Panthers Won't Partake in Trevor Lawrence Sweepstakes

The years of watching Ron Rivera stroll the sideline and Cam Newton in shotgun throwing to guys like Greg Olsen over the middle and watching Luke Kuechly swarm sideline to sideline to make plays are officially over in Carolina. Now, it's on to a new era and a new nucleus of players that will be leading the Panthers on the field each Sunday.

With the several departures the Panthers faced this offseason, many NFL analysts expect the team to be near the bottom half of the league, if not at the very bottom. But will the Panthers really be that bad to be in contention to draft Clemson star quarterback Trevor Lawrence?

Short answer: No.

Although Newton, Kuechly, Olsen, and others are no longer here, the cupdboard is not completely bare. In fact, there's a lot of talent on Carolina's roster heading into 2020 and possibly, more talent at the skill positions than before.

The team's signing of wide receiver Robby Anderson and quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, couple by their willingness to extend superstar running back Christian McCaffrey, the front office is showing no signs of backing down. Instead, GM Marty Hurney and head coach Matt Rhule want to accelerate the rebuild.

It's not like Hurney and Rhule said 'oh screw it, let's just sign Nathan Peterman or Brian Hoyer and trade away McCaffrey while we're at it.' They were aggressive in free agency, but weren't over-aggressive. They played it just right and got the guys that they wanted to bring into the organization, but didn't get money happy. By replacing all of the explosive offensive talent through free agency, it allowed the Panthers to rebuild their depleted defense through the draft. Now, this defense is going to struggle, but it has a lot of promising players that could turn into budding stars in just one or two years time.

For Carolina to win games in 2020, they're going to have to outscore people. Being in the NFC South division sure as heck doesn't make it any easier, but there's almost no way possible the Panthers will be in position to be picking first overall in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Trevor Lawrence to Carolina? I don't think so folks.

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