B
Carolina Panthers
The Panthers kept it disciplined and banked a B.
by grady.s ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 7 picks
· 2 steals
· 5 reaches
The Panthers went off the board in a big way for Patrick Payton, 44 picks early. Conviction is one thing; this is another.
A whole weekend of picks and safety is somehow still a want. The Crownover value carries more weight than any single miss elsewhere. On the needs board they went 5 of 9, with wide receiver the one that mattered most.
A workmanlike haul that should hold up just fine.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 19 they get a home-run threat at receiver, and a steal at that. The biggest hole, addressed.
Derrick Moore in No. 51 is early enough to raise a brow, if not a full objection. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Chandler Rivers at slot 83 is a conviction pick that outran the value. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
A big swing on Mikail Kamara at the 119th overall pick, well ahead of any board in the building. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Steal is underselling it; Dametrious Crownover at pick 158 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
A reach for Kaleb Elarms-Orr in the 159th pick; a little patience would have been rewarded. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
A wild overpay on Patrick Payton in the 200th pick, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.