The Carolina Panthers’ top decision-makers are in Florida this week for the owners’ meetings at the posh Breakers resort in Palm Beach. David Tepper and the other owners will vote on rule-change proposals that run the gamut from expanding replay assist to banning the Philadelphia Eagles’ so-called “tush push.”
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Meanwhile, the meetings offer general manager Dan Morgan a brief break from the draft discussions that have occupied much of his time. After several days in the south Florida sun, the Panthers’ contingent — which also includes head coach Dave Canales and executive VP of football operations Brandt Tilis — will return to Charlotte and the team’s pre-draft preparations will continue with top-30 visits.
The Panthers also are expected to bring in a couple of players in the latter stages of free agency. Some of those second- or third-wave additions in past years happened during the owners’ meetings. But the heavy lifting in free agency is finished.
“We’re excited about those guys that we signed. I do think it’s going to allow us to be flexible in the draft,” said Morgan, who believes the Panthers helped themselves at all three levels of the defense.
“I think we addressed some needs that we have,” he added. “We’re far from done. There’s a lot of work to do and we’re excited about the draft. We have nine picks and we’re going to go attack it.”
Less than four weeks before the start of the NFL Draft in Green Bay, The Athletic looks at four (mostly) draft-related Panthers questions as the owners’ meetings get underway Monday.
Are the Panthers going to get Bryce Young any playmakers?
The Panthers’ free-agency plans leaned heavily toward the defensive side, which was to be expected after a season in which they finished last in the league in total defense while giving up more points than any team since the NFL shifted to a 17-game schedule.
Of the seven external free agents the Panthers signed, five play defense. The exceptions: former Dallas Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle and Buffalo Bills punter Sam Martin. That disparity has led some to question whether Morgan and Canales were neglecting Young, the third-year quarterback who made significant strides over the second half of last season.
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Morgan said at the combine the Panthers love their wide receiver room. That’s all well and good, but they’re not going to run it back next season with only the same four wideouts who ended 2024 at the top of the depth chart — Adam Thielen, Xavier Legette, Jalen Coker and David Moore.
Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan, one of the top receivers in the draft, has a pre-draft visit scheduled with the Panthers, The Athletic reported Friday. Don’t be surprised to hear about other receivers visiting Carolina before the draft.
The Panthers had former Clemson wideout Hunter Renfrow in for a visit last week, a league source confirmed. The 29-year-old caught 269 passes for 2,884 yards in five seasons with the Raiders but was out of football last season.
Morgan understandably played things close to the vest when asked about the receiver position during a Zoom call with reporters last week, reiterating the Panthers will seek the best players available.
“However that ends up on the board when it comes to pick 8, if pick 8 is an offensive guy or a defensive guy, we’re just going to draft the best player we feel is going to help our team,” he said. “We’re really not going to box ourselves in with any position or any need. I think that’s when you get yourself in trouble is when you do those types of things.”
As mentioned last week in our second iteration of a Panthers big board, there are some in the organization intrigued by McMillan, who averaged 87 catches over his final two college seasons. Would they be more interested in the 6-4, 219-pounder in the teens after trading back from 8?
You would think so, given McMillan’s lack of top-end speed, which is what this receiving corps needs most. Texas wideout Matthew Golden, who met with the Panthers at the combine, does not want for speed. But like McMillan, Golden probably makes more sense if Morgan moves back.
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As for tight end, most mocks have Penn State All-American Tyler Warren available when the Panthers pick. But to this point, I haven’t sensed much of a buzz for Warren, at least at 8.
What are the Panthers looking for at safety?
Well, for starters, they’re looking for multiple safeties since they currently only have three on the roster — free-agent acquisition Tre’Von Moehrig, former undrafted free agent Demani Richardson and Nick Scott, who’s more of a backup/special teams regular.
While Moehrig has a versatile skill set, he made a name for himself — and padded his bank account — with his play in the box last season in Las Vegas, where he hit free agency fresh off a career-best 104-tackle season. So finding a ballhawk to patrol the back end would seem to be the perfect complement for Moehrig.
“In terms of a ballhawk on the back side, yeah, we’re going to look for somebody,” Morgan said. “We’re going to look for players that take the ball away.”
The two safeties the Panthers had in last week — Marcus Williams and Julian Blackmon — have a history of making plays on the ball, although Williams’ recent history was alarmingly bad. Williams averaged 18.4 yards per completion and a 148.4 passer rating when targeted in 2024, when he was a healthy scratch for the Baltimore Ravens’ final seven games, including playoffs.
The 28-year-old Williams had a Pro Football Focus coverage grade (37.3) that ranked 162nd among 171 safeties in 2024, and an overall grade (42.9) that ranked 161st. Blackmon, who’s two years younger than Williams, was 23rd with a coverage grade of 73.5 and 48th with an overall grade of 69.3, according to PFF.
Xavier Watts earned All-American honors the past two seasons while intercepting a total of 13 passes. (Brett Davis / Imagn Images)
Among safeties in the draft, South Carolina’s Nick Emmanwori pulled down four interceptions last season, returning two for touchdowns. Notre Dame’s Xavier Watts was even more of a thief (to borrow a phrase from the 2015 Panthers): The former Fighting Irish receiver and rover racked up 13 picks over his final two seasons in South Bend.
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“There are a few guys on the street that we like, that we think can help us. We’ll see what happens there. In the draft, I think there is a good crop of safeties there, too,” Morgan said. “So we know that’s a position that we need to address. The numbers aren’t where they need to be there, but we’ll get there.”
Is Morgan seeking an edge?
Morgan made it no mystery with his comments at the combine: The Panthers planned to take an aggressive approach to improve their defensive line, much like they did the offensive line in Morgan’s first year as GM. Fans and media almost certainly would have a more favorable view of the Panthers’ free agency had they landed defensive tackle Milton Williams, who was No. 1 on The Athletic’s free-agent list.
But the Panthers believed they helped themselves — and at a lesser cost — with the additions of defensive tackles Tershawn Wharton and Bobby Brown III and outside linebacker Patrick Jones II. The Panthers’ two-year, $15 million contract with Jones represented their shortest commitment among the three, and it still feels like there’s unfinished business at edge for Morgan, Canales and defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero.
Given that it was an underwhelming group of free-agent edge rushers, the Panthers were smart not to spend lavishly at the position. And I take Morgan at his word when he says he’s not going to force a pick to address a perceived need in the draft.
That said, it will be interesting to see how big the Panthers’ contingent is in Athens, Ga., on April 17, when edge rusher Mykel Williams and linebacker Jalon Walker have a private workout scheduled for scouts.
What about kicker — and kick returners?
The only kicker on the roster currently is Matthew Wright, a journeyman who signed a future contract in February. They don’t have much in the way of returners after declining to offer Raheem Blackshear a restricted free-agent tender. What the Panthers do have is three fifth-round picks, a solid, Day-3 inventory from which they could fill their special teams holes.
“I think Day 3 — returner, kickers — that’s usually where you’re going to get guys like that,” Morgan said.
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The Panthers are expected to bring in a kicker to compete with Wright either late in the draft or after it. But they also need to decide how they’re going to handle kick returns, especially since there likely will be more of them if owners agree with the competition committee’s recommendation of moving the spot from the 30 to the 35 on touchbacks.
The Panthers are interested in re-signing Blackshear, whose kickoff return average decreased from 26.9 yards in 2023 to 25.5 yards last season, when the NFL implemented new kickoff rules. With the coverage team now lining up on the opponent’s side of the 50, kickoff returns aren’t all that different than punt returns in terms of spacing.
Some in league circles believe the new rules could prompt some teams to use shiftier kick returners (receivers, defensive backs) rather than downhill runners like Blackshear, a reserve running back.
(Top photo of Tetairoa McMillan: Chris Coduto / Getty Images)
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