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Things and Stuff: Derrick Harvey

By Brinson | March 19, 2008

I decided to name anything about potential Panther picks or prospects “Things and Stuff”, if you’re curious. Today’s subject is Derrick Harvey, who worked out for pro scouts at UF yesterday, along with other Florida players. Harvey used his times from the combine, but he still got on the field with some other coaches.

The 6-foot-4, 270-pound Harvey competed in some defensive line drills with Jaguars defensive line coach Ted Monachino.

“He’s a competitor. He’s a snap-to-whistle, bottom-of-his shoes-to-top-of-his-headgear kind of guy, and I think that jumps out at you,” Monachino said. “His arrow is going up in a big way. I think he’s going to be a good player for a long, long time.”

Love the upside, and it’s understandable that the Cats are looking at him - especially if we’re discarding, er, trading Peppers at any point. Fox knows we need to win this year, but offensive line aside, we’re good on that side of the ball. We need some safety help and it wouldn’t hurt to get some depth on defensive line, especially if a potential franchise DE falls to us. The Jax paper also reported that Harvey spent ” a considerable amount of time talking to Carolina Panthers coach John Fox” which is both understandable and reasonable if he’s someone we might be targeting in the first round.

Here’s my thought on the idea of taking Harvey though - Fox has him rated, on his personal board, in the top five. That means that if Harvey falls to us at 13, he has to do his due diligence and draft him because he’s best available. Then figure out the offensive line situation, in a draft that is deep, later, either by trading up or trading out for veteran o-line help. He might think Harvey isn’t falling, but if he’s got him rated that high (my speculation of course) then he at least has to do the research.