Panthers Did Not Receive Viable Offer For No. 1 Pick

Although the Panthers may not have been locked in on their choice at No. 1 overall upon acquiring the pick from the Bears ahead of free agency, they zeroed in on Bryce Young and will give him the keys soon. It does not sound like any team made a strong offer to bring Panthers brass into a meeting about altering this path.

The Panthers did not receive an aggressive offer to move out of the No. 1 spot, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com notes. While trading a bounty for the Bears’ top pick and then moving back down would have been a strange maneuver, the Panthers were linked to multiple other quarterbacks during the pre-draft process.

A move back may have hinged on the Texans’ desire to secure Young’s rights. Houston was believed to have placed a value gap between Young and the field, and the league consensus tabbed the AFC South as preferring Young in this class. The Texans engaged in fairly serious talks with the Bears about moving from No. 2 to No. 1, a process that would have seen the Bears drop from 1 to 9 and the Panthers vault from 9 to 2. Once Bears-Texans talks stalled, the Panthers pounced and moved up to the top spot.

Climbing one position does not cost considerable capital, but a jump from No. 2 to No. 1 probably would have for the Texans, who ended up with C.J. Stroud. Pre-draft smoke pegged the Texans as Stroud skeptics, and the Panthers may or may not have had the Ohio State quarterback third among this class’ QBs. The Panthers made their Young decision well before draft day, but the Colts believed Carolina’s last call regarding this pick was a Young-or-Anthony Richardson choice, Stephen Holder of ESPN.com notes.

Another pre-draft report indicated the Panthers’ call was between Young and Stroud; the latter also loomed as the betting favorite to go first weeks before the draft. But Richardson performed well during the Panthers’ interview process, Fowler adds, and may indeed have been the team’s second choice. The Panthers did not bring Frank Reich into this process until late, but the former Colts HC was believed to be high on the raw Florida prospect. While Young will attempt to solve the Panthers’ post-Cam Newton QB problem, Richardson joins Stroud and Will Levis as rookies in the AFC South.

The Raiders explored a move up to No. 1 from their No. 7 position, but Fowler adds they did not pursue this after the Panthers acquired the pick. Las Vegas’ talks with Chicago lend to an interesting alternate reality, as the AFC West team’s plan shifted to hoping Stroud and Richardson went off the board before their pick. That left the Raiders with one of their top four non-QBs, with the selection becoming Texas Tech defensive end Tyree Wilson.

As the NFL does not have a lottery, the Texans obviously could have avoided this outcome by losing their Week 18 game to the Colts. The visitors converted a fourth-and-20 heave for a touchdown and then tacked on a game-winning two-point conversion to defeat Indy in Jeff Saturday‘s finale. But Lovie Smith‘s Houston walk-off moved the Texans to the No. 2 slot. That sequence may go down as one of the better NFL what-ifs in recent memory. Once the Texans bowed out of the Bears’ multi-trade concept, the Panthers do not appear to have seriously considered giving up their newfound draft real estate.