DJ Williams, CB (Utah State, Senior); 5’9 180lbs
Photo Credit: Utah State
The Panthers’ cornerback need next offseason is likely to fall into one of three different categories – needing to find a starter to replace James Bradberry, needing to find another depth corner who can play in the slot in case one or both of Kevon Seymour and Ross Cockrell aren’t resigned or, finally, both. While replacing Bradberry would likely be one of the biggest needs the Panthers face a year from now should he not be resigned, this is not something that they are likely going to be able to do effectively through the draft, with almost no rookie corners being able to come in and start at a high level from day one. Instead, the focus here is to find another player who can operate primarily in the slot as a rotation piece should either Seymour or Cockrell move on. Rashaan Gaulden moving to nickel on a more full-time basis should alleviate this need somewhat, but the Panthers still lack a true nickel corner – Rashaan Gaulden is 6’1 and 200 pounds.
DJ Williams certainly fits the physical profile of a nickel corner far more than any other corner expected to see the field for the Panthers in 2019, and while this means that he probably shouldn’t see many snaps opposite Julio Jones or Mike Evans, it does make it much easier for him to make sharp, sudden changes of direction, making him better suited to covering smaller, shifter receivers such as Adam Humphries or Keke Coutee.
As a run defender, Williams is a willing tackler and while he isn’t going to be flattening many tight ends, uses his quickness to avoid bigger blockers and shows a willingness to take on blockers that should serve him well in the NFL where as a player who is likely to see the majority of his time in the slot he will need to be more than just a body against the run. Of course, as a cornerback he is primarily going to make his money against the pass, and this is unsurprisingly where he is at his best.
In short, Williams is very good at what he does, and while his value in the NFL – and in the draft – will be limited by the fact that he is very matchup dependent, given that this is a matchup that the Panthers don’t currently have anybody to face, he could offer immediate rotational value in the later rounds, even if he is unlikely to ever develop into more than that. If the Panthers do find themselves in need of a new starting corner in 2020, Williams isn’t an answer to that particular problem, but given how much the Panthers have talked about moving towards a matchup approach to coverage roles, Williams could be the final piece of the puzzle.
Ashtyn Davis, FS (California, Senior); 6’1 200lbs
Photo Credit: John Hefti/USA TODAY Sports
If you hadn’t already heard, the Panthers have signed Tre Boston on a one year deal, and while that doesn’t magically solve every problem they might have in the secondary, it does at least give some clarity in the short term. However, as this is only a one year deal, the Panthers will once again need to find an answer to the free safety question next offseason, and while that might mean bringing Boston back, it might not, and even if Boston does return, the Panthers don’t have much depth at all behind their starting pair, with Rashaan Gaulden looking to move back to big nickel for the most part. With that in mind, it would be a surprise if the Panthers don’t have at least some interest in the 2020 free safety class.
Of course, there’s quite a big difference between looking for somebody who can come in and fill a role as a depth piece and somebody who can come in and start right away, and while if they are able to fill all of their other major needs during free agency they might be able to target one of the top safeties in the draft – in which case Grant Delpit from LSU looks to be the cream of the crop – but otherwise they could once again be looking to find somebody who can come in to fill a need in the middle rounds, likely to compete for the starting role for a lower-cost veteran. Enter Ashtyn Davis.
Davis has all the requisite traits to be a great deep-field safety, with excellent long speed and quickness as well as the requisite intelligence and ball skills to make consistent plays on the back end. While he isn’t the biggest guy, he is a willing tackler and doesn’t shy away from contact as either a run defender or against screens. Where Davis needs to improve is in his reading of the game, as while his range allows him to make plays on the ball and limit yards after the catch, given how much space he can cover, with an improved ability to diagnose routes he should be able to turn some of those tackles into passes defended, and some passes defended into interceptions.
Given that Davis has split his time between football and track at Cal, there is some hope that with a full-time focus on football when he gets to the NFL he should be able to improve in this regard, but a major part of his pre-draft work will likely involve assessing how able he is to make improvements in this regard, allowing him to elevate his play from competent to impactful. As with every position, if there was a way to get high quality starting safety play for cheap then everybody would just do that, but given the Panthers can’t fill every need they might want to with early round draft picks, if they do look to fill the position in the middle rounds, Davis offers the ability to come in and play at a stable level from day one with some development potential.
The Panthers have a lot of pending free agents next offseason with at least six starters hitting free agency, and while they should have enough cap space to bring some of those guys back, they are going to have to fill at least some of those starting roles in less expensive ways, with the draft being the most obvious way of doing that. Of course, the Panthers will hopefully not have quite the same draft capital next offseason as they did this offseason past, but at least a couple of the Panthers starters in 2020 are likely to be on view during the college football season – they might even have been on this list…
