The Worst Draft Pick in Panthers History and How Carolina Should've Done It

There is no shortage of awful draft picks in the Carolina Panthers' draft history. They have missed plenty, and some of them are particularly ugly. Even in the moment, some of these picks seemed pretty bad, and that has been proven over time.

Hindsight is a fantastic tool, although it does not help when making decisions. Still, with the benefit of retrospection, we know there were plenty of ways to make those bad choices much better. We know which players panned out.

Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox detailed his choice for the worst pick in Panthers' history. He believes that picking Jeff Otah over Duane Brown in 2009 takes the top prize.

"Carolina could have taken Duane Brown instead, keeping [Jordan] Gross on the right side. The Virginia Tech product went on to have a 16-year career that included 218 starts, five Pro Bowls and three All-Pro selections (including one first-team nod in 2012)," he wrote.

Gross was a good left tackle, and while having Brown would've been nice, we can think of a more glaring miss that actually derailed the franchise somewhat: IDL Vernon Butler in 2016.

The Panthers should never have picked Vernon Butler after the Super Bowl

Carolina Panthers defensive tackle Vernon Butler (92) reacts in the second quarter | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

With all due respect to the Jeff Otah-Duane Brown situation, one move seven years later was significantly worse, and it might've cost the Panthers a Super Bowl.

Fresh off Super Bowl 50 and a dominant 15-1 season, the Panthers had the chance to retool and get back into contention. Many expected they were in the early stages of a multi-year run of success with Cam Newton and Luke Kuechly.

So what did the front office do to keep the Panthers in contention after losing the big game? They drafted Vernon Butler, a defensive lineman out of Louisiana Tech. This was not a good pick, even at the time.

The Panthers had Star Lotuleilei and Kawann Short on the interior, so adding Butler was, at best, only providing depth or a future succession plan. The temptation to use a very late first-round pick on that sort of thing is understandable, but not when the Super Bowl just exposed big roster flaws.

Butler was obviously a massive bust, but the Panthers had so many smarter options to actually help them get better and go after a championship. If they deemed that the lack of weapons around Newton was the problem, they could've drafted:

TE Hunter Henry
RB Derrick Henry
WR Michael Thomas
WR Tyler Boyd

The real problem, though, was the protection. This draft had several good linemen taken after Butler. Germaine Ifedi, Joe Thuney, Isaac Seumalo, Graham Glasgow, and others would've beefed up the offensive line, which needed more help than the defensive line.

Chicago Bears offensive tackle Germain Ifedi (74) stretches during training camp | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

If they wanted to add to the defense, which was a silly choice anyway, then Emmanuel Ogbah, Jaylon Smith, Myles Jack, Xavien Howard, or Deion Jones would've made more sense. Even on the defensive interior, Chris Jones went seven picks later than Butler. Jarran Reed was close by, too.

By failing to actually add anything meaningful (and other than James Bradberry, this whole draft was not very good), the Panthers could not improve after losing the Super Bowl, and it cost them. They never came close to those heights again.

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