The Carolina Panthers had the 19th overall pick in the NFL draft and used it to select Georgia tackle Monroe Freeling. It is, in and of itself, not horrible. Freeling is a good player, and he will start on the line for years to come. Just not this year.
And with Makai Lemon on the board as well as Dillon Thieneman, this feels like an ugly misfire from GM Dan Morgan. The Panthers don’t need a tackle right away. They need a wide receiver. They need a safety.
This is a luxury, future-oriented pick that the up-and-coming Panthers cannot afford to make. It’s a huge disappointment after absolutely acing the 2025 NFL draft. To start out with this big a miss is disheartening and does not bode well.
Take a quick look at the Panthers’ depth chart. There’s a hole at wide receiver after Jalen Coker and Tetairoa McMillan. There’s a huge hole at safety with Nick Scott currently penciled in as a starter. There are holes elsewhere, too.
Do you know where there isn’t a hole? Tackle, at least not yet. Rasheed Walker’s filling in for Ikem Ekwonu, and Taylor Moton is still a mainstay. Yet, the first pick off the board for the Panthers is another tackle?
If they were one of the better teams in the league, taking someone as a long-term outlook player and someone who can fight for a spot right away would not be a bad idea. The Panthers aren’t that. They’re still rebuilding.
The Panthers do need a tackle, but they need one in 2026 or 2027. They should have drafted one at some point this weekend, but it really feels like they jumped the gun here. Freeling will be a valuable addition to the Panthers, but at what cost?
They could’ve had Makai Lemon, who was not supposed to fall anywhere near 19. That would’ve been a home run, even if he’d slot in as the second or third wide receiver. All three will be on the field at once, while the three tackles the Panthers have will never share the field.
They could’ve also had Dillon Thieneman, who was supposed to be off the board before the 19th pick, too. The Panthers had their pick of ideal prospects at positions of need, and they went with a tackle.
Football can be won and lost in the trenches, but it can also be won and lost by taking the right player and not drafting for depth, which is something the Panthers swore they wouldn’t do, in the first round.
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