The Carolina Panthers need to find answers somewhere to shore up the cornerback position.
The Carolina Panthers are in different territory now than when we first started talking about their draft prescriptions. Before theJosh Normansituation the assumption was the Panthers would take the best player available at their spot with the consensus leaning toward a defensive lineman. Now with Norman gone, the Panthers have to address their secondary.
Bene Benwikereis coming off injury.Brandon Boykinwas signed to play nickel.Robert McClainis the emergency corner and part time dime back. There has to be another player the Panthers can throw on the field at the other corner position, perhaps two for insurance.
The free agent market is not likely to help that question.Leon Hallis the best rated free agent corner but he just underwent back surgery. That would not be quite what the Panthers would need after the problems they ran into withCharles Tillman’s health last year.
Nolan Carrollis a big corner (6’2” 205 lbs) that is still without a team. The trouble is that while he has not been bad at his previous stops, he also has not been great either. His best season was 2015 and the Eagles have not yet brought him back after a Thanksgiving injury. He is a little older than Norman.
Jerraud Powersis a little smaller (5’10) but he played and started for the Cardinals last year. It’s hard to get fanfare whenPatrick PetersonandTyrann Mathieuplay with you. It is hard to know what sort price these guys (Carroll and Powers) are worth, but the Panthers are suddenly flush with cash.
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More likely the Panthers will use the Draft to choose their next corner. The first round includes a number of corners expected to go ahead of the Panthers pick.William Jackson III, Vernon Hargreaves,Eli Apple, Jalen Ramsay, and Mackenzie Alexander could all be gone, and not necessarily in that order.
That could change if a team not currently projected for a quarterback makes the decision to draftPaxton Lynchand knocks everybody’s draft position down a slot or two.
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However it is possible that the Panthers are sitting at thirty one withKendall Fulleras the next pick on the board at corner. Fuller currentlyhas a second round grade, but he will not fall to the 62ndpick where Carolina is in that round.
The question becomes whether Fuller is worth it. Having seen a lot of his Virginia Tech career, I think he is. He is considered to be the most athletic of the Fuller brothers and his major negative is his injury that kept him out of much of last season. In 2014, teams did not throw at him half way through the season.
This turn to the cornerback position caught everyone by surprise, but it is where we are now. The Panthers cannot simply cobble together a secondary. That did not really work in 2014, but drafting a good corner would keep the Panthers on track for 2016.
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