The Carolina Panthers might be the worst team in the NFC going into the 2020 NFL draft. Remember, Cam Newton is now gone, as is Luke Kuechly, James Bradberry, Mario Addison, Greg Olsen and a handful of other important players. Whether you call it rebuilding or retooling, this team needs all the help it can get.
The front office’s strategy this offseason appears to have been to address their offensive needs in free agency and save defense for the draft.
So far, they’ve signed two quarterbacks in Teddy Bridgewater and P.J. Walker, plus half a dozen wide receivers, highlighted by deep threat Robby Anderson. Carolina also traded Pro Bowl right guard Trai Turner for Russell Okung and replaced him with John Miller. They have also signed a couple of depth pieces at tight end (Seth DeValve, Colin Thompson).
Defensively, there’s been much less activity. Nose tackle Zach Kerr, defensive end Stephen Weatherly and strong safety Juston Burris are the big names that have signed on that side of the ball this year.
Do the math and fans should expect a defense-heavy draft class this year. We’re expecting the team to trade down and pick a wide receiver early, but the rest of the class might well be all defense.
Here is an in-depth review of the Panthers’ position needs heading into this draft.
Cornerback, cornerback, cornerback
Winning consistently in today’s NFL is next to impossible without a solid cornerback room. If the Panthers don’t take that to heart, they’re going to learn that the hard way in 2020.
It’s debatable whether or not James Bradberry was worth the contract he signed with the Giants. What’s not debatable is he was the top corner on Carolina’s roster and finding a suitable replacement for him should be the top priority in this draft.
Ohio State’s Jeff Okudah is the crown jewel of a strong 2020 cornerback class. If by some miracle he’s still available at No. 7 overall, the Panthers can’t hesitate a second to pick him. If not, they’ll have plenty of other options. Aside from wide receiver, cornerback is probably the deepest group in this draft class.
Florida’s CJ Henderson is generally considered the second-best corner in this group behind Okudah. We have concerns about his tackling and his worst habits seem to align a bit too closely with Donte Jackson’s. However, his man coverage skills make him worth a pick in the teens.
They don’t need to draft a corner in the first round, though. There’s plenty of depth to go around and there should still be excellent outside corner prospects available in round three.
Once they find a replacement for Bradberry, the team will need to address the slot corner position, which is bare now that Javien Elliott is gone. Louisiana Tech’s Amik Robertson is the top prospect at this spot and he’s someone they have shown some interest in.
Whoever they have their eye on, slot corner should probably be addressed no later than the fifth round.
Even after replacing Bradberry and Elliott, the work might not be done. With Ross Cockrell out of the picture (he remains unsigned), their best backup is gone. Assuming they trade down in the draft at some point, we might see the Panthers pick three cornerbacks.
EDGE
Last season, Carolina finished second in sacks behind the Steelers. That potent pass rush was perhaps the only consistent element for a defense that otherwise seemed out of its league. The 2019 season was an eternity ago though and the pass-rushing arsenal is nearly as bare as cornerback.
Mario Addison and Bruce Irvin were the team’s starters at EDGE last year, but they both signed with other teams in free agency. On the bright side, that means more playing time for Brian Burns, who we are predicting will develop into one of the game’s top-10 edge defenders this year.
The downside is we have no idea who will start on the other side. Weatherly would be our best guess, but he’s been a career backup and it’s unlikely they see him as a long-term starter to pair with Burns.
You can go ahead and forget about the Panthers getting Chase Young. Unless they can convince Ron Rivera to part with the No. 2 overall pick, it’s not happening. Trading up for Young would not be a good idea, in any case.
The Panthers have shown a lot of interest in second and third-tier edge prospects, though. They have conducted video meetings with Florida’s Jonathan Greenard, Mighigan State’s Kenny Willekes, NC State’s James-Smith Williams and Stanford’s Casey Toohill.
Defensive tackle
Just as Brian Burns looks awfully lonely at the top of the edge depth chart, the same is true for Kawann Short on the interior. His absence for most of the 2019 season proved to be devastating for Carolina’s defense and getting him back healthy will obviously be a huge plus. Short would have been a superstar in another Aaron Donald-less era. He’s only one man though and the Panthers desperately need to surround him with more help.
If the season were to start today, Zach Kerr would likely fill the hole left behind by Dontari Poe at nose tackle. However, the team also lost Gerald McCoy and Vernon Butler. Long-time veteran and quality backup Kyle Love is a free agent, as well.
In our humble opinion, the Panthers should have paid up for a defensive tackle in free agency, because the options at this spot aren’t great after the first couple of rounds.
Auburn’s Derrick Brown and South Carolina’s Javon Kinlaw are the only true first-round DT prospects this year. If they pass on them, they might have to take someone like TCU’s Ross Blacklock or Oklahoma’s Neville Gallimore in round two. The cupboard gets pretty thin after that. For what it’s worth, they did hold a Zoom meeting with Blacklock.
Guard
We never liked the Russell Okung, Trai Turner swap. Whether you believe Turner was a legitimate Pro Bowler or if he was just skating by on name power is irrelevant. He’s five years younger and has a lot more high-level football left in him than Okung.
The Panthers took some of the sting out of this awful trade by signing former Bengals guard John Miller to a very inexpensive one-year deal worth $4 million. He has started 60 games at right guard and should at least be an adequate replacement.
The team struck out trying to re-sign Greg Van Roten, though. While he was a liability in pass protection, he had developed into a great run blocker and consistent starter. Losing him leaves the roster extremely thin at this position. It’s possible they will try to slide Greg Little or Dennis Daley in at left guard, but we believe they’ll draft for this need instead.
On this front, the team held pre-draft meetings with Missouri’s Yasir Durant and Louisiana-Lafayette’s Kevin Dotson, who project as guards at the next level. Expect a Day 3 pick at this spot.
Safety
The Panthers made some baffling moves this offseason. While it wasn’t nearly as bad as releasing a former MVP quarterback and getting nothing in return, cutting Eric Reid did not make any sense. From a football perspective, he was a quality starter who played most of the 2019 season injured. Cutting him made an already bad salary cap situation even worse.
Releasing Colin Jones (a special teams ace) did not help, either.
It sounds like Matt Rhule plans to start Juston Burris at strong safety in Reid’s place. That’s a gamble that might or might not pay off. Just in case it doens’t work out, the Panthers need to pick up another safety at some point.
As far as we’re aware, Lenoir-Rhyne’s Kyle Dugger is the only safety prospect they have shown any interest in this year. This probably means they don’t consider safety to be a need like we do, but there’s a good chance they will try to hit two birds with one stone by picking a slot cornerback who can also fill this hole like Clemson’s K’Von Wallace.
Linebacker
Unless the Panthers are somehow lucky enough to stumble into drafting Isaiah Simmons, there’s no hope of finding an adequate replacement for Luke Kuechly. Simmons is a freakish hybrid whose game lands somewhere between Brian Urlacher and Kam Chancellor. His physicality, athleticism and versatility make him the single most enticing defensive prospect in this class.
Carolina would almost certainly have to trade up from No. 7 to get him though and trading up is probably not in the cards this year.
The addition of Tahir Whitehead will help soothe the burn of Kuechly’s retirement, at least somewhat. He has experience with Matt Rhule and has played the middle linebacker/playcaller role before, as well. The Panthers need some more depth behind Whitehead and Shaq Thompson, though. Jermaine Carter and Andre Smith are decent backups but we don’t project them to be starters in the long run.
Some of the linebacker prospects the team has shown interest in are Utah’s Francis Bernard, Wake Forest’s Justin Strnad, Michigan’s Josh Uche, Fresno State’s Mykal Walker and Miami’s Shaquille Quarterman. This is another position to watch on Day 3.
Wild card: Future franchise QB
Last but certainly not least, the Panthers have to consider picking up a new potential franchise quarterback. Teddy Bridgewater’s experience and consistency makes him a strong option to run Joe Brady’s offense right now. Then again, if the front office truly saw him as their QB1 of the future, they would have given him more than a three-year deal.
Finding a franchise quarterback is easier said than done, of course. We always believed Cam Newton was Carolina’s best option to win games this year and it may take years to replace him.
No matter what Dave Gettleman’s opinion of Justin Herbert is, Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa are the top two prospects in this class, hands down. If there’s a chance to land either one of them, the Panthers should pull the trigger. After those two, things get much more dicey with this QB class. Jordan Love has as many red flags as Herbert, Jake Fromm doesn’t have a pro arm and Jacob Eason looks like a career backup in the making.
The one prospect who we would feel really good about outside of the top two is Jalen Hurts. During his time at Oklahoma, he proved he’s capable of running a modern offense. In addition to having a powerful arm, he’s easily the best running QB in this class. He totaled 3,274 yards and 43 rushing touchdowns in college.
If Hurts is still there in the third round, he’s worth a gamble. If not, the Panthers should probably punt on this until 2021.
