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closeCHARLOTTE -- The Carolina Panthers seemed to be catching everybody off guard this weekend.
First-round pick Jeff Otah said he hoped to come here initially, and was a bit disappointed when the Panthers didn't take him 13th overall.
"I didn't get a phone call, so I was thinking, 'Well, all right, who's next?'" Otah said.
Resigned to going elsewhere, his phone rang when the 19th pick was on the clock, with Otah not knowing the Panthers had finalized a trade with Philadelphia for him.
"I was thinking, 'Aren't the Eagles picking?'" Otah said. "I figured it was a prank call. They said, 'You don't sound so excited,' but then they put coach (John) Fox on and I knew his voice."
Third-round pick Dan Connor had other reasons, since most felt he was a late-first- to early second-rounder, and the Panthers are frankly loaded at his position.
"I didn't expect it," Connor said of his free-fall. "But I'm still excited to be on the team right now and have mini-camp coming up. I don't think it's the worst thing in the world. I'm more excited about this being the start of a long NFL career.
"There's a ton of talent there and it's going to be great to be able to learn under a bunch of great linebackers. There are some guys with a lot of experience. I'm just looking forward to that and taking it all in and learning from these guys who prove themselves every week on Sundays."
• WITH THEM FROM THE START: Despite growing up near Jacksonville, Fla., fifth-round tight end Gary Barnidge said he's always been somewhat of a Panthers fan.
Part of it was being rebellious as a kid, knowing everyone else around Middleburg, Fla., would be cheering from the Jaguars. He laughed and said he even won a bet with his father, when he Panthers won the Hall of Fame Game in 1995, the first game for both franchises.
"He gave me an extra $20 allowance because they won," Barnidge said. Not bad, since he was short of his 10th birthday when that game happened.
The Louisville tight end is listed at 6-foot-6, 235 pounds, but said he's up to 247 now, thanks to an aggressive weight-gain campaign.
He said he's taking beef liver pills, and foregone all breads and sugars, making it a bit of a sight when he orders a sandwich out.
"If I eat a sandwich, I just roll up the meat and cheese," he said. "Yeah, no bread, no cheese, just straight burgers. That's why I get like three of them."
• WELL, ... YEAH: Sixth-round defensive tackle Nick Hayden's a solid, yet unspectacular player. When asked what he brought to the Panthers, his answer was concise.
"My strength is my strength," he said.
Hayden knocked out 34 repetitions of the standard 225-pound bench press at the combine. That's a load anyway, but Hayden's a long-armed prospect, making the lifts that much more impressive.
• EXTRA POINTS: Drafting Connor might have just ended Adam Seward's run here. New England had the restricted free agent in for a visit but never made an offer. Had they done so, they'd have surrendered a fifth-round pick. Now, they'll have a chance to get him for nothing, since it's looking less likely he'll make this roster.
Former third-rounder James Anderson was already on the endangered species list, and drafting Connor makes it an extreme longshot that he'll last. ...
The Panthers didn't draft a quarterback, and will likely just sign one undrafted guy to throw during minicamp and coaching sessions, since Jake Delhomme's not ready to begin full work. ...
Otah held up his new jersey, bearing the 79 last worn by too-narrow tackle Rashad Butler, the 2006 third-rounder who was cut last summer.
Butler's own jersey wouldn't fit the doorway-wide Otah without pads on, so suffice it to say, it was a new shirt. ...
Third-rounder Charles Godfrey, the team's first third-rounder, is the younger brother of former Kansas State quarterback El Roberson. He said being able to fulfill his brother's mission made Sunday a special day.
"That was one of his dreams, and now he is living it through me," Godfrey said. "That is the big thing, not only making it to the NFL, but contributing when I get there." ...
Seventh-round defensive end Hilee Taylor's only the second University of North Carolina product drafted by the Panthers. The other one's some Peppers guy. ...
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