After a blockbuster trade that sent DJ Moore and a slew of picks to Chicago, the Carolina Panthers are in the driver’s seat for the 2023 NFL Draft
If blockbuster wasn’t enough of a loaded word for the Carolina Panthers trade up to the first overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, maybe shocker is. Giving up a king’s ransom and hedging their bets on the long term, the Panthers gave up number one wide receiver DJ Moore and a collection of four other draft picks to trade up eight spots in the first round.
Chicago was noted as highly plausible to give up the first overall pick, for the right price. We expected a shakeup at the top of the draft order, not a shakedown. With Carolina giving so much up, it’s all but likely they’ll be going ahead to pick the quarterback of their choice… but who?
To us here at The Sideline Catch, there’s four likely options– Kentucky QB Will Levis, Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s CJ Stroud, and a dark horse who’s come on strong: Anthony Richardson from Florida. All four players are likely to be franchise-altering options, for better or worse.
All three are regarded to be some of the best to ever graze the college football landscape, and now picking the right one to make the transition to the big leagues for the Carolina Panthers is proving to be easier said than done.
Bryce Young is the outspoken favorite, coming from a program with a proven pedigree of winning and high-stakes competition. Alabama has been the premier college football program for over a decade, winning over five national titles in that time. Young himself never found himself winning one, but that doesn’t discount from his productivity for the Crimson Tide.
Alabama once struggled to land quarterbacks in successful NFL roles, but the tide has changed over the past couple of years with the emergence of Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones should give Carolina some solace that Young could be a formidable quarterback in the league.
Young has proven that he can be the Carolina Panthers guy by putting up video game like stats throughout his career in Tuscaloosa. Posting 8,356 yards throughout his three years at the University of Alabama along with 80 touchdowns as the Crimson Tide’s quarterback. Young could be Carolina’s choice if they believe he would be a good fit in their system, along with a revamped offense.
This past season, Carolina Panthers’ owner David Tepper has made the concerted effort to prove that this is a full-out rebuild. The Panthers have gotten rid of most of their keystone players, acquiring a myriad of draft capital in exchange. Not much is certain in regards to what will the final 53 be in Charlotte. The team has gotten rid of their head coach, Rhule and their interim Steve Wilks, bringing in Frank Reich instead. The dealing of Chosen Anderson and Christian McCaffery away also leaves their offense in limbo and feel as if though a quarterback is the way to start.
The next choice would be CJ Stroud, a 6’3″ QB from Inland Empire, Calif. that played his college career at Ohio State. The OSU product is substantially taller than Young’s 5’6″ stature, and rumors have started to brew that the Panthers might take him with their first-round pick.
“Just hung up the phone with someone in the organization,” NFL insider Adam Schefter stated,” And I said, ‘There’s a belief that David Tepper loves Bryce Young, Frank Reich likes CJ Stroud.’ And they said, ‘We love all these quarterbacks and we’ve got 48 days to make a decision on which one we will be taking.’
“But, clearly, they felt comfortable in giving up the compensation that they did to move up eight slots to procure the No. 1 overall draft pick ahead of the other teams that were interested in getting that particular pick.”
Stroud had much more talent at receiver over his career than any of the other qarterbacks of “The Big Four”, playing with two first round selections in Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson along with projected day one wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The lapse in talent shouldn’t make up for Stroud’s brilliance when it comes to playing quarterback as he’s shown incredible arm talent, especially after last week’s NFL Scouting Combine.
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The final two remaining dominoes come down to Anthony Richardson and Will Levis, both of whom seem more and more unlikely to get picked with every passing day. As per The Athletic, the Panthers like Richardson’s athletic talent but not enough to draft him at the number one spot.
Levis on the other hand is a sort of a loose cannon when it comes to pundits’ predictions. Some say he has a sky-high ceiling, others say he’s the second coming of Zach Wilson. Either the way, the facts are the facts– his subpar college performance at the University of Kentucky doesn’t compare to the presence Stroud and Young both had their respective schools. Seeing Levis taken at the one spot is a long shot.
No matter what the Carolina Panthers choose to do, they need much more than a quarterback. The inadvertent detox of the team has led to a lot holes, especially at wide receiver. Expect Carolina to make a move in free agency and pick several receivers in the Draft.
