Dan had a great draft

[WUnderhill]

We could have done better. Could have gotten 7 hall of famers, but only got 6 hall of famers and 1 bum.

[rebelrouser]

14 hours ago, PanthersATL said:

Seeing mixed reviews of draft grades.

PFF (and others) are saying A+.  Sports Illustrated says C+

I'm leaning towards the more positive side

NFL.com gave us an A- and that is my grade too.  I think the bad grades are based largely on writers not knowing our true needs.  Anyone who thought our first two priorities were TE and Edge (looking at you ESPN), didn't know our team or staff and would have been disappointed.  Our biggest Achilles heel entering the draft was oline and we took are of that.  

[Tbe]

15 hours ago, raleigh-panther said:

Canales seems different this year in the press conferences and interviews 

I can’t quite put my finger on it 

he doesn’t seem so ‘Sammy sunshine’ as he has in the past ..almost a tad detached

maybe he was just deferring to Dan as the draft is Dan’s show

 

I got the sense he didn’t like the 1st round pick. He obviously loved the WR though. One of the scouts said Dave was targeting him the whole time.

[poorboysrev]

12 minutes ago, rebelrouser said:

NFL.com gave us an A- and that is my grade too.  I think the bad grades are based largely on writers not knowing our true needs.  Anyone who thought our first two priorities were TE and Edge (looking at you ESPN), didn't know our team or staff and would have been disappointed.  Our biggest Achilles heel entering the draft was oline and we took are of that.  

I've made too much fun of other teams taking TE's in the first round to ever want us to do it. Maybe if your roster is absolutely loaded. The drafts a crap shoot but I like what they did

[WUnderhill]

17 minutes ago, rebelrouser said:

NFL.com gave us an A- and that is my grade too.  I think the bad grades are based largely on writers not knowing our true needs.  Anyone who thought our first two priorities were TE and Edge (looking at you ESPN), didn't know our team or staff and would have been disappointed.  Our biggest Achilles heel entering the draft was oline and we took are of that.  

Yeah, anybody who says our first round pick did not address a need and cites Icky (injured and may not play all season), Walker (1 yr. deal who nobody wanted) and Moton (at the end of his career), their grade can be easily dismissed.

[strato]

16 hours ago, raleigh-panther said:

Canales seems different this year in the press conferences and interviews 

I can’t quite put my finger on it 

he doesn’t seem so ‘Sammy sunshine’ as he has in the past ..almost a tad detached

maybe he was just deferring to Dan as the draft is Dan’s show

 

I thought he sounded hoarse. Maybe he is a little under the weather.  

[outlaw4]

If there's a pattern I'm definitely picking up from Dan and company is a philosophy of making trades where we try not to sacrifice the number of draft picks we have by day's end. In other words, we're not giving up three picks for one, or giving up a future pick to make a pick today. And even if we give up something at the start, we make trades later to make up for that initial loss.

Here's how it stacked up for 2026:

How we started: 19, 51, 83, 119, 158, 159, 200

How we ended: 19, 49, 83, 129, 144, 151, 227 (no future picks sacrificed)

Ultimately, we moved up two spots in the second to ensure we got someone we coveted, gave up a few spots for our fourth round pick, but then had better picks in the 5th (and got really good value out of them), and had a worse 7th rounder which isn't that big of a loss anyways. 

At this point, we can question who they draft, but they're pretty good maneuvering across the draft board.

[Chief Keek]

Dan and Brandt look like they may have done it again. We'll see how it plays out on the field but it's looking good.