Carolina Panthers 2024 Draft Review: Three Points to Ponder

The Carolina Panthers began the Morgan/Canales Era with seven draft picks. How will these players help the team make progress in 2024?

After a nightmarish 2023 campaign, the Carolina Panthers search for daylight. That is to say, putting the disaster in the past tense helps the immediate future. Plus, why subject new players to the infection of previous losses? They can’t fix the score of a completed game. As a result, the franchise needed to hit the hardest of reset and make an attempt to chart a new course. Granted, the Panthers have travelled enough routes to make Uber jealous. Now, they endeavor to find a working formula. In the completely winnable NFC South, Carolina can compete with smart moves and even smarter coaching.

Good Pick, Weird Path

If you look at the drafting of South Carolina’s big-play receiver Xavier Legette, it makes sense on many levels. Legette blends strength and explosion to stretch defenses. His skillset profiles as lead wideout, Bryce Young potentially sees his future number-one option line up this fall. However, for all of the positives, only one negative exists around the draft pick. Why did the team feel compelled to send a fifth-round selection to move up one spot to the thirty-second overall selection? Buffalo selected Florida State wideout Keon Coleman, a player with a different game than Legette. While it may seem like nitpicking, the only thing that needs to be picked is surrendering a pick when the team roster screams for depth everywhere.

A Backfield Playmaker

Since Carolina sent Christian McCaffrey to San Francisco, the offense lacked a rushing threat that could bounce to the outside, accelerating past defenders. After a couple years of the unimaginative ” three yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust” rushing attack, the offense added a dynamic component. Jonathon Brooks adds elements that could help transform the NFL’s worst statistical offense in 2023, into something resembling a competent offense. Moreover, Jonathon Brooks should immediately give life to an anemic rushing attack that failed to gain at least 125 yards in eleven games. Similarly, in the passing game, Brooks gives the Panthers a sure set of hands out of the backfield. During his stay in Austin, he averaged twelve yards per catch. Brooks expects to be ready for camp after tearing an ACL last fall.

Quick Apprenticeship

When the Panthers drafted Trevin Wallace with the seventy-second pick, they overtly started the clock on expediting the clock on Shaq Thompson. Granted, Thompson does bring triple-digit tackles on what seems like an annual basis. Yet, the pass rush is a missing aspect of his game. In totaling just twelve career sacks, Carolina wanted to upgrade the position with younger/cheaper talent. Wallace looks like he will eventually slide into an inside linebacker spot. With the ability to sniff out the run and drop back into coverage with equal aplomb. Most importantly, the burst when he blitzes the A gap cannot be understated. Under those circumstances, Wallace looks to take an apprentice role, barring any unforeseen injuries.