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One of the Carolina Panthers' pipe dreams for the 2025 NFL draft may still be alive.
Longtime NFL draft analyst Todd McShay released his third mock of the offseason on Thursday. And with the selection process now just two weeks away, he hooks the Panthers up with a shocking steal in University of Michigan defensive lineman Mason Graham.
Steve Muench, McShay's co-host on The McShay Show podcast, explained why getting Graham would be a coup for Carolina.
"To me, he's a top-three prospect, a top-four prospect in this draft," Muench stated. "We're talking about getting him at eight because just the way the board falls. He's an outstanding player and I get you might be more in love with the edge rusher in terms of your needs, but you're getting a guy who's gonna stop the run—which I think is incredibly important in this league.
"He's not a guy who's gonna come off the field on third down. This is not a guy you need to replace. This is a guy who's gonna get after the quarterback for you and make it real difficult for quarterbacks to step up in the pocket. To me, great value. Just incredible value to get a Mason Graham at eight overall."
The Panthers, who set a new single-season record for most points allowed this past season, fielded (by far) the worst run defense in all of football. Their unit relinquished a whopping 179.8 rushing yards per game, nearly 40 more yards than the next closest team.
Carolina also had trouble getting to opposing quarterbacks, as they ranked last in pressure rate at 16.2 percent.
That nightmarish campaign has inspired the front office to address their feeble front seven. The first day of the legal tampering period saw the Panthers come to terms with defensive linemen Bobby Brown III and Tershawn Wharton as well as outside linebacker Pat Jones II.
But those additions, even while factoring in the return of Pro Bowler Derrick Brown, shouldn't stop Carolina from securing a potential star.
Graham, perhaps one of the very few blue-chip prospects of the 2025 class, is a menace both as a pass rusher and a run defender. In 2024, the consensus All-American recorded the seventh-most pressures (34) and the fifth-most run stops (30) amongst all defensive linemen in the nation.
He, paired with Brown, would give the Panthers a long-term and highly-effective solution to their biggest problem.
Follow @ThePanthersWire on Twitter/X for more Panthers content.
This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: 2025 NFL draft: Panthers get shocking steal in Todd McShay's new mock
Continue reading...
Longtime NFL draft analyst Todd McShay released his third mock of the offseason on Thursday. And with the selection process now just two weeks away, he hooks the Panthers up with a shocking steal in University of Michigan defensive lineman Mason Graham.
Steve Muench, McShay's co-host on The McShay Show podcast, explained why getting Graham would be a coup for Carolina.
"To me, he's a top-three prospect, a top-four prospect in this draft," Muench stated. "We're talking about getting him at eight because just the way the board falls. He's an outstanding player and I get you might be more in love with the edge rusher in terms of your needs, but you're getting a guy who's gonna stop the run—which I think is incredibly important in this league.
"He's not a guy who's gonna come off the field on third down. This is not a guy you need to replace. This is a guy who's gonna get after the quarterback for you and make it real difficult for quarterbacks to step up in the pocket. To me, great value. Just incredible value to get a Mason Graham at eight overall."
The Panthers, who set a new single-season record for most points allowed this past season, fielded (by far) the worst run defense in all of football. Their unit relinquished a whopping 179.8 rushing yards per game, nearly 40 more yards than the next closest team.
Carolina also had trouble getting to opposing quarterbacks, as they ranked last in pressure rate at 16.2 percent.
That nightmarish campaign has inspired the front office to address their feeble front seven. The first day of the legal tampering period saw the Panthers come to terms with defensive linemen Bobby Brown III and Tershawn Wharton as well as outside linebacker Pat Jones II.
But those additions, even while factoring in the return of Pro Bowler Derrick Brown, shouldn't stop Carolina from securing a potential star.
Graham, perhaps one of the very few blue-chip prospects of the 2025 class, is a menace both as a pass rusher and a run defender. In 2024, the consensus All-American recorded the seventh-most pressures (34) and the fifth-most run stops (30) amongst all defensive linemen in the nation.
He, paired with Brown, would give the Panthers a long-term and highly-effective solution to their biggest problem.
Follow @ThePanthersWire on Twitter/X for more Panthers content.
This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: 2025 NFL draft: Panthers get shocking steal in Todd McShay's new mock
Continue reading...
