With two days of the NFL draft now in the books, and the 148th pick part of the trade up for Jeremy Chinn, the Panthers now have just four picks left in the draft, with the first of those coming at 113th overall, just seven picks into the fourth round. So then, with that in mind, what are my top seven options for the Panthers to consider in the fourth round, and why would they make sense for the Panthers?
Alex Taylor, OT (South Carolina State)
Taylor is an absolute project for an offensive line coach to work on – and while the Panthers don’t have an immediate need at tackle, with both Okung and Moton hitting free agency in a year, they may well look to find somebody to develop between now and then with a chance to step into a starting role in 2021. Taylor is a serious athletic prospect, standing at 6-8 and 308 pounds while running the 40 in 5.09 and more than 36″ arms, but he is understandably quite raw coming from a small school background.
While his stance and footwork probably need something of a rebuild (as Dennis Daley’s did a year ago), he does a good job of locating his hands with good arm extension and the ability to hold his own when it comes to hand fighting in pass protection. He won’t be a factor in 2020 in all likelihood, but he has the potential to be a good starting tackle with time and coaching.
Raequan Williams, DT (Michigan State)
Having already selected two defensive linemen, it would seem unlikely that the Panthers go back to this well once again in the fourth – but they could certainly do worse than Williams as a piece to finish off their interior defensive line room. He has great power and plays with generally pretty good pad level and good arm extension, allowing him to keep blockers off him in the run game and offering a legitimate power-based pass rushing repertoire. In many ways, he is similar to what Zach Kerr was coming out of Delaware, and pairing the two together as the Panthers’ second-string defensive interior could cause some real headaches for opposing offensive linemen as they are forced to pick who to double.
Dane Jackson, CB (Pittsburgh)
This is probably the upper end of where I would feel happy taking Jackson, but he would undeniably fill a need for the Panthers and is also a solid, well-rounded football player – even if he is unlikely to ever become a #1 CB. He is a pretty good athlete with decent deep speed and good movement skills, which he combined with technical footwork, good hand usage in press and solid ball skills to be able to play man coverage at a high level against all but the fastest receivers. He is also a good run defender, showing good tackling technique and working off blocks well. However, he does get a bit grabby in man coverage at times, and while he wasn’t bad in zone by any means, he doesn’t show the high level instincts for him to be viewed as a ballhawk on the back end.
Shane Lemieux, OG (Oregon)
The Panthers are probably going with either Greg Little or Dennis Daley as the starting left guard with John Miller at right guard, at least if they don’t add anybody else this offseason at the position – but if they do want to add a guard to throw into the competition, their best option will likely be Shane Lemieux. Lemieux does need to work on his pad level as both a run blocker and pass protector, which caused him some issues last season, but he shows good foot speed, power and movement skills with nice hand usage to allow him to locate and control blocks consistently and generate push at the point of attack as a run blocker while also be able to match up well in pass protection, and while not a superstar, could be a long-term starter at the NFL level.
Antonio Gandy-Golden, WR (Liberty)
The Panthers could do with adding some height on the outside to help in the red zone, as well as somebody who can offer more of an underneath threat to compliment the receivers already on the roster, not to mention the fact that Curtis Samuel is out of contract after this season and the current subject of trade rumors. While Gandy-Golden will need to continue to develop as a route runner after having run a fairly limited route tree at Liberty, he has arguably the best hands in the class, does a great job of creating at the catch point, adds value after the catch and shows some really nice flashes as an underneath route runner. He might not be a massive contributor on day one, but has a ceiling about as high as any receiver in the draft.
Tyler Biadasz, C (Wisconsin)
Biadasz was my top interior offensive lineman in the class and he would be great value on day three. He isn’t the most flashy of athletes, but has all the power, quickness and movement skills you need as well as showing excellent hand usage to locate and control blocks, even if he could do with continuing to improve his pad level. For the Panthers, he might be able to kick over to guard and push for an immediate starting position, but could also be kept to develop for another year behind Paradis with a view to him being the long-term starter at center. This wouldn’t necessarily be the biggest need pick, but the Panther do need to continue to add value on the offensive line, and he would certainly be that in the fourth round.
Brycen Hopkins, TE (Purdue)
If the Panthers want to add another major piece to their offense on Day 3, I don’t think they could hope to do better than Hopkins. Yes, his blocking is something that will need to improve, but with the indications being that the Panthers want to run more of a directional blocking scheme in the run game, his lack of power will be less of an issue and his blocking technique is actually not as bad as the impression his lack of power can create when blocking at the line of scrimmage. Where his real value lies is as a receiver, as he has both good quickness and deep speed, made all the more valuable by his excellent route running, which allows him to generate consistent underneath separation which would make him both a perfect fit with Joe Brady’s system, and also a great compliment to the more vertically-focused receivers on the roster such as Anderson, Samuel and Moore.
The Panthers might have another name entirely on their minds as they enter the final day of the draft – it’s likely they do – and there is always the chance that they could look to move back and add more picks if the right opportunity presents itself, but for me, these would be the top seven directions they could go in on day three, and the numbers dictate that at least one of them is going to be on the board when the Panthers make their move.
(Top Photo Via Purdue Athletics)
