I n the (extended) lead-up to this year’s NFL Draft, trying to predict what the Panthers will do with any of their picks has seemed as useful as playing darts blindfolded.

First of all, the team’s board isn’t even set yet. Then, when the draft finally does get here, there are so many things that could happen before the Panthers are on the clock way back at No. 28. They can’t know what they’re going to do right now, so how could we?

But there is something that could provide us with some decent clues if a.) it goes like it did last year, b.) we listen.

General manager Dave Gettleman will meet with the media today at noon, and I’m most interested to learn if he’ll drop honest hints about his plans. He did last year, most famously by foreshadowing his first two choices by waxing poetic about hog mollies.

We’re not used to getting the truth when hearing from NFL general managers or coaches, but the Panthers have a couple different guys currently at the top. Head coach Ron Rivera is sometimes too honest, and Gettleman – as he’s proven both before last year’s draft and at this year’s Combine by refusing to flat out lie about Steve Smith’s status – seems to actually enjoy explaining what he’s thinking. This is, after all, not a CIA operation.

To prepare a bit for today, last night I re-watched Gettleman’s 2013 pre-draft press conference. If you don’t have a half hour to do the same, here’s a few points of interest you could skip to:

• 6:42 – on how people outside the building don’t always see that “oftentimes the answer is on your roster.”
• 13:48 – the danger in trading back – “Do you want a dollar or do you want three dimes?”
• 16:35 – the hog mollie moment – “Big men allow you to compete.”
• 20:55 – on defensive tackle class – “That defensive tackle group is deep.”
• 26:45 – on moving up in the draft – bonus facial expression included

NFL video is not embed friendly, so CLICK THIS LINK to go to the video.

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BBR Nuggets:

• Most teams want to build through the draft, so it’s probably not ideal for the Panthers to be tied with the Browns at 26th on this graph. Original Draft Picks By Team, by ESPN.com’s Kevin Seifert.
• Pro Football Talk reports the Panthers have agreed to give defensive end Greg Hardy an advance to participate in offseason workouts.
• According to Spotrac, Hardy’s cracked the top 10 of NFL Cash Earners this season.
• The current workouts are closed to the media, but Panthers.com released some footage yesterday.
• “This is a big year for Cam Newton.” Yup, just like last year. And the year before. And the year before that. And as it will be every year after this one. Newton’s Challenge is Clear, by ESPN.com’s Ashley Fox.
• A couple of Carolina’s previous draft-day trades are included in this post by Football Perspective’s Chase Stuart. Analyzing the Last Ten Years of Trading for Future First Round Picks
• ICYMI: Linebacker Luke Kuechly is the star of a new national ad campaign.

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Coming Up:

• For today’s Gettleman press conference: We’ll experiment with a live event platform, and afterward, we’ll post plenty of analysis and video highlights.
• The BBR Podcast debuts this week. We’ll be talking to Rotoworld NFL Draft writer Josh Norris, and the bulk of questions will come from fans. So if you have a question for Josh, tweet it to us!