The Carolina Panthers are a team in transition, but they have a superstar in Christian McCaffrey to build around in the 2020 NFL Draft.
As good as the Carolina Panthers are in the offensive weaponry department, it’s more than a little disappointing for them to have finished the 2019 season as one of the top 10 worst teams in the NFL.
There are plenty of reasons for that, and the Panthers were playing some tough football at one point this year without Cam Newton in the lineup, but they simply couldn’t sustain it over the course of the year and Christian McCaffrey’s herculean efforts were not enough.
McCaffrey had 2,392 yards from scrimmage this season along with 19 total touchdowns, easily the best season of his young NFL career and reminiscent of his days at the Stanford Cardinal when defenses could basically do nothing but chase whenever he had the ball in his hands.
McCaffrey is superb, a rare breed of playmaker in today’s NFL, and the Panthers have to do what they can to surround him with talent in the 2020 NFL Draft.
How will they do it? Will they really trade former NFL MVP Cam Newton?
I’m not so sure.
One way or another, the Panthers have to find a way to put the best possible team around McCaffrey and if Newton is still going to be there after Ron Rivera’s firing, it makes sense for this team to focus on the defense and creating as many opportunities for their talented offense as possible.
And that’s what we’re going to explore in this Panthers mock draft, which was done using The Draft Network’s Mock Draft Machine. Rankings will certainly change between now and the 2020 NFL Draft, but the Carolina Panthers have a chance with the seventh overall pick to make some huge changes and upgrades to their roster this offseason.
Here’s one idea for how.