The Carolina Panthers had a tough season last year, finishing with the worst record in the league. Now, they have a lot of areas to improve in the upcoming NFL draft. The issue is they don’t have a first-round pick.
Last year, they traded that pick to the Chicago Bears, who ended up getting the No. 1 pick. The Panthers were eager for some stability at quarterback and moved up to select Bryce Young from Alabama.
However, Young struggled in his rookie year, and the Panthers finished with a 2-15 record. Now, they don’t have much to show for their challenges after what seems like a trade favoring the Bears.
Panthers owner David Tepper, who isn’t known for being patient, replaced general manager Scott Fitterer and first-year head coach Frank Reich.
Now, Carolina has a new management team in place, with former Panthers’ linebacker Dan Morgan as the GM and Dave Canales as head coach.
The Panthers do have two early second-round picks (No. 33 and 39), so there’s a possibility they could trade those to move back into the first round. However, Morgan has expressed little interest in trading up and seems content to wait until the second round to make any moves.
Carolina also has picks in the third and fourth rounds, along with two in the fifth round and one in the seventh.
Their strategy for the two second-round picks will depend largely on who’s still available when their turn comes up in the draft.
