Carolina Panthers in familiar territory in post NFL draft power rankings

A reputation is a difficult thing to change. Once people have you established as one thing in their minds, sometimes no amount of evidence can change that. For the Carolina Panthers, apparently that means to most NFL analysts that they're always going to be one of the worst teams in the league - no matter how much improvement they show or how well they draft.

Posting a losing record seven straight years will do that to you - and all due respect to the excellent work that general manager Dan Morgan and his team did during thre draft - the only way they're going to be considered anything but a bottom feeder is by proving it on the field against playoff teams.

The latest evidence that the NFL community is not convinced that Carolina is a team on the rise comes from Josh Kendall at The Athletic, who just dropped a batch of post-draft power rankings that puts the Panthers all the way down at No. 28.

"This draft will be remembered for McMillan one way or another. The league’s most defense-needy team used a top-10 pick on a huge and talented wide receiver despite questions about his speed and commitment. The wide receiver room needed help, for sure, but this is a risky pick."

It's fair to question whether McMillan has top-end speed but the commitment narrative stemming from his comments in a viral video from his Freshman season are entirely overblown. McMillan addressed those himself after the draft, saying he was young and dumb and has since matured.

Overall this feels like a lazy ranking that misunderstands the direction the Panthers are going in. Yes, they only won five games last season - but they came within one lucky break of beating the two teams that eventually met in the Super Bowl - and they finished the year on a 180-degree different trajectory than where they started.

At the very least, we feel these Panthers should be ranked ahead of the Saints, Jets, Colts, Falcons and Patriots - which would put them at 23rd in The Athletic's rankings.

Nothing we say is going to change people's minds about this team, though. First, the Panthers are going to have win a prime-time game just to get back on the map in the minds of most NFL fans. The fact that they weren't even scheduled to play in one last season doesn't help things.

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