Why trading down might be the smartest move for the Panthers

The Panthers should seriously consider trading down.

Feb 27, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Carolina Panthers President of Football Operations/General Manager Dan Morgan talks to the media at the 2024 NFL Combine at Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

There's a very real chance that most of the impactful position players the Carolina Panthers need will be gone by the time they pick eighth. Mason Graham, Will Johnson, Tetairoa McMillan, Travis Hunter, and Abdul Carter could be gone. Two quarterbacks and a wild card, which could be Jalon Walker, could also be off the board.

It would be a nightmare scenario. One of the first five players mentioned above would be pretty great for Carolina in 2025. They arguably don't need McMillan, but he's such a good prospect that it'd be hard to complain. If they are in line to miss out on most of those players, there's a better alternative to taking the best player left: trading down.

The Panthers may want to strongly consider trading down

It would be a nightmare that's not likely to happen, but here's how the draft could go:

Cam Ward, TEN
Travis Hunter, CLE
Shedeur Sanders, NYG
Tetairoa McMillan, NE
Abdul Carter, JAX
Will Johnson, LV
Mason Graham, NYJ

That does leave Jalon Walker to go to the Panthers, which is a popular mock draft choice lately. That would be a fine pick, but they could also trade down. Let's say they trade down with the Indianapolis Colts, moving to 14th overall.

They miss out on Walker, Ashton Jeanty, Mykel Williams, Luther Burden, Will Campbell, and Kelvin Banks Jr., but they didn't really need to take some of those players anyway. In this scenario, they netted some more valuable draft capital and can still take Malaki Starks, James Pearce Jr., or Kenneth Grant. The best pick, in this scenario, would probably be Starks.

Trading down gives them more draft capital, which is never a bad thing for a team with so many holes, and allows them to take a player later that they would've had to reach for at eight.

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