Perfect Picks 2026: Carolina Panthers
By Lee Wakefield
Next up for Perfect Picks is the NFC South champions, the Carolina Panthers. Who would have thought this time 12 months ago that we’d have been saying that?!
Yes, the Panthers were 8-9. Yes, the NFC South was the weakest division in football in 2025. And yes, the Panthers hosting a playoff game as a divisional winner will continue to perpetuate the (tiresome, annual) discussion about whether divisional winners deserve to host a playoff game.
Anyway, the Panthers are on an upward trend! 5-12 in 2024 in Dave Canales’ first year, and then a three-win jump this past season. Canales is getting a tune out of Bryce Young, too. Young set career-highs in passing yards, breaking 3,000 yards for the first time (3,011), passing touchdowns, breaking 20 for the first time in his career (23), and a career-best in completion percentage (63.6%). All three aren’t ground-breaking numbers by any means, but when we consider the Panthers and Young had won two games in his rookie year, when Canales arrived, the trend is certainly upwards.
When Canales arrived, it was all about baby steps and consistently making progress, which they’ve undeniably done!
To add to all of this positivity, the roster is in a good spot for the future. It certainly needs a sprinkling of stars adding to it, and perhaps Young isn’t ever going to be a star QB, but the framework is there.
Tetairoa McMillan is a star in the making and is the perfect receiver for Young. Jalen Coker is an emerging talent at receiver. The offensive line is in a good spot, and behind them, Rico Dowdle had a good amount of success, breaking 1,000 again. Which I think shows that this team doesn’t need an abundance of talent to have a viable run game.
On defense, the team struggled on third down this past year. Their DVOA (defensive value over average) on first and second downs was around the middle of the pack. However, on third down, the Panthers were 31st in the league. Struggling to get off the field in critical situations and struggling to close out games hit this team hard. This was probably due to a lack of star-power on that side of the ball.
Round 1 - Cashius Howell, Edge, Texas A&M
The Panthers have drafted a wide receiver with their first pick of each of the past two drafts, with Xavier Leggette and Tetairoa McMillan coming in.
As mentioned above, the offence certainly needs more adding to it – We’ll get there – But the Panthers need closers, they need players who can make splash plays in big moments. Perhaps this is my bias towards the position, but when I think of these moments, I think about pass rushers stepping up with a big sack.
The Panthers made a big swing on the first day of free agency, signing Jaelan Phillips to a massive, 4-year, $120 million deal. Whilst that’s quite a commitment, I don’t feel that this should stop Carolina from drafting an edge rusher early.
Phillips has a long injury history and there’s so such thing as having too many pass rushers.
Cashius Howell is a great fit for the Panthers system as a stand-up, outside linebacker, ranking #4 in Owain Jones’ edge rusher rankings for this coming draft. He’s undersized for the position, at 6’3 and 248lbs, but he’s got good hands and a nose for the quarterback. Howell had 12 sacks for A&M in 2024, so he’s coming off a productive year, with a 19.9% pass rush win rate underlying those sack numbers. He has had a productive five-year college career that began at Bowling Green before he transferred to Texas A&M. Howell has had 27 collegiate sacks, where he showed constant progress from year to year.
He is also a former teammate of Panther’s 2024 second-round pick, Nic Scourton, at Texas A&M. This brings a bonus of having a pair of edge rushers who already have an on-and-off-field relationship.
Scourton and Derrick Brown led the team with five sacks apiece last year, and they only had 30 sacks as a team. Only the Jets and 49ers had fewer sacks in 2025, so further firepower upfront feels like an absolute necessity.
Round 2 - Eli Stowers, TE, Vanderbilt
Tight end isn’t a huge need for Carolina, and they’ve taken a player at the position in the mid-rounds in both of the previous two drafts. With that said, Eli Stowers can give them the sort of receiving threat and athlete that they simply don’t currently have in that room.
Stowers isn’t a factor in the run game as a blocker and is essentially a power-slot player, but the other tight ends on the roster can handle the in-line duties.
Stowers is a big target who is coming off a 62 catch, 769-yard season for Vanderbilt, and I feel he can have a similar impact early in his career as the Panthers continue to surround Bryce Young with as much receiving talent as possible.
As mentioned above, Young’s physical skillset is probably going to limit him to being a mid-level starter throughout his NFL career. Which is fine. When this happens in the NFL, it just requires the franchise to admit it and build around their QB, not through him.
Eli Stowers can be the next step towards that, and pairing him with Tetairoa McMillan, Jalen Coker, and whatever they can get out of Xavier Legette gives them a great young core of pass catchers.
Mid Round Gem - Logan Jones, IOL, Iowa
Continuing from above, the Carolina offensive line is also a strength of this build around Bryce Young. Again, it doesn’t consist of the best players in the league, but it’s a solid, veteran unit that the team has put together in a very intentional way.
One problem for the Panthers’ front office is that both Cade Mays and Austin Corbett, the guys who played center for them last year, are both free agents.
For anyone who is unaware, there is currently a lack of supply of centers in the NFL, which was made worse by Drew Dalman’s retirement earlier this offseason. There have also been retirements of veterans. Ryan Kelly and Bradley Bozeman, and there was an issue with a lack of quality centers as it was.
To make matters worse, the upcoming draft class lacks any true, difference-making center prospects, too. There are guys who might be solid, but no first-round type talents.
For the Panthers specifically, bringing back Mays might be tough. He played well enough to earn a payday and is still pretty young. Drafting Logan Jones on early day three and trying to develop him behind the best center that you can afford in free agency might be a good bet.
Jones is coming from a programme whose strength has been developing offensive linemen for a long time. Jones has a solid anchor in pass protection, he’s an experienced starter at the college level and has only given up three sacks across the past three seasons for the Hawkeyes.
Late Round Sleeper - Domani Jackson, CB, Alabama
In order for any unit to take a leap forward, the front office must discover and either sign or draft diamonds in the rough. This either happens through finding surplus value in free agency or hitting on late-round draft picks.
As mentioned above, the Panthers need help on defence. Their starting corners of Mike Jackson and Jaycee Horn are talented, but they need help. Both of these starting corners are over six feet tall, so I wanted to try to find a late-round corner with a similar body type and length who clearly fits the archetype that Carolina prefers.
Domani Jackson is 6’1, 196lbs and runs a 4.41 40-yard dash. He’s coming off a down year in 2025, but in 2024, he allowed a pass rating of 63 to opposing QBs, so whilst he’s dropped down draft boards in the past year, I feel like surplus value could be found here, especially since he won’t be expected to start on day 1.
Jackson has played in a variety of positions for the Crimson Tide across his career in Tuscaloosa. Predominantly an outside corner, but he’s played as a deep safety as well as occasional snaps as a dime linebacker and even on the defensive line itself.
In a world where defensive back versatility is all the rage, I’m sure an exceptional DC like Ejiro Evero could mould a player like Domani Jackson into something.
Draft in full
19 (R1) – Cashius Howell, Edge, Texas A&M
51 (R2) – Eli Stowers, TE, Vanderbilt
83 (R3) – Dontay Corleone, IDL, Cincinnati
119 (R4) – Reggie Virgil, WR, Texas Tech
156 (R5) – Logan Jones, C, Iowa
157 (R5) – Harold Perkins, LB, LSU
199 (R6) – Domani Jackson, CB, Alabama
235 (R7) – Terion Stewart, RB, Virginia Tech
