CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Late during their pre-draft news conference Thursday afternoon, Panthers general manager Dan Morgan was discussing the Panthers’ options with the 33rd pick — to include trading it and moving back in the draft.
“I imagine Dan’s gonna be getting a lot of calls that night,” first-year coach Dave Canales interjected.
Without a first-round pick, the Panthers might not have much going on during the first night of next week’s draft. But as Canales suggested, Morgan’s phone figures to start blowing up late that night and into Friday as teams — perhaps hungry for a quarterback or a receiver — begin dreaming of who they could get with the first pick of the second round.
That seems like as good a place as any to dive into our takeaways from a news conference that lasted — at least on this reporter’s watch — exactly 27 minutes and 27 seconds. (What could it mean??)
After taking care of many of the position needs in FA, Dave Canales says he and Dan Morgan can focus on players in the draft who are “Panther fits.” pic.twitter.com/NdV1SL7q6O
— Joe Person (@josephperson) April 18, 2024
It doesn’t mean the Panthers will be trading up for the 27th pick
In fact, it seems highly unlikely the Panthers will be trading up at all. A rebuilding team with a first-time coach and restructured front office needs more draft picks, not fewer, after draining several of them moving up to No. 1. While Morgan said he didn’t want to “box us in” to any specific scenario, he also seemed to indicate he and the other decision-makers had not yet discussed the possibility of trading up.
It makes much more sense for the Panthers to move back and pick up additional draft capital, especially since they’ll still have the 39th pick (via the Brian Burns trade with the Giants).
“Ideally, if we’re sitting there (and) there’s a really good player, we’ll take him,” Morgan said. “Trading up — those are discussions that we still have to have. I think everything’s on the table right now.”
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Canales and Morgan were together in Seattle, which had a long history under Pete Carroll of picking late in the first round — or not at all. That experience should be helpful in their evaluations of late first-round, early second-round talent.
“Hopefully, we’re picking a lot later for years to come, and not early draft picks. I’d like to get used to that,” Morgan said. “Obviously, love to have a first-round pick. But sitting back there, we still think we can get some really good players at 33 (and) at 39.”
They’ve gotta get Bryce Young more help, right? … Right?
For sure. Diontae Johnson isn’t nearly enough for a 2-15 team that finished last in the league in total offense, scoring and passing — and never led a game in the fourth quarter. But Canales and Morgan don’t like framing it in those terms. Whether it’s an effort to keep Young from putting pressure on himself after a disappointing rookie season or other reasons, the Panthers have spent much of the offseason deflecting attention off the Heisman Trophy winner from Alabama.
Thursday was no different.
“It’s not about surrounding Bryce with great players. It’s about building a great team. And Bryce can just do his part of it,” Canales said. “That’s my goal. That’s my heart for this whole thing. I want him to be able to feel like he can just come and do his one-eleventh.
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“If he can just do his part — you look at the great teams he was a part of at Alabama, he won a lot of games when they had a good offense, a good defense. He did his part and he played big in big moments, and I would love to create that here. So he can just do that part of it and not make it about him.”
The Panthers unloaded a lot of money on a pair of guards in free agency in the hopes that Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis could keep the interior of the pocket much cleaner for Young than during his 62-sack season of 2023. They traded for Johnson, but there are still holes on the depth chart at receiver and tight end screaming for playmakers.
“It’s about not just getting playmakers for Bryce. It’s about getting playmakers for our team, for our organization,” Morgan said. “Who best is gonna fit our team? Who’s gonna make plays? Who’s gonna take the ball away on the defensive side? Who’s gonna put the ball in the end zone on the offensive side?”
Edgerrin Cooper recorded 17 tackles for loss last season and recovered two fumbles and had two interceptions over his four seasons at Texas A&M. (Sam Navarro / USA Today)
Take the ball away, you say?
This is a need that transcends positional need, but hasn’t received adequate attention (raises hand). But while the offense was struggling to historical lows last season, so too was the defense — at least in terms of taking the ball away. The Panthers were last in the NFL with 11 takeaways, which tied the 1997 team for the fewest in franchise history.
So, yes, Morgan has a point.
“We would all admit we didn’t take the ball away enough last year on the defensive side of the ball. I think that is an emphasis,” he said. “Whether you read into that or not on who that is that we’re interested in, that’s to be seen. But yeah, we wanna take the ball away. We wanna put the ball in the end zone. That’s our emphasis.”
Since Morgan was practically begging reporters to read into his comments, let’s oblige. Among the Day-2 cornerbacks with sticky fingers: Iowa’s Cooper DeJean (five interceptions in 2022, including three for TDs); Michigan’s Mike Sainristil (six INTs last season, two for TDs); and Rutgers’ Max Melton (eight INTs the past three seasons and an FBS-leading three blocked kicks in ’22).
Another name to consider: Texas A&M linebacker Edgerrin Cooper, who reportedly had a pre-draft visit with Carolina. Cooper led the Aggies in virtually every defensive category last year, including sacks (eight), tackles for loss (17) and forced fumbles (two).
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Someone else worth keeping an eye on
You know who else has a history of taking the ball away? Jadeveon Clowney’s favorite former high school and college teammate — or at least the one who’s still available as a free agent. After signing with the Panthers in March, Clowney stumped for Stephon Gilmore, who played with the Panthers for part of the 2021 season. The 33-year-old Gilmore ranks sixth among active players with 31 career interceptions, including a league-leading six in 2019.
Gilmore hasn’t has more than two INTs in a season since. But he’s a proven cover corner, even as he prepares for his age-34 season. He also was neighbors with Morgan (and former GM Scott Fitterer) outside of Charlotte. A week after defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero said he was a “huge fan” of Gilmore’s, Morgan did little to quash speculation that the Panthers could sign Gilmore depending on what they do in the draft.
“We’re gonna leave the door open there. We’re still gonna stay in communication,” he said. “After the draft we’ll circle back and kind of see where it goes from there.”
(Top photo of Bryce Young and Adam Thielen: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
