pass-rushing woes<\/a>. But it doesn’t hurt to add one through the draft.<\/p>\nAt 6-foot-5 and around 265 pounds, Denis-Sutton may translate best as a defensive end\u2014not an outside linebacker\u2014in Carolina’s 3-4 front. He could, however, carry enough versatility to stand up if needed and brings some pro-ready run defense to the table.<\/p>\n
Remarkably enough, he’s quite comparable to another Penn State product with a hyphenated surname\u2014former Panthers defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos.<\/p>\n
Fourth round (No. 119 overall): Jalon Kilgore, CB, South Carolina<\/p>\n
Kilgore has the size (6-foot-1, 207 pounds), athleticism and range to line up at both cornerback and safety.<\/p>\n
The most alluring trait could be his ability to defend out of the slot, an area the Panthers defense has struggled with in recent seasons.<\/p>\n
Fifth round (No. 157 overall): Bishop Fitzgerald, S, Southern California<\/p>\n
We secure another exciting defensive back in Fitzgerald, who totaled 10 interceptions over his three collegiate campaigns.<\/p>\n
Starting free safety Nick Scott is ticketed for the open market, and Carolina could use a ballhawk like Fitzgerald in the backend of their defense.<\/p>\n
Fifth round (No. 158 overall): Logan Jones, C, Iowa<\/p>\n
They could also use a new center, especially if Cade Mays wonders off in free agency.<\/p>\n
Hitting up the offensive linemen factory in Iowa usually results in some pretty good business.<\/p>\n
Sixth round (No. 199): TJ Guy, EDGE, Michigan<\/p>\n
You can’t try for enough firepower off the edge.<\/p>\n
Guy registered 10.0 sacks between his last two seasons at Michigan.<\/p>\n
Seventh round (No. 235): Riley Mahlman, OT, Wisconsin<\/p>\n
With left tackle Ikem Ekwonu on the mend from a torn patellar tendon, the Panthers should be adding some depth in the offensive trench.<\/p>\n
Mahlman has experience on both sides.<\/p>\n
Follow\u00a0@ThePanthersWire<\/a>\u00a0on Twitter\/X for more Panthers content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 9, 2026, 6:05 a.m. ET For the Carolina Panthers, the 2025 season ended almost exactly one month…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[95878,235,260,2567,7,6,236,97114,97115,97116,95882,95930,96165,100374,96059,97060,95924,95896,95888,96683,95895,97271,95899,95906,96948,95977,96008,95902,95883,97971,95894,97059,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-744360","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-carolina","10":"tag-carolina-panthers","11":"tag-carolinapanthers","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-panthers","15":"tag-sstssportsnflpanthers","16":"tag-sstsnpanthers","17":"tag-tag2026-nfl-draft","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagbig-ten-conference-football","20":"tag-tagbryce-young","21":"tag-tagcade-mays","22":"tag-tagcarolina-panthers","23":"tag-tagikem-ekwonu","24":"tag-taglos-angeles-rams","25":"tag-tagnational-sports","26":"tag-tagnfl","27":"tag-tagnfl-draft","28":"tag-tagnfl-hub","29":"tag-tagnick-scott","30":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","31":"tag-tagoverall-positive","32":"tag-tagpenn-state-nittany-lions","33":"tag-tagseattle-seahawks","34":"tag-tagsmg-listicle","35":"tag-tagsport-scores-statistics","36":"tag-tagsports-news","37":"tag-tagsuper-bowl-60","38":"tag-tagtwitter","39":"tag-tagxavier-legette","40":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}