Hurney left the team in a lurch for quarterback in 2010, a year after signing Jake Delhomme to an oversized contract that paid him more than $10 million to play in Cleveland that year. For help, he turned to Jimmy Claussen in the 2010 NFL Draft, a second-round pick. Hurney had dealt away the team's
Kiper says that the expected rookie wage scale that will likely be part of the new CBA makes the first overall pick more valuable since the contract that player will get won't be prohibitive. That means that by grabbing the top QB in the draft, Carolina either holds a major trade chip or they get themselves a potential franchise QB. This could also make Jimmy Claussen a trade chip in the coming years.