The NFL holds its annual college football draft tonight (Thursday) and the Carolina Panthers’ first pick of the 2024 NFL Draft will be pick 33, the first one of the second round. Round two takes place on Friday.
This will be the first time since 2010 that the Panthers are not scheduled to have a first-round pick in the NFL Draft.
Virtually everyone knows why the Panthers don’t have their first-round pick. However, Carolina’s would-be first-round selection, now in the hands of the Chicago Bears, is the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft after they finished with the league’s worst record.
But, the Panthers do have picks No. 33 and 39 (via the Giants in the Brian Burns trade) in the second round to help build the team around second year quarterback Bryce Young. The Panthers need good players, and a lot of them, so these selections are vital to any success this franchise will have this season.
One of the team’s top needs is wide receiver and fortunately for them, this year is filled with good wide receiver talent. It has been said by multiple scouts that wide receivers who fall out of the first round this year could easily go into the first round in drafts with weaker wide receiver classes.
Some of those wide receivers likely include Georgia’s Ladd McConkey, Texas teammates Adonai Mitchell and Xavier Worthy, Florida State’s Keon Coleman and Gamecock Xavier Legette.
Personally, I would take McConkey. He excelled at Georgia and his father is a former NFL receiver.
It is believed that Carolina will take a cornerback early. Two possibilities in the second round include Ennis Rakestraw Jr. out of Missouri or Max Melton from Rutgers.
It doesn’t take expert analysis to know the Panthers’ offensive line struggled last season. Carolina has to find a way to protect the quarterback so I look for an offensive lineman taken in the second or third round.
