The Carolina Panthers have numerous roster holes yet to fill this offseason. 2019 is going to be a major transitional year with so many veteran players either moving on to another team or retiring. How they choose to address these changes will have a huge impact on how competitive the team will be over the next few seasons.
The big question is naturally how they’ll go about the NFL draft, now less than one month away. The Panthers absolutely have to fill spots on both sides of the line of scrimmage (notably defensive end and offensive tackle), and have gotten started.
Adding edge/linebacker Bruce Irvin on one side and center Matt Paradis on the other will help ease the transition from Julius Peppers and Ryan Kalil. It also puts a little less pressure on the team to draft for need in the first round.
According to Jouran Rodrigue at the Charlotte Observer, on Monday at the owners meetings general manager Marty Hurney hinted that the early free agent moves could allow a push for best player available when they’re on the clock at No. 16 overall.
In an ideal world, the Panthers could go BPA in every round every year. That’s not the way it works though and team needs have to be addressed at some point. Balancing the two approaches is key.
Who might Carolina land at No. 16 if they’re free to pick whoever they think is the best player, regardless of position?
That’s anybody’s guess, but for what it’s worth in our own BPA mock draft they landed LSU linebacker Devin White.
