What if the NFL had a draft lottery? Analyst predicts where Panthers would end up

What if the NFL was like the NBA? The Panthers might've benefitted.

Apr 24, 2025; Green Bay, WI, USA; The Carolina Panthers logo is projected on the video board during the NFL Draft at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Over in the NBA, the sport is reeling from the results of a shocking lottery. The Charlotte Hornets, the crosstown team to the Carolina Panthers, got a little bit ripped off as a result, posting the league's third-worst record and slipping to fourth despite having stronger odds of winning than the top three teams.

It got everyone thinking: Does the NFL need a draft lottery? The answer is no, but it might be fun to imagine what the draft would've looked like had there been one. In this case, unlike the Hornets, the Panthers actually got really lucky. According to Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report, the mirror of the NBA had the Panthers jumping from eighth to second overall.

He wrote, "I think the Titans, Giants and Browns would consider trying to leapfront the Giants here, but Carter is too tough to pass up and the Jags' spot should be open with Hunter off the board."

May 10, 2025; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants linebacker Abdul Carter (51) during rookie minicamp at Quest Diagnostics Training Center. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images | John Jones-Imagn Images

The Panthers just narrowly missed out on the generational, two-way prospect that they'll face in Week 1, but they do land a generational edge rusher, someone that was for a long time linked to them in the NFL Draft in Abdul Carter.

The Panthers don't get the WR1 they wanted so badly in this draft, as Tetairoa McMillan went fifth to the Tennessee Titans instead. But this does open them up to getting Tre Harris or someone else later on, so they'd have the pairing of Carter and Harris versus the one they have with McMillan and Nic Scourton (or even Princely Umanmielen).

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