Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales offered up some insight into the preference for his team's first-round pick in the 2025 NFL draft.
Canales stopped by the set of Up & Adams on Monday, at the site of the league's annual meetings in Palm Beach, Fla. Host Kay Adams asked him about the potential direction of the eighth overall selection.
"To be in this position, in my mind, when you have an opportunity to pick in the top 10 of the draft, we're doing all the work on making sure we identify the best available player," Canales replied. "We've had some great conversations about some offensive playmakers in this class, some defensive playmakers—and we've come away with saying, 'Ok, look, we are going to get a great player. Let's make sure we have the right guy, the right fit. Somebody that we want to be a Panther for a long time.' So that's really where our conversations are."
Disappointed with Canales' initial lack of details, Adams then prodded for more. And after a little banter about needing a wide receiver, Canales dug a bit deeper.
"We have to address the needs on defense first," he added. "We're 32nd in the NFL in defense, and that's something where our focus has gone to—to make sure that we can play good, balanced, complementary football."
The focus in free agency was certainly about improving that historically-bad defense. Carolina—on the first day of the legal tampering period—came to terms with defensive linemen Tershawn Wharton and Bobby Brown III, outside linebacker Pat Jones II and safety Tre'von Moehrig.
But there's still some work to do, as the Panthers will likely still be entering the draft with needs off the edge and in the secondary. Amping up the pass rush could be the priority, since the unit ranked last in pressure rate (16.2 percent) this past season.
This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: 2025 NFL draft: Panthers HC Dave Canales talks about 8th overall pick
