Carolina Panthers NFL draft guide: Pick order, needs and everything you should know
The talk is over. It’s time to pick.
The 2021 NFL draft has finally arrived. The Carolina Panthers have eight picks in the upcoming draft, including three in the sixth round once again after trading quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to the Denver Broncos on Wednesday. The needs are plentiful, which increases the possibly that that team tries to trade once, if not multiple times over the three days of the draft.
This will be the second draft in Carolina for coach Matt Rhule and the first for general manager Scott Fitterer. Under their direction, the Panthers made it a priority to fill the positions of need with free agents, from starting players to backups who can play multiple roles.
After going through the pre-draft process, the team narrowed the draft board down to about 155 players, 16 of which had first-round grades, according to Fitterer. With the board set and the final meetings concluded, now it’s just time to draft.
PANTHERS’ 2021 DRAFT PICKS
Round | Pick | Overall |
1 | 8 | 8 |
2 | 7 | 39 |
3 | 9 | 73 |
4 | 8 | 113 |
5 | 7 | 151 |
6 | 7 | 191* |
6 | 9 | 193 |
6 | 38 | 222 |
*Acquired via trade of Bridgewater to Denver.
DRAFT NEEDS
▪ Press corner
▪ Guard
▪ 3-technique defensive tackle
▪ Tight end
▪ Wide receiver
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN TO THE DRAFT
The draft is taking place in Cleveland this year. The broadcasts will be a combination of in-person coverage and remote. The Panthers’ war room will be in Bank of America Stadium with 10 people vaccinated for COVID-19 allowed, per NFL policy. The team chose to go that path, which allowed for more relaxed protocols in the draft room.
Round 1 — Thursday, April 29 at 8:00 PM ET
Rounds 2-3 — Friday, April 30 at 7:00 PM ET
Rounds 4-7 — Saturday, May 1 at 12 Noon ET
The draft can be viewed on ABC, ESPN, NFL Network and ESPN Deportes all three days.
SiriusXM, Westwood One, and ESPN Radio (730 AM locally) will all provide radio coverage.
SiriusXM will provide listeners nationwide with comprehensive coverage of the 2021 NFL draft, with live announcements of every selection from every round and in-depth analysis on the SiriusXM NFL Radio channel, as well as additional NFL draft-focused programming on SiriusXM’s college sports and fantasy sports channels.
PANTHERS DEPTH CHART IF SEASON BEGAN TODAY
Offense
QB: Sam Darnold, P.J. Walker, Will Grier, Tommy Stevens
RB: Christian McCaffrey, Reggie Bonnafon, Rodney Smith, Trenton Cannon, Darius Clark
FB: Mikey Daniel
WR: DJ Moore, Robby Anderson, David Moore, Keith Kirkwood, Brandon Zylstra, Omar Bayless, Micah Simon, Marken Michel, Ishmael Hyman, Ventell Bryant
TE: Dan Arnold, Ian Thomas, Colin Thompson, Giovanni Ricci, Stephen Sullivan
LT: Cam Erving, Trent Scott, Greg Little, Aaron Monteiro
LG: Pat Elflein, Dennis Daley
RG: John Miller, Mike Horton
Defense
DE: Brian Burns, Morgan Fox, Austin Larkin
DT: Derrick Brown, Bravvion Roy, DaQuan Jones, Fox, P.J. Johnson, Mike Panasiuk
EDGE: Haason Reddick, Marquis Haynes, Yetur Gross-Matos, Christian Miller
WLB: Shaq Thompson, Chris Orr
MLB: Denzel Perryman, Clay Johnston, Daniel Bituli
SLB: Jermaine Carter, Frankie Luvu
CB: Donte Jackson, A.J. Bouye, Rashaan Melvin, Troy Pride Jr., Stantley Thomas-Oliver, Jalen Julius
Nickel: Myles Hartsfield, Jeremy Chinn
FS: Chinn, Kenny Robinson, Sean Chandler, J.T. Ibe
Special Teams
PK: Joey Slye, Matt Ammendola
P: Joe Charlton
LS: J.J. Jansen
KR: Cannon
PR: D.J. Moore
