The NFL Draft starts this Thursday night in Green Bay, and there’s a good chance the Carolina Panthers will break with recent tradition. Not since the team took Jaycee Horn in the first round in 2021 has Carolina used one of its top two draft picks on a defensive player.
The Panthers took receiver Terrace Marshall in the second round, after Horn, offensive tackle Ickey Ekwonu and quarterback Matt Corral (a third rounder, but the team’s second pick) in 2022, Bryce Young and Jonathan Mingo in 2023 and Xavier Leggette and Jonathan Brooks last year.
While not all of those picks are still with the team, as the Panthers enter the 2025 draft, Carolina has more needs on defense than offense. That’s true even after an offseason where the team bulked up on D in the free agent market, adding two tackles to the interior of the defensive line and also inking a pair of linebackers and a safety.
The biggest areas of need entering the draft are edge rusher on defense and receiver on offense. Carolina also could use more help at safety and, to a lesser extent, cornerback. Given the players likely to be left on the board when the team hits the clock with the eighth pick, it will likely come down to pass rusher or pass catcher.
While it’s not unanimous, there is a consensus among mock drafts that the Panthers will use the top pick on Georgia edge rusher Jalon Walker. The Salisbury native was the Gatorade Player of the Year in North Carolina in 2021, and his father is a longtime college coach in the state. Walker won a national title and the Butkus Award during his time with UGA.
He’s a big linebacker or a small end, but many observers grade him as the best pass rusher in the draft. Walker’s speed and big-play ability likely give him the highest ceiling of the pass-rushing options available at pick eight. Walker is the Panthers’ pick on more than half of the major outlets’ mock drafts.
If someone beats the Panthers to the punch, or if the team decides to go in a different direction, they don’t need to look much farther than Walker’s line-mate with the Bulldogs. Mykel Williams also got plenty of mention by Carolina mock drafts. He’s bigger than Walker—at 6-foot-5, 260, he has three inches and more than 20 pounds more than his teammate—and he’s more of a classic pass-rushing end than a linebacker/end hybrid. He’ll also be an asset against the run, especially lining up next to the Panthers’ much-improved interior defense up front. The Panthers have had both Bulldogs in for pre-draft visits.
A&M’s Shemar Stewart has plenty of potential, but he’s also a big risk, since his college production was fairly limited. There’s still a strong chance that a team will take a flier on him, perhaps in the first 10 picks. There hasn’t been much smoke swirling around interest on the Panthers’ part, however.
The next two best edge rushers are Tennessee’s James Pearce and Marshall’s Mike Green. Both seem likely to go late in the first round, and it would raise eyebrows around the league if the Panthers used the eighth pick on them.
If the Panthers decide to address receiver, keeping their streak of early offense picks intact, the most likely choice is Arizona ‘s Tetairoa McMillan. His 3,423 yards in three seasons are the most in Arizona history, and he finished runner up for the Biletnikoff Award, which goes to the nation’s best college receiver. Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka is the next-best receiver prospect, but eight seems too early to take him.
Assuming the Panthers go edge rusher in the first round, they may choose to address the safety position with their next pick, at 25 in the second round. That’s based on the falloff at the receiver position and who is likely to still be around when Carolina is back on the clock. Penn State’s Kevin Winston or Notre Dame’s Xavier Watts could be the choice. Or, the Panthers could pull the trigger on receiver, with TCU’s Jack Bech or Iowa State’s Jaylin Noel could be players to watch. Noel paid a pre-draft visit to Carolina, and Bech has been a fast riser on draft boards after the Combine.
The Panthers will then likely address whichever spot they neglect with the first two choices with their third-round pick, scheduled to come 17 spots later. Of course, Carolina has a pair of fourth-rounders and three fifth-round selections, so there is plenty of capital to swing a trade to move up, if necessary.
