{"id":870564,"date":"2026-04-20T10:57:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T10:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/870564\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T10:57:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T10:57:35","slug":"what-happens-if-the-panthers-trade-down-mapping-every-realistic-scenario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/870564\/","title":{"rendered":"What Happens If the Panthers Trade Down? Mapping Every Realistic Scenario"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6i\">Carolina Panthers GM Dan Morgan has been one of the most aggressive GMs in the draft since taking over in 2024. He&#8217;s set to helm his third draft, and there&#8217;s a good chance the Panthers move up or down the draft board at various spots. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6l\">Historically, this has meant that the Panthers have traded up. They moved up <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/panthers\/onsi\/panthers-rookies-xavier-legette-luke-fortner-rasheed-walker\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">for Xavier Legette<\/a>, Jonathon Brooks, and Nic Scourton in the last two drafts. They could do it again this season, and that includes moving in the first round.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6o\">What if they move back? It&#8217;s not typically Morgan&#8217;s strategy to move back, but they mulled just that last year when the Los Angeles Rams called for the eighth pick. They stood pat, but it&#8217;s something that nearly transpired. What if it happens this year?<\/p>\n<p>What if the Panthers move back?<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01kpn7zr9psnn14gc187.jpg\" alt=\"The Carolina Panthers logo is projected on the video board during the NFL Draft \" title=\"The Carolina Panthers logo is projected on the video board during the NFL Draft \" width=\"8640\" height=\"4860\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"71\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Carolina Panthers logo is projected on the video board during the NFL Draft  | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"75\">If the Panthers move back in the NFL draft, it will not be too much <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/panthers\/onsi\/panthers-mock-jordyn-tyson-wide-receiver-nfl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">further than the 19th pick<\/a>. Dan Morgan is well aware of the team&#8217;s status as a division champion in a weak division, so they&#8217;re not <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/panthers\/onsi\/panthers-sleepers-logan-jones-austin-barber-draft\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">going to sit back<\/a> and act like this is a flawless roster.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"78\">They know the impact of a first-round pick, so we don&#8217;t expect them to move down much further than the mid-20s if they do entertain other offers. The most likely scenario is if <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/panthers\/onsi\/nfl-draft-fits-panthers-kc-concepcion-kenyon-sadiq-dillon-thieneman\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">several of the prospects they like<\/a> are still on the board.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7b\">If Kenyon Sadiq, KC Concepcion, Omar Cooper Jr., Denzel Boston, Dillon Thieneman, and Emmanuel McNeil-Warren are all on the board, it is extremely plausible that the Panthers would move back to the mid-20s and take whichever one is still available. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01kpn81f44w0710km3mb.jpg\" alt=\"Indiana Hoosiers wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. (3) against the Miami Hurricanes \" title=\"Indiana Hoosiers wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. (3) against the Miami Hurricanes \" width=\"4596\" height=\"2585\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7l\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Indiana Hoosiers wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. (3) against the Miami Hurricanes  | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7p\">This is the benefit of having done so well in free agency. They have options, which could open them up to taking whoever in the first round at any pick. That could mean trading down. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7s\">Another scenario is if most or all of those prospects are off the board. That&#8217;s a long shot, but if the Panthers don&#8217;t have one of their preferred targets on the board, then collecting more picks and moving down for Akheem Mesidor or Cashius Howell, two prospects who probably are not worth the 19th, makes sense. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7v\">The Panthers could also move down to get Peter Woods, which is the wild-card scenario. There&#8217;s not a lot of consensus on where he should be drafted, and he makes some sense for Carolina, but not at 19. If they move back in the first round, he becomes a much more realistic target. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carolina Panthers GM Dan Morgan has been one of the most aggressive GMs in the draft since taking&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[235,260,2567,7,6,236],"class_list":{"0":"post-870564","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\/116436681632838655","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870564","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=870564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}