2025 NFL Mock Draft: Panthers land top WR at No. 1; reignite Alabama QB battle in 3-round mock

It couldn’t be a worst start to the 2024 NFL season than the Carolina Panthers debacle against the New Orleans Saints in Week 1.  In loosing 47-10 and losing Pro Bowl defensive tackle Derrick Brown for the season, it already looks like new head coach Dave Canales and the Panthers are in for a long season, but a fun season for NFL Mock draft enthusiasts.

Luckily for Carolina, things can change quickly in the NFL, especially with just one week elapsed from the 2024 NFL schedule.  But it didn’t look good on either side of the football for the Panthers.  Second-year quarterback Bryce Young continued to struggle, and the Saints marched all over the Panthers’ defense. It may take time for Canales to get this team playing the way he wants them to, but it already looks like Carolina will have a hold on the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

No team has ever been accused of tanking in the first week of the season, but that’s just how unprepared Carolina looked.  While the top positional needs may change as the season moves forward, including at QB, NFL Mocks looks at who the Panthers should select in the team’s first 2025 NFL Mock Draft.

2025 NFL Mock Draft: Panthers add explosiveness with top 2025 NFL Draft talent

The Panthers will go with the top available talent at No. 1.  There will be temptation to move down in the draft and acquire more draft capital, but Carolina will make Missouri’s Luther Burden III the top player selected in the 2025 NFL Draft.

At 5-foot-11, 208 pounds, Burden was a burden for opposing defenses in 2023.  He electrified the Tigers’ offense with 86 receptions for 1,212 yards and 9 TDS.  As the top wide receiver prospect entering the 2024 college football season, Burden III is a dynamic playmaker with the kind of versatility Canales will love adding to the mix of young talent for the Panthers.  If the Panthers stick with Young, this is the type of playmaker who could get the young QB or any QB rolling.

This pick won’t come without controversy for the Panthers as taking a receiver over the top QB available or the top edge rusher will raise some eyebrows, but if Burden III is the real deal, those sparking criticism will get over that as fast as this top wide receiver prospect can score from anywhere on the field.

With their second pick in this 2025 NFL Mock Draft, the Panthers address their secondary needs with the selection of Ephesians Prysock out of the University of Washington.  Despite getting lit up by Derek Carr and the Saints in Week 1, the Panthers do have some talent on defense.  They will add more talent in adding Prysock who is a long corner at 6-foot-4, 193 pounds. 

In 2023, Prysock combined for 64 tackles, 42 solo with an interception and 7 passes defensed while at the University of Arizona where he was an All-Pac-12 honorable mention.  In transferring to Washington, Prysock will look to raise his 2025 NFL Draft stock as a CB1.  With his height, explosiveness and foot speed, the Panthers will land a corner with extreme upside who could form a nice cornerback duo with Jaycee Horn.

In this NFL Mock draft, the assumption is Young plays well enough for Canales and the Panthers to have some hope in his future as their franchise QB, but why not add a little competition?  The Panthers will do that by selecting Young’s former backup QB at Alabama in Jalen Milroe with the No. 65 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

A little taller than Young, Milroe is a dual-threat quarterback with pro-style athleticism and arm talent that could lead to his NFL Draft stock rising by the end of the season.  His toughness as a competitor will intrigue the Panthers along with his poise in pressure situations.  Even if Young plays well in 2024, bringing in Milroe will create an interesting offseason in Carolina as the two former teammates at Alabama battle it out, this time in the NFL.