Age is not the only reason why Nicks is a lot better prospect than LaFell. Even the Panthers are looking at Nicks as a replacement to him and Smith. LaFell just plain sucks. That's basically it. He's had every opportunity to solidify himself as the Panthers' next #1 or at least as a big time #2 in Carolina, and has not been able to do so in 4 years.
He hasn't even come close to carrying Smith's jock strap in this time and cowers in front of Smith just as much as he does in front of DB's where he crawls into a little ball before they even get within 2 feet of him. He pretty much fits the bill of being a finesse, solid, but very soft player.
If you want a good trooper that won't ever get out of line, a good dude, nice guy, with practically no personality, and will stay out of trouble, yeah that's LaFell....but how many more of these guys do we want to collect?
It took LaFell almost 3 years to learn the Panthers' "complex offense" when he came in as a rookie and stop making mental errors, and in all honesty, when we have guys like KT and Dobson, it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. LaFell might have more experience, but I feel they have more upside and are already way under way of learning this offense. I don't see him panning out to be anything more than those two, unless BB feels the Panthers totally stunted his growth or something. I just didn't see it and I've watched him since his rookie training camp. Never been impressed.
