FanNation Mock Draft Leaves Panthers With Several Options at No. 33

Where will Carolina go with the top pick of the second round?

This week, my fellow NFL publishers at FanNation did their annual mock draft and decided to leave me out of it. Just kidding, we can blame that on the Panthers for giving away this year’s first-round pick.

Although I didn’t get to make a projection in this year’s one-round mock, I do have some thoughts as to what the results mean for Carolina’s top pick in round two.

To briefly summarize, here are the final eight picks of the first round:

25. Green Bay Packers: OT Tyler Guyton, Oklahoma

26. Tampa Bay Buccanaeers: DE Chop Robinson, Penn State

27. Arizona Cardinals: DL Darius Robinson, Missouri

28. Buffalo Bills: WR Adonai Mitchell, Texas

29. Detroit Lions: CB Kool-Aid McKinstry, Alabama

30. Baltimore Ravens: WR Brian Thomas Jr., LSU

31. San Francisco 49ers: WR Ladd McConkey, Georgia

32. Kansas City Chiefs: WR Xavier Worthy, Texas

For the full mock draft, click here.

In the event that my colleagues are 100% accurate with their projections, this means the following players will still be available:

C Zach Frazier, West Virginia

WR Xavier Legette, South Carolina

WR Keon Coleman, Florida State

CB Nate Wiggins, Clemson

CB Ennis Rakestraw Jr., Missouri

LB Payton Wilson, NC State

WR Ricky Pearsall, Florida

EDGE Chris Braswell, Alabama

QB Michael Penix Jr., Washington

LB Edgerrin Cooper, Texas A&M

Frazier and Legette are the two players most linked to Carolina and both feel like true fits. Which one do you go with? With the way receivers flew off the board in the back end of the first, it might be worth taking Legette if they believe it’s a must that they come out of the draft with a top rookie receiver. Frazier could last until 39, although it’s unlikely.

The idea of trading back is also still worth considering. Someone is going to get aggressive to try and move up for Michael Penix Jr., but how far is Carolina will to fall? I’m not sure they’d like to go beyond their second pick at No. 39. If the board falls this way, I’d expect Carolina to make a selection and it be between Frazier/Legette. If they want to move back to pick up an extra mid-round pick, they can move out of No. 39.