Skip to main content

Does Matt Corral End Up a Carolina Panther?

The former Ole Miss quarterback is starting to shoot up draft boards around the league.

The Carolina Panthers will have plenty of options when they are on the clock with the sixth pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. They could play it safe and take the best player available which is likely to be a left tackle or they can take a chance on one of these quarterbacks and hope he becomes the face of the franchise for years to come. 

Over the course of the last two months or so, the two names that have been linked to the Panthers the most are Liberty's Malik Willis and Pitt's Kenny Pickett. Willis is deemed a project that has the most upside and potential in this group of quarterbacks while Pickett is the "safe" pick being that he is the most pro-ready.

However, there is one name that is starting to gain some traction not only with the Panthers, but around the league in general and that is Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral. In his final two seasons in Oxford, Corral threw for a combined 6,686 yards and 49 touchdowns to 19 interceptions while completing 69.4% of his passes. 

Peter Schrager of the NFL Network believes Corral could be the wild card for the Panthers at No. 6 overall.

"I think the Carolina Panthers have to draft a quarterback and it's nothing against Sam Darnold who still has a year left on his contract and has played good football, but I think this is time to bring in competition for Sam. The chalk is that if they are to go quarterback that Kenny Pickett's the guy. Let's go through some of the connections. When Kenny Pickett was a senior in high school in Ocean Township in New Jersey, he committed to Temple where he was heavily recruited by a man named Matt Rhule. He doesn't end up going to Temple, he decommits and ends up at Pitt. David Tepper is worth $14.7 billion. Do you know where he went to college? He went to the University of Pittsburgh where Kenny Pickett has been a star the last few years.. You now have two very important people in the decision room, both Matt Rhule and David Tepper who have been following Kenny Pickett's complete college career. They do need a quarterback but the guy I would look for is not Malik Willis and is not necessarily Kenny Pickett but I think Matt Corral is really interesting at six overall. He's like lying in the weeds a little bit and we're not talking about him but throughout the college season it was Corral, Corral. Comes to the Combine and was excellent. He has interviewed with teams and has done very well with that. He had the injury so people aren't exactly talking about Matt Corral's ability. I'd be interested to see if they go quarterback, is Matt Corral maybe the wild card pick at six overall."

You can follow us for future coverage by liking us on Facebook & following us Twitter:

Facebook - @PanthersOnSI

Twitter - @SI_Panthers and Schuyler Callihan at @Callihan_.