2025 Panthers Draft Class - Overview

[Bear Hands]

Figured to group all the picks in one place so we can take a more holistic & zoomed out look at the class.  My overall one sentence approach: We played it smart, moving up to get guys we wanted, however in that process, maximized value without mortgaging the future picks. 
 

Strong blend of smart + aggressive this year.  

Some initial notes:

• We've got ourselves a real WR1. Coker & Legette can fill into very complimentary roles.  Then we took a swing on a returner/shiftier type later on, with real juice, in Horn.  
• Pass Rush was nonexistent last year - so landed a guy in Scourton who many had pegged as a 1st -- he's back to his Purdue weight, where he looked like a potential superstar, has great measurables, and attitude.  Power guy, growing moveset, & real edge setting ability.  Princely may start out as a specialist (maybe more), but he has real upside and the frame to fill into a 3-down edge.  Nick Bonitto-ish.
• Etienne I like.  He's basically our 3rd down back who we can trust catching balls.  He may get more playing time than expected and we have a bit of a 70/20/10 type thing with Chubba/Dowdle/Etienne
• I've said it before, Evans is excellent value.  True inline TE that can play every role at the position.  Good hands, good blocking.  Thought he'd be a 3rd-4th rounder.
• Cam Jackson we keyed in on, interviewed him a few times.  Big boy, we definitely had a connection and affection.  All for it.
• And last but not least, Ransom who was one of my top safeties.  I was thinking Watts or Sanker to compliment Moehrig, but before FA, Ransom was the one I was hoping for, and we freaking landed him.  Tenacious, physical, pure football talent (& film junkie) with a nose to end plays.   Where I find this to make sense is we have a lot of DB heavy looks, and FS is not the most critical position these days.  Having insurance and someone who can get in sub packages is important.  And I think we like our FS Richardson (Maybe we sign Blackmon, but I feel very comfortable here)
• Oh and we landed one of the top kickers via UDFA    

[jfra78]

You could probably just unstick the other pick threads and keep this one.  They have gotten off track anyway

[Newtcase]

Thank you for the summary!

 

[carpanfan96]

I really like this draft, not really a reach or bad pick at all in the bunch. I can see every single player drafted making an impact this season with 3 definite starters and Evans that should get a ton of snaps at TE2.

 

NALO has all the skills and size you look for in a WR1 and should make an immediate impact on offense. Horn will return punts as a rookie and learn a lot techniques from AT. 

Scourton has the size, skills and intensity to be a day 1 starter at Strong side OLB and make a noticeable impact for the defense. 

Princely will see snaps but will take a little longer than Scourton to become a starter. Needs to add functional weight and strength to his frame to be a 3 down starter. 

Will break down further after my head scans. 

 

[jfra78]

Looking at Scourtons tape he reminds me so much of Rucker

[rayzor]

i'm quite happy with this draft, especially after hitting all the stuff we did in the offseason leading up to the draft. 

bringing in moering, bobby brown, and wharton was huge for us. so was dowdle. i think that set us up quite nicely for the draft. 

i think tmac will be a really good target for bryce. same with mitchell. we've got a good WR room right now with a ton of potential. i REALLY like the TE room right now. RBs looks good now as well. 

i think that defense is going to be a lot better next year as well.

we added a lot of beef to the DL and a lot of boom to safety...all of it geared towards shutting down the run game.

the last few weeks our pass rush was getting to the QB quite a bit and giving them a rough time. i think there was already a lot of momentum to build on there. it was just the run game that kept killing us. looks like we got that fixed. 

[rayzor]

i'm really digging everyone that we drafted. just looking at that list and i see most of them being people who can or will get used pretty heavily in the next few years. i think Horn will probably have the hardest time getting serious play time of all of them. 

yeah...we definitely got three starters in that bunch coming out of the gate (TMac, Scourton, and Ransom) and four more that will be in heavy rotation.

[thunderraiden]

We are finally done being fuged by fitts poo draft trades

[*FreeFua*]

1 hour ago, Bear Hands said:

Figured to group all the picks in one place so we can take a more holistic & zoomed out look at the class.  My overall one sentence approach: We played it smart, moving up to get guys we wanted, however in that process, maximized value without mortgaging the future picks. 
 

Strong blend of smart + aggressive this year.  

Some initial notes:

• We've got ourselves a real WR1. Coker & Legette can fill into very complimentary roles.  Then we took a swing on a returner/shiftier type later on, with real juice, in Horn.  
• Pass Rush was nonexistent last year - so landed a guy in Scourton who many had pegged as a 1st -- he's back to his Purdue weight, where he looked like a potential superstar, has great measurables, and attitude.  Power guy, growing moveset, & real edge setting ability.  Princely may start out as a specialist (maybe more), but he has real upside and the frame to fill into a 3-down edge.  Nick Bonitto-ish

I think Bryce is going to benefit from TMac’s ability to track the ball especially when the play breaks down. Legette wasn’t great at that last year. Im interested in seeing if XL comes back this year putting more of an emphasis on using his hands to catch the ball. If you go and watch all of XL’s receptions his final season at South Carolina he catches the ball the same way he did his rookie season. He’s never trusted his hands and it shows up when he’s asked to catch the ball over his shoulder. There’s always going to be frustrating drops if that’s how he’s going to try and catch the ball the rest of his career 

Scourton lost 20-25lbs after the college season. He actually played at a similar weight to his A&M weight his sophomore season at Purdue when he had 10 sacks. However, he said he felt his body was more tighter (weight wise) carrying that extra 20-25 at Purdue than at A&M. He said the weight loss wasn’t even done purposely but just him learning how to eat correctly.

[Bear Hands]

17 minutes ago, *FreeFua* said:

I think Bryce is going to benefit from TMac’s ability to track the ball especially when the play breaks down. Legette wasn’t great at that last year. Im interested in seeing if XL comes back this year putting more of an emphasis on using his hands to catch the ball. If you go and watch all of XL’s receptions his final season at South Carolina he catches the ball the same way he did his rookie season. He’s never trusted his hands and it shows up when he’s asked to catch the ball over his shoulder. There’s always going to be frustrating drops if that’s how he’s going to try and catch the ball the rest of his career 

Scourton lost 20-25lbs after the college season. He actually played at a similar weight to his A&M weight his sophomore season at Purdue when he had 10 sacks. However, he said he felt his body was more tighter (weight wise) carrying that extra 20-25 at Purdue than at A&M. He said the weight loss wasn’t even done purposely but just him learning how to eat correctly.

That’s interesting to know. He’s adjusting and conditioning to what feels like the optimal situation for him. I’ll tell you, sounds like he’s been coached very well to recognize those things, have the strong run game skills and continuing to build out his moveset. He really seems like a high floor guy that I’m just surprised lasted that long. Feel really strong about him and Princely. Just tough guys with good experience, size, skills, there’s no weird outlier question marks with either of them. 

[*FreeFua*]

5 minutes ago, Bear Hands said:

That’s interesting to know. He’s adjusting and conditioning to what feels like the optimal situation for him. I’ll tell you, sounds like he’s been coached very well to recognize those things, have the strong run game skills and continuing to build out his moveset. He really seems like a high floor guy that I’m just surprised lasted that long. Feel really string about him and Princely. Just tough guys with good experience, size, skills, there’s no weird outlier question marks with either of them. 

Gets asked about it at the :25 second mark

[Bear Hands]

3 minutes ago, *FreeFua* said:

Gets asked about it at the :25 second mark

This guy is a bit cerebral. He’s very into refinement and figuring it all out. You don’t see this with a lot of prospects. Super sharp kid.

[*FreeFua*]

2 minutes ago, Bear Hands said:

This guy is a bit cerebral. He’s very into refinement and figuring it all out. You don’t see this with a lot of prospects. Super sharp kid.

I agree. Definitely someone I’d feel comfortable betting on

[Mistuh Jones]

3 hours ago, jfra78 said:

Looking at Scourtons tape he reminds me so much of Rucker

Rucker wasn't anywhere as quick as Scourton. Those spins are redonk. But that being said I hope he's as good an edge setter as Rucker was!