Reading the Room: Three Takeaways from Carolina’s Pre-Draft Press Conference

Some thoughts on what Dan Morgan and Dave Canales had to say.

Dan Morgan and Dave Canales spoke with the media Thursday afternoon to discuss next week's NFL Draft. They answered all sorts of questions from draft strategy, areas they're looking to address, etc. I left Bank of America Stadium yesterday with the following three thoughts on my mind.

Drafting a center early is certainly on the table

Dave Canales said that he wants to challenge the roster at every position and even mentioned the center spot as a position they could do that. It’s not a dire need considering they have Austin Corbett in place, but if Jackson Powers-Johnson (Oregon) or Zach Frazier (West Virginia) fall to them, one of them could end up a Panther. But this isn’t solely focused on the second round, this is for the entire draft. They may take a center somewhere in the middle rounds if they go with a receiver, corner, or pass rusher in the second. In one way or another, Carolina wants to add a center to the mix. When it will happen is anyone’s guess.

Production over traits

In the last two drafts Scott Fitterer operated, they took some guys who maybe hadn’t had high-level production, but had traits that projected well to the NFL. Unfortunately, to this point, those guys haven’t worked out. Think of LB D.J. Johnson, LB Brandon Smith, LB Amaré Barno, CB Kalon Barnes, CB Keith Taylor, and so on. Dan Morgan expressed interest in guys who have a knack for taking the ball away, wreaking havoc behind the line of scrimmage, and on offense, getting chunk plays and putting the ball in the end zone. If they have the speed, size, length, and everything else too, great. What Morgan won’t do is take someone who has those traits, but didn’t show the ability to be a playmaker/gamechanger.

Trading No. 33 is a possibility, but No. 39 feels more likely

Morgan said “everything’s on the table” in regards to moving up or down in the draft. He doesn’t want to box himself in, but moving into the first doesn’t seem like something they are eager or willing to do. With limited draft capital moving up doesn’t seem logical. Moving back, on the other hand, is. There will be several good players on the board at 33 and although it will be tempting to trade out of that spot, I imagine Morgan will want to make the pick and move down from 39.