Carolina Panthers signed a talented undrafted free agent that the rest of the NFL forgot to draft

Luke Kandra, IOL Cincinnati

Luke Kandra was a highly touted four star recruit that began his career at the University of Louisville prior to transferring over to Cincinnati. He struggled to find full-time footing while playing for the Cardinals, logging only 400 snaps there in his first two years, but once he joined Cincinnati he dominated at right guard and never let the job go.

Kandra posted over 800 snaps in each of his two seasons with Cincinnati, surrendering zero sacks in his final year. He was known for his consistency in pass blocking, but his play strength and run defense were certainly not being talked about enough in the pre-draft process (as you can see in the post below).

On top of bringing balance to his game, succeeding in both run and pass blocking, Kandra also tested out as a 93rd percentile athlete among offensive guards at his pro day this spring. His fast feet and strong hands show up throughout his tape, leaving many NFL Draft analysts completely dumbfounded that he went undrafted.

Kandra was a consensus fifth round pick heading into the 2025 NFL Draft, so it was always a possibility that he could go undrafted, but offensive linemen like him are hard to come by.

The Panthers have one of the better offensive guard tandems in the NFL, so it would be a surprise to see Kandra push for either one of those jobs any time soon. However, he could very well immediately provide excellent depth as a possible swing guard that could replace either Robert Hunt or Damien Lewis when and if they miss any time.

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And if you want to see why Luke Kandra absolutely should not have gone undrafted you can check out his highlights in the video below. He should be a good player for the Carolina Panthers.