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It’s the offseason for the Carolina Panthers, who need to make a lot of good decisions if they want to get things turned around in a playoff kind of way. One place they need to fly high is the draft, and here is the Panthers’ three-round 2025 NFL Mock Draft with trades, according to the Pro Football Network simulator.
After a 3-11 start to the season, the Panthers finished with two wins in their last three games. Both of the victories came in overtime, and the victories set the Panthers’ draft position back a few spots.
So instead of being in the mix for a quarterback, the Panthers found themselves in a best-available position at No. 8. A draft-shakeup trade by the Titans made things interesting with the Raiders moving up to No. 1 and grabbing Travis Hunter, in the PFN simulator.
PFN simulator sends S Malaki Starks to Panthers
It may not be an ideal selection, but Starks makes sense, according to yahoo.com.
“The Panthers can go in just about any direction with the eighth overall draft pick and it would be justified,” Frank Schwab wrote. “They need help at just about every position. A versatile safety like Starks would help the process of building a defense from the ground up.”
However, the best NFL defenses seem to be built from the front to the back. In other words, getting pressure on the quarterback and that makes everybody else’s job easier. Picking Starks did nothing to affect the pass rush.
“(Starks is a) well-built safety with a large catch radius and the versatility to play across the secondary,” PFN wrote. “His intelligence allows him to thrive in various alignments, and he’s battle-tested as a three-year starter for a blue-blood program. In coverage, Starks has the athleticism to cover a considerable amount of space and the processing skills to act quickly upon his reads. As a solid tackler to add onto his abilities in coverage, Starks should project well as a true starting safety.”
However, this turned out to be a misfire by the PFN simulator. Tennessee edge rusher James Pearce Jr. remained on the board, and the Panthers whiffed on this opportunity.
“Pearce is an explosive edge rusher with the athleticism and the motor to generate consistent pressure as a pass rusher,” PFN wrote. “He’s shown that his combination of hand usage, first-step acceleration, and effort allows him to beat NFL-caliber offensive linemen at the point of attack on a consistent basis. Pearce has the tools to be a solid starter and a high-end pass-rusher at the next level.”
So the rush-first mentality gets passed over. But the Panthers still have a nice player in Starks.
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Panthers get Clemson LB Barrett Carter in Round 2
Struggling to effectively stop any NFL offense, the Panthers would like to get defensive weapons in each of the first two rounds. Carter fits that mold, and is an OK grab with the Panthers’ late second-round pick (No. 57 overall). However, he comes with some draft-talk baggage.
“Barrett Carter has been in the NFL Draft scope for a long time,” PFN wrote. “He’s still a compact, explosive mover with an impressive finish rate in the open field despite his lackluster height. Additionally, he sets an awfully firm edge considering how much length he’s giving up there. Unfortunately, Carter’s height is an issue. He’s anatomically unable to consistently find windows to the backfield, and he’s often caught out of position because of it.”
Maybe it would be a good thing for Carter to join the Panthers’ defense. It will enter the 2025 campaign with its share of baggage, too. That’s because head coach Dave Canales opted to keep defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero despite the team giving up an NFL-record 534 points in 2024. Canales said the plan, and Evero, both can succeed, according to yahoo.com.
“Yeah, I've played against this defense,” Canales stated. “I've played against it in Seattle with the Rams for a bunch of years. I played against it twice last year. I know what this defense will look like. And I'm committed to that, Ejiro's committed to that.
“So, it's about developing the players we brought in. It's about evaluating our schemes—so we have to be able to look at our schemes and be really critical of all those things as well. And it's about seeing who's out there to challenge our roster, who can help us to get this defense to the place that we know we can.”
Panthers get LSU’s Zy Alexander in Round 3
It’s hard to imagine the Panthers ignoring their offense through three rounds. It’s especially troubling given the lack of depth at that position in this year’s draft.
With Iowa State’s Jaylin Noel and Utah State’s Jalen Royals still on the board, the simulator sent Alexander to the Panthers.
“Zy Alexander is a long, wiry cornerback with the athleticism and fluidity to develop into a Day 2 draft pick,” PFN wrote. “The LSU defender shows solid movement skills and flashes upside in coverage, but refining his press technique and maximizing his length will be key to boosting his stock. With improved consistency, he has the tools to rise up draft boards.”
However, if it somehow panned out, the Panthers could have rebuilt their defense in three swift picks.
The only way this draft makes sense for the Panthers is if they entered having already signed a top-flight free-agent wide receiver. Without that knowledge, the Panthers get a B-minus for the simulator picks.
