Inside The Bills

Carolina considering QB

The Carolina Panthers with the top overall pick have already whittled their top selection down to a finite number of candidates and there is a quarterback in that group.

Panthers head coach Ron Rivera confirmed that a quarterback prospect is among the small group of prospects they’re considering for the first overall pick in the 2011 NFL draft.

“We’ve limited it to a specific number of players and we’ll be watching those players very closely over the next month and a half, evaluating, trying to get as much information as we can and most certainly trying to see which player — regardless of position — fits our needs most urgently,” said Rivera. “You’d have to say somewhere between 7 and 10 guys that we have targeted, maybe lower. We are exploring all positions. Quarterback is one of them but we’re exploring all positions.”

One would have to think that Cam Newton or Blaine Gabbert is one of those signal callers they’re considering based on where most draft services have him ranked.