The Carolina Panthers began the heavy portion of their 2025 offseason with a big swing and a miss, as defensive lineman Milton Williams stiffed their nearly-successful advances en route to a massive deal from the New England Patriots. But they didn’t let a little misdirection from the top free agent in football take them completely off their course.
From there, the Panthers implemented an aggressive game plan, coming to terms with a handful of different players on that very same day. Their approach landed them four ascending talents to spread across all three levels of their defense, giving the historically-inept unit a much-needed boost.
So, what if Carolina continued their aggressive ways into the next stage of the offseason?
Yeah, yeah—president of football operations and general manager Dan Morgan hasn’t exactly expressed a desire to move up from the eighth overall pick of the upcoming draft. In fact, he’s actually stated that he prefers to move down from his team’s current position in the first round.
But now that we’re less than a month away from finding out whose name actually gets called on the night of April 24, let’s add a little spice into the process, shall we?
Here, in keeping with the front office’s spirited ambitions, is our latest seven-round mock for the Panthers . . .
First round (No. 3 overall, via NYG): Travis Hunter, WR/CB, Colorado
Trade
New York Giants acquire: No. 8, No. 57, 2026 second-round pick
Panthers acquire: No. 3, No. 219
Is hunting down the best player in the entire class aggressive enough for ya?
In this scenario, the Tennessee Titans made Miami's Cam Ward the No. 1 overall pick and the Cleveland Browns nabbed Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders at No. 2—boxing the Giants out on a quarterback prospect. So, Morgan calls up his buddy Joe Schoen to offer New York a worthwhile exit route.
This allows the Panthers to fill two high-end needs with one generational prospect in Hunter, who can bump the ...
