Carolina Panthers winners and losers after first 3 rounds of 2025 NFL draft

It will take time to judge the results, but so far nothing not to like about what the Carolina Panthers have done in the 2025 NFL draft. To start, they upended expectations by taking the top wide receiver in the draft rather than reach for the favorite edge prospect. The Panthers followed that up with a very aggressive Day 2 of action, pulling off a couple of trades to move up and select a pair of the best edge rushers in this class.

Add it all up, and you've got a roster that looks significantly better at two premium positions than they were a couple days ago. Let's see who's won and lost the most along the way.

Winner: QB Bryce Young

Nobody had more cause to celebrate the Panthers passing on Jalon Walker and taking Tetairoa McMillan than Bryce Young, who apprently both pounded the table and stood on top of it in pre-draft meetings in order to get Tet. Some believe Matthew Golden was a better prospect, but it's tough to argue with what McMillan brings to the table. His size, catch radius and ability to break tackles will all be welcome additions to a receiver corps that could start to look pretty good if Xavier Legette and Jalen Coker can take a step forward in 2025.

Loser: WR Xavier Legette

That said, it's never guaranteed that a player will take the all-important sophomore leap - and Legette should be feeling pretty uncomfortable about his future with the franchise right now. After all, if he'd impressed enough as a rookie Carolina wouldn't have considered another first-round pick on a wide receiver in the first place. Legette has to improve his catch mechanics from start to finish or he'll quickly get lost in the rotation and earn a first-roun bust label.

Winner: DC Ejiro Evero

As the Panthers' passing game improves with McMillan, their pass rush is also going to take a huge leap forward thanks to the additions of Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen on Day 2. Above all else, this will boost what had been the worst pressure rate in the league last season. That success up front will filter down and help take the pressure off the second and third levels of Ejiro Evero's defense, which is one safety away from looking a lot like an at-least average group on paper.

Losers: OLBs Jadeveon Clowney, DJ Wonnum

While it's great news for Carolina's pass rush, the two new faces are probably not-so welcome for the veterans on the outside, specifically projected 2025 starters DJ Wonnum and Jadeven Clowney. Neithe of them are under contract after next season - and if they don't pick up where they left off at the end of the 2024 campaign they could begin to lose snaps to Umanmielen and Scourton. Clowney especially could get cut for cap savings or potentially shopped at the trade deadline.