seven-round, 257-player behemoth<\/a> that dropped last week.<\/p>\nMany experts aren\u2019t sure Thieneman, a ball hawk who blazed to a 4.35-second 40 at the combine, will make it past 18, where the Minnesota Vikings could be looking for a Harrison Smith successor. Sadiq, a freakish athlete who nearly matched Thieneman with a 4.39-second 40, has gone in the top 15 of a couple of recent mocks by The Athletic, including the beat writers\u2019 last iteration.<\/p>\n
So there\u2019s a chance neither is available when the Panthers are on the clock. But what if they both are? Some in the Panthers\u2019 organization don\u2019t think tight end is as big a need as some outsiders do, especially with how Canales has employed tight ends in his first two seasons in Charlotte. Could that change with Brad Idzik taking over the play calling and the addition of offensive specialist Darrell Bevell, who was in Seattle with Canales when the Seahawks traded for All-Pro tight end Jimmy Graham? Possibly.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also the question of whether the Panthers need another safety after signing Tre\u2019von Moehrig and drafting Lathan Ransom (in the fourth round) last year. Thieneman would be more of a center-field patrolman if he winds up with Carolina, with Moehrig remaining in his hybrid role and Ransom again handling the big nickel duties.<\/p>\n
After checking a lot of boxes in free agency, Morgan has said he\u2019ll stick with a best-player-available approach, with an emphasis on finding playmakers. Deciding whether Thieneman or Sadiq is the better playmaker is a tough call, and might be one the Panthers ultimately don\u2019t have to make.<\/p>\n
So is it a Duck or bust for Morgan?<\/p>\n
Not necessarily. As mentioned, there\u2019s a decent chance both Thieneman and Sadiq are gone when the Panthers are on the clock. And if they are available, Morgan might have other players ranked higher on Carolina\u2019s board.<\/p>\n
As Morgan said during his pre-draft news conference last week, teams don\u2019t always know \u201cwhat guy\u2019s gonna fall,\u201d despite the months of prep work. An injury, an off-the-field situation or another extenuating circumstance could send a prospect tumbling down boards.<\/p>\n
Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy, who had ACL surgery in the fall, went 22nd in the beat writers\u2019 mock, four spots lower than his positioning in Brugler\u2019s mock. And the writers made their picks before the Monday night report by NFL Network\u2019s Tom Pelissero that McCoy could need additional surgery to repair a bone plug in his knee.<\/p>\n
Would Morgan really take another first-round receiver?<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t rule it out; Morgan hasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Morgan\u2019s best sound bite during an otherwise uneventful pre-draft presser came when he was asked about the possibility of going with a wide receiver for the third consecutive year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re gonna take the best player. So if the best player we feel is (a receiver) at 19, I wouldn\u2019t hesitate to draft another wideout,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a rule that says you can\u2019t draft a wide receiver three years in a row. So, I\u2019m not gonna box us in and say we\u2019re not gonna draft one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morgan is 1-for-2 when drafting receivers. After two seasons, you\u2019d have to say Morgan missed on Xavier Legette, who\u2019s struggled with drops and a lack of field awareness since the Panthers traded up one spot with Buffalo to take Legette with the final pick of the first round in 2024.<\/p>\n
But Morgan made up for it last year with the choice of McMillan, with assists to Canales and Young, who lobbied for T-Mac after their throwing workout. While many (raising hand here) were calling for the Panthers to take Georgia linebacker Jalon Walker or another defensive player, Morgan was convicted on McMillan, who joined Cam Newton as the only Panther players to win Offensive Rookie of the Year.<\/p>\n
Morgan also deserves credit for bringing in Jalen Coker, an undrafted free agent from Holy Cross who has leapfrogged Legette as WR2. But with Legette slow to develop, the WR room is a little lean behind those two. Specifically, the Panthers would like to add a speed receiver who could catch a bubble screen near the line of scrimmage and take it 60 yards.<\/p>\n
The need for speed<\/p>\n
The Panthers hosted several fleet wideouts on 30 visits: Texas A&M\u2019s KC Concepcion, Indiana\u2019s Omar Cooper Jr., Oklahoma\u2019s Deion Burks and Tennessee\u2019s Chris Brazzell II. Burks and Brazzell are not rated as Day 1 prospects.<\/p>\n
Carolina also hosted Washington\u2019s Denzel Boston, who is a bit of an outlier at 6 feet 4 and lacking top-end speed. The Panthers reportedly attended Arizona State\u2019s Jordyn Tyson\u2019s private workout last week, although he and USC\u2019s Makai Lemon are expected to be gone before the Panthers pick.<\/p>\n
That would seem to leave Concepcion and Cooper as the players who fit the Panthers\u2019 profile and also should be available at 19. Concepcion was my choice in the beat writers\u2019 mock, with his experience as a ball carrier and return specialist giving him the edge over Cooper, who caught 13 touchdown passes during the Hoosiers\u2019 national championship season \u2014 12 from Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza.<\/p>\n
Concepcion has struggled with drops but is a dynamic playmaker who grew up in Charlotte, if that means anything. It might: The Panthers on Tuesday agreed to terms with veteran quarterback Will Grier, a high school legend in the Charlotte area who was drafted by his hometown team in the third round in 2019.<\/p>\n
Who are the wild cards?<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t sleep on Georgia offensive lineman Monroe Freeling, who needs some seasoning but has the size (6-7, 318 pounds) and athleticism to become a longtime starter at tackle for the Panthers or some other team. Freeling was available at 19 in The Athletic\u2019s writers\u2019 mock, and I experienced some buyer\u2019s remorse after not taking him, especially when the Philadelphia Eagles traded up to get Freeling at 20.<\/p>\n
The Panthers protected themselves in free agency by signing Rasheed Walker to a one-year deal while Ikem Ekwonu recovers from patellar tendon surgery. And Canales said at the owners\u2019 meetings he\u2019s not a fan of drafting for depth. But with Ekwonu in a contract year and Taylor Moton entering his age-32 season, snagging a tackle \u2014 whether it\u2019s Freeling or Alabama\u2019s Kadyn Proctor \u2014 makes some sense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHARLOTTE, N.C. \u2014 Had the NFL world known about Bryce Young\u2019s pre-draft throwing session with Tetairoa McMillan last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[235,260,2567,7,6,236],"class_list":{"0":"post-871834","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\/116448091899519973","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871834","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=871834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}