B-
Carolina Panthers
Good, not great, for the Panthers: B-.
by micahmillll ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 7 picks
· 3 steals
· 1 reaches
You can fall in love with a player. You are not supposed to marry him in the wrong round. The Panthers did exactly that with Haynes King in Round 6, Pick 19. A sturdy weekend that grades out a B-.
On value alone, Hurst makes the weekend a net positive. A whole weekend of picks and linebacker is somehow still a want.
They left with wide receiver solved and the rest of the wish list mostly ticked off.
Add it up and it is a good, unfussy class.
Pick-by-Pick
In the Round 1 slot they get a security blanket over the middle at fair value. A real need, handled.
Gabe Jacas at the 51st pick is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Circle this one: Zachariah Branch at No. 83 is a fall that decides a draft. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Ted Hurst in pick No. 119 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
The board had Charles Demmings higher than the 158th overall pick, and the cornerback fell to them anyway. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
A clean, defensible pick in pick 159 with a little surplus value in Zxavian Harris. Useful depth more than a marquee fix.
Haynes King at the Round 6 slot is an overdraft of the loud, memorable kind. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.