s history with drafting receivers shows that they often take time to develop, if they develop at all.

With the rest of the talent Carolina already has in place adding Fairley could make the defense a solid unit. It might be wise to make that happen first and spend the rest of the draft and free agency working on the offense.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A quick note as I get settled into Bank of America Stadium. If you want a Julius Peppers replica jersey from his Carolina days, you can get some pretty good deals.

Walking into the stadium, I came past Al’s Caps & More, a souvenir stand on College Ave. They had a pretty good selection of Peppers jerseys, and they’re only $29, roughly a third of what more current jerseys are going for. Also on the clearance rack, were a bunch of Jake Delhomme jerseys, also $29 each. Apparently former Carolina fullback Brad Hoover still is a good bit more popular than his former teammates.

Hoover jerseys also were on the clearance rack, but they were priced at $45. on a side note, the owners of the souvenir stand were happy to report they sold their last Maake Kemoeatu Carolina jersey this morning.

All right, I’ll be back in a bit with today’s inactives.

There was a lot of outrage in the Carolinas early in the offseason when the Panthers pulled off what some fans called a purge and some called a bloodletting.

The Panthers let go of seven popular veterans and I’m not even counting the fact they simply let Julius Peppers walk into free agency. The cries back in February were that the team was being cheap and dumping salaries. I never truly bought into that because it looked to me like the Panthers were just getting rid of some old guys who they didn’t think were worth their contracts anymore, although I admit I wasn’t a big fan of seeing Brad Hoover pushed out the door.

I stand by all that, but now I feel even stronger that this wasn’t purely a case of owner Jerry Richardson trying to save money. I’ve had a chance to look at and crunch some numbers and I think we can put what Carolina did in the offseason into better perspective.

First off, let’s remember there is no salary cap for 2010. If there was, the Panthers would be sitting at $124 million right now. Here’s the part that’s highly significant -- $29.2 million of that is in what would be called “dead money’’ in a capped year.

What the Panthers did was to decide essentially to dump a lot of future big-cap figures in a year in which there are no cap consequences for that. No one -- not even Richardson, who is heavily involved in the negotiations -- knows what’s going to happen with the labor situation going forward. There’s the possibility of a lockout in 2011. There’s also the possibility an agreement will be reached and a salary cap will be in place.

If that happens, the Panthers are sitting in very good shape. Even if coach John Fox, who is beginning the final year of his contract is gone, whoever is running the show likely will have a ton of cap room to work with.

As it stands right now, the Panthers have just about $70 million committed toward a 2011 cap. Only the Chiefs, Raiders and Buccaneers have less committed and none of them are dramatically below the Panthers. The league average teams have committed toward the salary cap right now is $96 million.

If there’s a cap in place for 2011, I'll guess and say it's likely to be somewhere around $130 million to $140 million and those numbers could be on the low end. That means the Panthers will have at least $60 million to re-sign some of their own key players and go out and get some new ones. That’s not a bad spot to be in.

Now, let’s move on and try to shred one other myth about the “bloodletting.’’ When the Panthers let Hoover, Jake Delhomme, Na'il Diggs, Landon Johnson, Maake Kemoeatu, Damione Lewis and Chris Harris go, it wasn’t totally about saving money.

To start with, the Panthers had to hand Delhomme a $12 million check (money he was guaranteed) when he walked out the door. Diggs was scheduled to make $1.1 million this season and the Panthers had to write him a check for $1.233 million. They had to pay Kemoeatu, who was scheduled to earn $755,000 in base salary, $2.63 million because they didn’t exercise the option on his contract. It was kind of the same deal for Lewis -- he got $1.42 million for not having his option exercised and was only schedule to earn $855,000 in salary and a workout bonus.

In other words, the Panthers paid those guys a lot of money just to go away and get them off the books for the future. In the cases of Hoover, Harris and Johnson, the Panthers saved some money, but, relatively speaking, it wasn’t all that much.

By cutting Hoover, they saved his scheduled $850,000 base salary. Unloading Johnson saved the Panthers just over $2 million. Trading Harris to Chicago pushed his $2 million salary over to the Bears. Theoretically, the Panthers would be taking a $2.145 million cap hit for Harris if there was a cap this year because of pro-rated money.

But Harris, and all the others, are off the books for 2011, when the Panthers conceivably could go out and buy about half an NFL team.

» NFC South Weaknesses: Falcons (6/29) | Panthers (6/30) | Saints (7/1) | Bucs (7/2)

Steve Smith broke his arm and outside of him, this team has had very little in terms of receiving options of late. Without him, the Panthers will be among the weakest teams in this regard in the NFL -- even with a few rookie pass-catchers added to the equation. It seems as though there is a good chance Smith will be ready for the opener, but even if he is unable to go, the Panthers have a bigger weakness than their pass-catchers.

Even the most casual of fans realize Carolina lost Julius Peppers during free agency, but there is some young talent there in Charles Johnson and Everette Brown. At defensive tackle, Damione Lewis and Maake Kemoeatu are gone, and what remains is frankly very disturbing.

As of today, the foursome that should expect to see playing time at tackle consists of Nick Hayden, Louis Leonard, Tank Tyler and Corvey Irvin. And maybe Ed Johnson or Derek Landri will factor in. Seriously? Let me just go on record to say that this is the worst group of defensive tackles in the league, and I am not even sure that dubious competition is close.

I understand you can sometimes get away with tough guys who play hard and hold their ground at this position to help free up those around them, and I understand that several of these guys battled injury last season, but there isn’t a playmaker in this bunch, nor is there a guy who commands a double-team in the run game. Compounding matters for the long term, there isn't a young pup in the group who has yet to develop and is dripping with upside. I really don’t see a lot of hope here.

The Panthers’ run defense wasn’t very good last season. With this group of defensive tackles and now the loss of LB Thomas Davis (knee injury), expect it to be even worse in 2010. If the defense can’t get off the field, it will certainly make playing a ball-control, run-first style on offense all the more difficult.

As I’m sure you’re well aware, we published our Blog Network mock draft this morning. The Panthers don’t have a first-round pick, but I don’t want Carolina fans to feel slighted.

That’s why I’m going to go ahead and make my prediction on what I think Carolina will do with their first pick, which comes in the second round. Obviously, a lot depends on what happens with the picks ahead of the Panthers. Our mock only included the first 32 picks, so I’m doing some guessing on who might be off the board in the second round, before Carolina takes its turn.

I’m taking Al Woods, the defensive tackle from LSU. I know this isn’t the flashy pick many of you would like. But I’m not taking (alleged) quarterback Tim Tebow for the Panthers in the second round because I think that would be a wasted pick. Maybe Tebow develops into an NFL quarterback down the road, but John Fox doesn’t have the time to find out.

I also know a lot of fans are thinking Carolina will go with a wide receiver here. It could happen because the need is definitely there. But Carolina’s history of drafting receivers in the second round (Keary Colbert and Dwayne Jarrett) isn’t pretty at all. I think the Panthers will draft a wide receiver a little later.

Bottom line to my logic on Woods: I’d really like to give the Panthers super-sized defensive tackle Terrence Cody, but he went in the first round of our mock, although I have seen some others where he’s available in the second round. The Panthers really need a run stuffer for the middle of their defensive line. Fox has had Kris Jenkins and Maake Kemoeatu through the years and they worked out well. After Cody, Woods is the big body that makes the most sense for the Panthers.

Again, we all know Fox is under pressure to win this year. He’s a defensive coach and one of his core philosophies is to stop the run. That’s why I think Fox sticks with basics and gets a big guy for the middle of his defensive line.

The full and official mock draft by the ESPN.com Blog Network will come next week. Each of the eight division bloggers will get a chance to play general manager for the teams they cover.

I’m already practicing and a lot of you are asking for a mock draft right now. So let’s go ahead and do a practice mock draft for each of the first pick for the four NFC South teams. Obviously, I’m going to have to speculate on what happens with the picks in front of each of the NFC South teams. And, like I said, the real mock draft will come next week and I may change my thoughts between now and then.

No. 3, Tampa Bay: Defensive tackle Gerald McCoy. I’m going on the assumption that quarterback Sam Bradford and defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh are the first two picks in the draft. McCoy’s the obvious choice for a glaring need. But I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of the Bucs taking offensive tackle Russell Okung. Restricted free agent Donald Penn isn’t happy because the Bucs haven’t given him a long-term deal. Penn could end up being used as trade bait. He’s been a decent left tackle, but he’ll never be a Pro Bowler. With Josh Freeman as the franchise quarterback, the Bucs might want to get a franchise left tackle.

No. 19, Atlanta: Defensive end Brandon Graham. The Falcons want to upgrade their pass rush. Graham is the best defensive end that’s going to be available.

No. 32, New Orleans: Defensive tackle Brian Price. A lot of people are projecting the Saints to go with a defensive end and that certainly could happen. Someone like Everson Griffen or Jerry Hughes could be available and they could be the choice. But I think the signing of Alex Brown gives the Saints decent depth at defensive end. The inside might be more of a need and price might be a better value pick.

No. 48, Carolina: Defensive tackle Terrence Cody. He seems to have fallen out of first-round consideration because he’s a one-dimensional player. All Cody can do is stuff the run, but that’s what the Panthers need. John Fox’s whole philosophy is built on running the ball on offense and stopping the run on defense. Right now, there’s no doubt the Panthers can run the ball, but stopping the run is another matter. Fox has always liked having a big guy in the middle (see Kris Jenkins and Maake Kemoeatu) and here’s his chance to re-load at that position.

Some good news to share with you. The ESPN Blog Network will be doing its own mock draft, which each blogger making the picks for his division.

I won’t give you the exact date just yet, but it will be coming the week of the draft. This something many of you have been asking about and I’d been pitching it to the Boys in Bristol that make the big decisions. I think some of my colleagues may have been doing the same. Anyway, we just found out we’ve been cleared to do it.

Again, this is down the road a bit. So, to help pass the time, I’ve decided to do a preliminary mock draft for the NFC South teams. Obviously, we don’t know what other teams will do and that’s going to shape what NFC South teams can do. This is subject to change and I’ll probably do it again several times before we do the league-wide mock draft.

But, as of the moment, here’s what I’m thinking for the first pick for each NFC South team:

3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. First, they have to hope and pray the Rams take quarterback Sam Bradford at No. 1. If St. Louis doesn’t do that, the Rams and Lions could take defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy with the first two picks. If that happens, it could be disastrous for the Bucs. They need a defensive tackle probably more than any team has needed a certain position in history. If they don’t get one, they could try to trade down. If they can’t trade down, they’ll have to settle for safety Eric Berry. For right now, I’ll say they end up with a defensive tackle. I’m going to say Suh goes to the Lions and McCoy to the Bucs.

19. Atlanta Falcons. The glaring need is at defensive end. But the chances of an elite pass rusher at No. 19 are slim. The other obvious need is outside linebacker. Sean Weatherspoon's name keeps coming up, but I’m going outside the box here. I’m giving the Falcons Penn State linebacker Navorro Bowman. This is more of a hunch than anything, but I keep hearing a lot of teams like Bowman better than Weatherspoon and I’m thinking the Falcons could be one of them.

32. New Orleans Saints. The flip side to winning the Super Bowl is you get the last pick of the first round and are at the mercy of the teams ahead of you. But the good news is the Saints don’t have huge holes and can pretty much go for the best athlete available. Quarterbacks and wide receivers are off the board here, but the Saints can go in just about any other direction. Defensive end, defensive tackle and outside linebacker would seem like the biggest needs. I’m going with Weatherspoon to the Saints.

48. Carolina Panthers. They traded away their first-round pick last year to get defensive end Everette Brown. A lot of people think the Panthers will take a wide receiver and there’s a very real chance they will. But I wouldn’t go that way, given the fact the Panthers used early picks on Dwayne Jarrett and Keary Colbert and neither developed into anything. Part of the blame falls on Jarrett and Colbert. But I put more blame on John Fox and offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson. They’ve been too conservative to let young wide receivers do much and it’s tough to get much out of your No. 2 when Steve Smith is No. 1. For the moment, I’m giving the Panthers Alabama defensive tackle Terrence Cody. He’s an extremely big guy and, in the days when the Panthers still had a quality line, they had Kris Jenkins and Maake Kemoeatu plugging up the middle of the line.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- You've been waiting for the past month or so for the Carolina Panthers to reveal some top-secret plan for re-loading after their offseason purge.

Guess what? There's no big bang coming. The plan already is in place. It's already playing out. No matter how much you want to scream about the departures of Jake Delhomme, Brad Hoover and all the rest and yell for flashy and fresh new troops, this really is nothing out of the ordinary for Carolina.

"Being heroes in March, April and May doesn't matter," general manager Marty Hurney said during a break at the NFL owners meetings. "It's during the season and what you're judged by is winning games. We have to see if we can win games and be successful. But I think we have a lot of confidence in our young players and that's what we're doing in our approach."

There, the hand that Hurney and coach John Fox are playing is on the table. There are no huge free-agency signings coming. There are no blockbuster trades on the horizon and chances are slim the Panthers are going to be jumping up into the first round of the draft.

Like it or not, the Panthers are going with what they have. Seriously. And, really, when you think about it, it's not all that much different than what Fox and Hurney have done throughout their tenure. What happened a few weeks back when Delhomme, Hoover, Maake Kemoeatu, Damione Lewis and Na'il Diggs were released, and Julius Peppers was allowed to walk into free agency, was not the "fire sale" many fans have called it.

"Whatever words you want to use, I think we have a philosophy that's been in place for several years," Hurney said. "I think our nucleus or our identity fits our formula of how we win games and have an identity for our football team. I think the key is to make the necessary changes year in and year out to not lose that identity or that winning formula."

Hurney's got a good point. If you really thought a quarterback who threw way too many interceptions, a couple of ordinary and aging defensive tackles and linebackers and a veteran fullback were the face of the franchise, you're missing the point completely.

The Panthers still have a core in place. It's guys like Steve Smith, Jordan Gross, Jon Beason, Thomas Davis, Chris Gamble, Jeff Otah, DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. Since they joined forces in 2002, Hurney and Fox have preached aggressive defense, ball-control offense and building through the draft. Yes, there are some cosmetic changes this offseason, but the big picture really hasn't changed.

"We feel we still possess that identity and that winning formula," Hurney said. "We have good depth on the offensive line. We have good depth at running back. We believe we have one of the best receivers in the National Football League. Yes, we do have a young quarterback. On defense, we lost a very productive defensive end, but we feel like we have young players ready to step in and we feel like our identity on defense still stands."

But Hurney admits there are questions with that young quarterback and at certain spots on defense. Let's start with the quarterback. I specifically asked Hurney if the Panthers really, truly, right hand in the air, are planning on going to training camp with Matt Moore as their starting quarterback.

Even though Hurney admitted the Panthers may do some things to solidify the position in what remains of free agency and the draft, the answer was a strong yes.

"We've seen enough to know he's taken care of the opportunities he's had," Hurney said. "Joe Gibbs always said at the quarterback position, when the lights go on, guys only get a few chances. When a guy gets that chance, he has to step up and take advantage of the opportunities. Matt Moore has done that in the opportunities he's had. That's the gauge for quarterbacks. They have to take advantage of the limited opportunities they have.''

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» NFC Needs Revisited: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

» Draft Watch: Biggest needs (2/17) | Busts/gems (2/24) | Schemes, themes (3/3) | Recent history (3/10) | Needs revisited (3/17) | Under-the-radar needs (3/26) | History in that spot (3/31) | Draft approach (4/7) | Decision-makers (4/14) | Dream scenario/Plan B (4/21)

Each Wednesday leading up to the NFL draft (April 22-24), the ESPN.com blog network will take a division-by-division look at key aspects of the draft. Today’s topic: Biggest needs revisited.

Atlanta Falcons

After making their one splurge into free agency to get Dunta Robinson and re-signing veteran Brian Williams, the Falcons have done a nice job of addressing a cornerback position that once was a big area of need. With those moves, the Falcons have whittled down their significant needs considerably.

The most glaring need is at defensive end and that almost certainly will be addressed early in the draft. John Abraham had a quiet year as a pass-rusher last season and age could be catching up to him. Nobody else stepped forward as a pass-rusher and the Falcons realize they need to get more pressure on quarterbacks. General manager Thomas Dimitroff believes in basing his drafts on need and getting a pass-rusher is critical.

The only other area that can be considered a high need is outside linebacker, but that’s not as dramatic as defensive end. The Falcons have Mike Peterson and Stephen Nicholas as their starting outside linebackers. Peterson is getting older, but still played at a high level last year. Nicholas was solid in his first year as a starter, but the Falcons could consider an upgrade.

Carolina Panthers

Their needs have grown since the start of free agency. The purge of veteran players has left the Panthers with needs in a lot of places. Without a first-round draft pick, the Panthers probably won’t be able to fill all their needs in the draft.

The defensive line, once the cornerstone of a John Fox team, has been gutted. The Panthers have high hopes for Everette Brown and Charles Johnson, but still could look for another defensive end to replace Julius Peppers.

The more glaring need might be at defensive tackle, where starters Damione Lewis and Maake Kemoeatu were released. The Panthers have nothing but projects and journeymen at defensive tackle. Unless they suddenly get more active in free agency, they almost have to find one starting defensive tackle in the draft.

New Orleans Saints

They are the champions and, as a result, won’t draft until the final pick of the first round. The new free-agency rules prevent the Saints from doing much in free agency. Their roster is in good shape, but they still have some needs.

The defensive line is the most prominent need. Starting end Charles Grant was released after the season, and there is a possibility tackle/end Anthony Hargrove could be lost as a restricted free agent. The Saints would like to get a defensive end who can generate more of a pass rush than Grant, and they’d also like to find a solid starter to pair with defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis.

But the Saints can’t totally lock in on the defensive line with their first pick because they’ve also got a need at outside linebacker. With Scott Fujita leaving as a free agent, the Saints have some in-house candidates, but there’s no clear-cut replacement. Picking at the end of the first round leaves the Saints at the mercy of the teams in front of them, but it seems likely they’ll take the best available defensive lineman or outside linebacker.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

There are needs just about everywhere, and the Bucs are counting heavily on this draft to be a big part of their building process. They have 10 overall picks and five in the first 99. They’ve got the third overall pick in the first round and it seems almost certain they’ll take defensive tackles Gerald McCoy or Ndamukong Suh, if either is available.

After that, they’ve got plenty of other directions they could go. They could take several wide receivers because there isn’t a quality starter currently on the roster. Defensive end also is an area of need because there is no clear starter opposite Stylez G. White.

Scott in Cocoa Beach, Fla., writes: Ari Fleischer to the rescue! Maybe he can talk the Glazers into spending some money on players so they don't come across as the biggest cheapskates in the NFL. Could there be more into Fleischer's hiring than just helping to look and narrow down a field for a Director of Communications position? Since when did Fleischer become a Human Resource Manager?

Pat Yasinskas: Yes, the Bucs have hired the former White House PR guru to help them choose a new director of communications. Actually, Fleischer has consulted with other NFL teams, most notably the Dolphins last year, on various issues. Supposedly, they want someone who will oversee all of their PR, including the Bucs, Manchester United and their other business interests. Sounds nice in theory, but I’m sure Fleisher’s fee isn’t cheap and the type of big gun they seem to be seeking likely will have a high price tag. My first thought on all this is why are the Bucs so willing to spend money on PR when they’re not spending it on players? Jeff Kamis, who is leaving as director of communications, was very good at his job and he has an outstanding support staff. Yeah, the Bucs have been taking a PR beating, but that wasn’t because of their PR staff. It was because they were 3-13 and made a lot of questionable moves last year. No PR person could have made chicken salad out of all that. If Fleischer is as smart as I think he is, he should be telling the Bucs to go out and get a couple of wide receivers, a defensive end and a defensive tackle. Fix the football team, win some games and the positive PR will flow no matter who is handing out credentials and press releases.

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Robbie in Murphy, N.C. writes: How come no one thinks that Carolina has improved? Matt Moore is an improvement over Jake Delhomme. We all have been thinking that Dan Connor should be starting for Na’il Diggs. Damione Lewis and Maake Kemoeatu were over-rated. So we lost Julius Peppers, so what? He only showed up in about 4 games a year anyway. Nobody knows what we have in the young replacements but we all know that DeAngelo Williams was better than DeShaun Foster, yet it took 2 years for them to finally release Foster.

Pat Yasinskas: Valid points. Moore was an improvement over Delhomme late last year, but we don’t know for sure if he’s the long-term answer. I’m with you on Connor and Lewis and Kemoeatu were “just guys.’’ Peppers had to go for reasons beyond football, but you have to admit the guy could dominate a game when he wanted to and guys like that are hard to find. But I find it hard, right now, to say Carolina has improved. They haven’t added anybody and they subtracted a bunch of guys. As I’ve been saying all along, we need to see the flip side of all this. Whether it’s through the draft or free agency, the Panthers need to plug some of the holes they’ve created. If they do that, then they could end up being better than last year.

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Sean in Wilmington, N.C., writes: In your most honest opinion who do you think the Panthers will bring in to compete with Matt Moore? Brady Quinn went to the Broncos after rumors of him possibly ending up in Carolina, but what about Derek Anderson?

Pat Yasinskas: Although Anderson would seem to be a logical fit for the Panthers, I haven’t heard anything to indicate they have shown any interest in him. I think there’s a good chance you could see the Panthers re-sign Josh McCown. They brought him in last year, but he got hurt. He has some experience as a starter and also has some upside.

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Mack in Athens, Ga., writes: I think the Falcons are good all around on offense, There have been worse offense's that have won championships. So my question is, do you think the Falcons defense is where they need it to be to make a serious run? I do not. I think we need serious upgrades at safety, LB, and DL.

Pat Yasinskas: I think Atlanta’s defense is a work in progress. The signing of Dunta Robinson gives the Falcons a No. 1 cornerback and they now have good depth at that position. A lot of people tend to forget about defensive tackle Peria Jerry and safety William Moore. They were Atlanta’s top two draft picks last year, but they got hurt before they could make an impact. They’ll be back this year and I think the Falcons have big plans for them and they should fill some of the needs you talked about. But there still is a need to improve the pass rush with a defensive end and the Falcons also could use some help at outside linebacker. I think you’ll see both those needs addressed early in the draft.