In free agency, when players who are under certain contractual stipulations sign elsewhere, teams get compensatory draft picks. Often these are mid-round picks, but they can be decent and can lead to star players. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately since no impactful free agents left, the Carolina Panthers were given none.
That means they are officially locked in until they start doing trades. This may or may not happen, but GM Dan Morgan was fairly aggressive in trading up twice last year, and he's said trading back this year might be on the table.
Here are all their picks per the Panthers' official site:
- Carolina's first-rounder (eighth overall)
- Los Angeles Rams' second-rounder (No. 57 overall)
- Carolina's third-rounder (74th overall)
- Carolina's fourth-rounder (111th overall)
- Dallas Cowboys fourth-rounder (114 overall)
- New York Giants' fifth-rounder (140th overall)
- Carolina's fifth-rounder (146th overall)
- Ravens' fifth-rounder (163rd overall)
- Cardinals' seventh-rounder (230th overall)
When the draft rolls around in April, the Panthers will have plenty of picks to make. After a rush of free-agent deals, they have fewer holes to address but still have nine picks to build up the rest of the roster. They added two interior defensive linemen, an edge rusher, a cornerback, and a safety, so they've shored up the defense already and may free themselves up to focus a little more on offense in the draft.
Most of the top free agents are gone, however, so the draft remains the best place for them to add impactful players, including possibly an edge rusher, wide receiver, tight end, or backup running back.
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