Our Favorite Carolina Panthers NFL Draft Pick in 2026

Picking Sam Hecht in the fifth round is not only good value, but it adds a very good player.

Kansas State Wildcats offensive lineman Sam Hecht (75) against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Carolina Panthers made seven selections in the NFL draft this year, and they've added a handful of intriguing undrafted free agents in the days following. This could be a very deep rookie class for the Panthers.

We didn't love every pick (ahem, Monroe Freeling over Makai Lemon in round one), but the Panthers didn't make a bad pick, which they even did in 2025, when they really nailed the draft. There are a lot of decent to incredible picks here, but only one can be the best/our favorite.

Sam Hecht is the best pick the Panthers made

Kansas State offensive lineman Sam Hecht (OL27) during the NFL Scouting Combine | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Panthers needed a center in the draft, but unfortunately, the class was pretty shallow. There are usually not very many high-end prospects at the position, which makes it hard to find one.

Do teams in need reach (like the Raiders may have done with Jackson Powers-Johnson), or do they wait and take someone who faces an uphill battle to becoming an NFL regular?

The Panthers opted to wait, but they didn't take someone who has an uphill battle at all. In fact, they took a possible day-one starter in the fifth round. That alone is pretty impressive, even if the bar is fairly low (with all due respect to Luke Fortner).

But adding a near-consensus top-100 prospect in Sam Hecht at pick 144 is excellent work by Dan Morgan and company. He was considered by many to be the second-best center in the draft. Any time you can get a highly-rated prospect like that in the fifth round, you're doing something right.

Sam Hecht put up a terrible bench to arm length testing, to get the bad out of the way early, but the rest of his profile is pretty strong. Great speed and acceleration, decent agility and explosiveness, plenty there for a developmental IOL or swing OL. pic.twitter.com/G3iPKvNb12

— RAS.football (@MathBomb) May 3, 2026

Hecht has a solid athletic profile, and that will help him fit right in with the Panthers. Cade Mays was doing a lot of work in the run game by pulling and obliterating defenders to clear lanes. Now, that responsibility could fall to Hecht, who projects as more than capable of filling those shoes.

The Panthers did well to sign Luke Fortner at a bargain, but he was a stopgap for one season. The Panthers needed to look beyond this season as well as consider a potential upgrade at a key position on the offensive line.

They did that with the Hecht selection, which is rightfully getting praise from analysts around the league. 247Sports analyst JP Acosta noted that Hecht at 144 was one of the best picks any team made, describing it accurately as a "steal."

The Panthers took seven players, and there's a legitimate (albeit long) shot that all of them start for the Panthers this season. Hecht should be one of them, but even if he's the backup at first, this is still an excellent pick to set them up well in the future.