Jeremy Fowler: Panthers draft day intel

[Soul Rebel]

Ooof, I was not a Proctor fan. I agree w/ a lot of smarter folks than me that he's more of a guard and think his weight fluctuation is going to be something to navigate.

I liked Lomu a lot, but figured there would be more talented guys there at 19.

I also wasn't big on bringing in a TE via the draft. If it's not a vet (Njoku) or a trade for Mayer or Kmet, I'd just as soon see what the youngsters have. No need cluttering the room with more of the same.

[strato]

18 minutes ago, Soul Rebel said:

Ooof, I was not a Proctor fan. I agree w/ a lot of smarter folks than me that he's more of a guard and think his weight fluctuation is going to be something to navigate.

I liked Lomu a lot, but figured there would be more talented guys there at 19.

I also wasn't big on bringing in a TE via the draft. If it's not a vet (Njoku) or a trade for Mayer or Kmet, I'd just as soon see what the youngsters have. No need cluttering the room with more of the same.

I didn’t expect to see Freeling at 19. My plan was move back, take one of the guys that was still there and use the proceeds towards trading up in round two for Rodriguez. 
 

Freeling sitting there blew that all up. I knew there would be no trading up after that. Because don’t mess around, take the gift. 
 

And the ILB that I wanted in the second, over DL, that was me wanting something shiny. I think Hunter probably was the more responsible pick just like Freeling was. 

[TD alt]

1 hour ago, SetfreexX said:

Tremble was a 3rd, day 2, just fyi.

I should've referenced our current HC and, by extension, GM. I have been explicitly skeptical of Canales and his TE usage early during his first regular season in Charlotte. I will also note that Morgan wasn't really in Charlotte during Greg Olsen's career either. 

Edited 4 hours ago by TD alt

[rebelrouser]

Proctor's ability to move laterally in pass protection was a worry. Lomu not having great power or long enough arms was a worry.  Freeling is just green with a highest upside than either of those two. Hell, Miami has already moved Proctor to guard, which we would not want to do this year for our guy.  

[carpanfan96]

On 4/30/2026 at 2:40 PM, strato said:

I would look at them sideways if they took a TE in the second over filling the hole they made by cutting A’Shawn. 

And secondarily (if DL wasn’t really there), placing TE over ILB in that round.  

I don't think they had any of the day 2 ilb rated high enough to draft at 49-51 range where they were at. 

[Basbear]

4 hours ago, Soul Rebel said:

Ooof, I was not a Proctor fan. I agree w/ a lot of smarter folks than me that he's more of a guard and think his weight fluctuation is going to be something to navigate.

I liked Lomu a lot, but figured there would be more talented guys there at 19.

I also wasn't big on bringing in a TE via the draft. If it's not a vet (Njoku) or a trade for Mayer or Kmet, I'd just as soon see what the youngsters have. No need cluttering the room with more of the same.

#1 proctor fan here. No chance panthers would be drafting him for OG. Phins are wrong about putting him at OG first, I mean look at that team, its a planet size mess that drafted well. You always try all OLmen out as LT and then if not RT. Most times the last spot is RG, I know cause that was my spot...

TE, Im the biggest fan of the current group and they just need a breakout form any of the 3. Plus there's only one ball, Tmac should get the lions share of targets. Coker, Baz, chubba, and then you start thinking TE, unless one has a breakout.(brooks could be a weapon) Evans can be a lead dawg, just need to see how he attacked the offseason. Sanders just has awful injury luck. Tremble is still young, I think 25, many players drafted in 26 were older, he could figure out the last couple things holding him back. 

[strato]

46 minutes ago, carpanfan96 said:

I don't think they had any of the day 2 ilb rated high enough to draft at 49-51 range where they were at. 

Well they were long gone  so haw can that be known? It was clear to me that we couldn’t stay put and get Rodriguez. And what were they to use to move up? 
 

Having Hunter and keeping the rest of the picks to use on these other guys was the right move in that scenario  

The only real pain free way to move up was to trade back in the first  but when Freeling is sitting there that doesn’t look like as good of a plan  

 

Edited 47 minutes ago by strato

[outlaw4]

This obsession with all these analysts on us needing a TE that badly was... odd. Yes, we certainly would've liked an upgrade but does the production from that position really warrant such high draft capital? I look at last year's production league-wide and I can't really make a case from a yardage standpoint. From a red-zone TD perspective, maybe. It seems Canales favors wideouts far more, though, especially since we drafted yet another one. 

[LinvilleGorge]

40 minutes ago, outlaw4 said:

This obsession with all these analysts on us needing a TE that badly was... odd. Yes, we certainly would've liked an upgrade but does the production from that position really warrant such high draft capital? I look at last year's production league-wide and I can't really make a case from a yardage standpoint. From a red-zone TD perspective, maybe. It seems Canales favors wideouts far more, though, especially since we drafted yet another one. 

I mean, our TE room does suck but we had other pressing needs and no surefire upgrades in the draft. I was surprised at how many TEs went in the first three rounds. I think most everyone was. You want a guy who projects at least as a guy who has the potential ceiling to be a starter in those rounds and I didn't see 11 of those in this draft. Off the top of my head, I think that's how many TEs went in the first three rounds. It was in that range. That's roughly 10% of the overall picks. Definitely did NOT see that coming with this TE class.