{"id":850229,"date":"2026-04-02T23:11:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/850229\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T23:11:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:11:20","slug":"carolina-panthers-2026-nfl-draft-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/850229\/","title":{"rendered":"Carolina Panthers 2026 NFL Draft Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a rocky start to the 2025 season, the Carolina Panthers rallied to reach the playoffs behind record-setting production from Rico Dowdle<\/a> and improved consistency from quarterback Bryce\u00a0 Young.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Carolina\u2019s season ended with a close Wild Card loss to the Rams, but the run set the stage for a\u00a0 2026 push. GM Dan Morgan<\/a> attacked free agency, adding high-end defensive talent with linebacker Devin Lloyd<\/a> and edge rusher Jaelan Phillips<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Panthers Draft Picks:<\/p>\n

Round 1: No. 19<\/p>\n

Round 2: No. 51<\/p>\n

Round 3: No. 83<\/p>\n

Round 4: No. 119<\/p>\n

Round 5: No. 158 (from Vikings)<\/p>\n

Round 5: No. 159<\/p>\n

Round 6: No. 200<\/p>\n

Morgan now turns to the draft with several picks available to use. While he has emphasized \u201cflexibility\u201d<\/a> in the draft, there are still several positions that the Panthers need to fill.<\/p>\n

Panthers Positions of Need:<\/p>\n

Panthers Key Draft Targets:
\nDillon Thieneman<\/a> \u2013 Safety \u2013 Oregon\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a safety-rich class, Oregon\u2019s Dillon Thieneman could fill Carolina\u2019s biggest hole: a fast,\u00a0 physical defender with strong tackling and explosiveness. If he\u2019s available at No. 19, he should be a top option, though some projections<\/a> have him going one pick earlier to Minnesota.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the Panthers don\u2019t get Thieneman, there is a boatload of options at safety that they can still find great success with. However, Thieneman should be priority number one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a rocky start to the 2025 season, the Carolina Panthers rallied to reach the playoffs behind record-setting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":850230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2075],"tags":[235,260,2567,7,6,236],"class_list":{"0":"post-850229","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-carolina","9":"tag-carolina-panthers","10":"tag-carolinapanthers","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116337645465861359","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850229","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=850229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/850230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}