Could Trading Be The Best Option For Our Panthers?
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Before I get to my main points, I just want to mention that the draft is supposed to be a fun time for fans to speculate on how their team will improve and get better so if you don't agree with any of this just remember that we all want to accomplish the same goal of getting the Panthers back to the Super Bowl. I will be using DraftTek's trade value chart as the primary decider on which picks are given up and how many points they are worth to move up or down. The final caveat that I am operating under is the assumption that Myles Garrett, Malik Hooker, Jamal Adams, and Leonard Fournette are all off the board by the 8th pick.
The first domino to fall in this trade scenario is Carolina trading down with Baltimore from 8th overall (1400pts) to 16th overall (1000pts) while picking up the Ravens 2nd rd pick 47th overall (430pts). Even with the trade down, I could still see the Panthers getting great value in many different spots at 16. We could add any of the top 3 OTs as Matt Kalil insurance or as a new starter at RT. Dalvin Cook could add some much-needed speed to the backfield, although I do worry about his pass pro. David Njoku is a stud TE to pair with Greg Olsen in the Panthers "evolved" offense. Derek Barnett could be the final DE in a stacked rotation and could be a real difference maker. The final two options are long shots, but injury, lack of combine, pro day results, or small school experience could cause a monster like Corey Davis to fall to 16. If for whatever reason OJ Howard is still available I think Dave Gettleman will move faster than John Ross to get the card in on his pick.
Now looking at the 2nd round is where things can get really interesting for the Panthers. Under this scenario, we would have the 40th overall pick (500pts), the 47th overall pick (430pts) and the 64th overall pick (270pts) in round 2. With a draft this deep, I would have no problem with us staying put and just taking BPA, but with this many picks, we have many options to trade back up into the 1st Round. If we ship out the 40th and 47th overall picks (930pts total), we could move to 17th overall from Washington (950pts) or 18th overall from the Titans (900pts). Back to back picks in the 1st round could go a long way in getting us back to championship form and two of the players mentioned earlier could facilitate that. If Carolina wanted to keep a high second round pick, but still move up, we could trade 40 and 64 (770pts total) with Miami at 22 (780pts) or the Giants at 23 (760pts). Players I see being available are John Ross III, Christian Mccaffrey, 2 of the top 3 OTs, BPA at Cornerback, or a DE like Taco Charlton or Charles Harris. Another option with our 2nd round selections is trade 47 and 64 (700pts total) to move up to 26th from the Seahawks (700pts) making pretty much the same group of talent as the last trade available. If we do follow through with the latter and move back up to 26th with Seattle, this leaves us with the 40th in the 2nd and 98th in the 3rd (608pts total) we could trade up again to 30th with the Steelers (620pts) or make a deal with the devil and trade to 31 (600pts) or 32 (590pts) with Atlanta or New Orleans respectively and have 3 1st round picks and three new players with 5th year options. The biggest drawback to this final trade is that it would leave us without a pick until the 4th round.
In conclusion, I am aware that the trade value chart is far from a perfect way to tell if a team will trade or not. I also know that the chances of any of these trades actually happening are slim, but these are options I haven't seen mentioned and thought it would be fun to discuss with Panther Nation. Thanks for reading and I hope everyone catches the C3 draft party live. KEEP POUNDING!
Peekaboo Jones64
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