Panthers were a pick too late for Penei Sewell and a year too early for Justin Fields
At some point, and that point is unquestionably Friday night, the Carolina Panthers’ new regime is going to have to draft someone who can help them score points. That the Panthers took an eighth straight defensive player Thursday — taking South Carolina cornerback Jaycee Horn with the eighth pick in the first round — was a matter of timing as much as anything.
Horn probably still would have been there for the Panthers at 11 or 12, but there wasn’t a fit to move slightly down, no teams in that range seeking Justin Fields. (The Chicago Bears eventually traded up to No. 11 to take the Ohio State quarterback the Panthers passed on.) It’s easy to say “trade down, dummy!” but someone has to want to move up badly enough. So if Horn’s your guy, you take him, even if the pundits call it a reach. Fine.
If anything, the Panthers’ move was to trade up when the Cincinnati Bengals passed on Oregon tackle Penei Sewell, the player the Panthers really needed Thursday night. Sewell dropped all the way to seventh, where the Detroit Lions broke the hearts of Panthers fans who had, yet again, discovered that it’s the hope that kills you.
“We were monitoring all the players as they came off the board,” Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer said. “We really liked Sewell. But we are big fans of Jaycee Horn and the way he helps our team.”
If the Panthers were a pick too late for Sewell, they were a year too early for Fields. This team has too many needs, too many holes, to roll the dice on a quarterback at this point. Trevor Lawrence was the only sure thing in this draft under center. Everyone else is throwing darts at a board, although there was certainly reason to believe Fields was the next-best option despite Zach Wilson and Trey Lance going off before him.
There’s nothing wrong, in any draft, with getting an athletic lockdown corner at No. 8. It’s an upgrade at a key position in a division that has a bunch of big receivers and, now, future Hall of Fame tight end Kyle Pitts in Atlanta instead of a spin at NFL quarterback lotto. Fields may indeed turn out to be a star, despite being exiled to the QB black hole that is the Bears, but that’s far from guaranteed and not a risk the Panthers can afford to take at this point.
Better to see where Sam Darnold takes them. He was once deemed worthy of the third pick in the draft, albeit by the New York Jets, who Thursday talked themselves into a quarterback who got exposed as inadequate by Coastal Carolina. If Darnold, rescued from the Meadowlands morass, can live up to any portion of the potential he was once thought to have, the Panthers wouldn’t need Fields anyway.
“We brought Sam here for a reason,” Panthers coach Matt Rhule said. “We’re excited to see what he can do, excited to give him an opportunity. We traded for him because we believe in his potential. At the same time, to us, corner is a position, if you go back to last year, there were times we couldn’t get off the field.”
They do, however, need to protect Darnold, who isn’t exactly fleet of foot, and that has to happen Friday night.
This is believed to be a relatively deep draft for offensive linemen, and there should be a bunch of second-tier guys who aren’t Sewell or Northwestern’s Rashawn Slater but are still capable of starting next year. (Counterpoint: Any 300-pounder with a pulse and two working knees is capable of beating out the other contenders at tackle for the Panthers.) Of course, that’s what the Bengals are counting on too, after going for LSU receiver Ja’Marr Chase over Sewell.
The Panthers, at least, didn’t have the opportunity to let Sewell slip through their fingers and regret it for years. They do have the opportunity to finally address their dismal offensive line with the 39th pick Friday night. A year after Rhule and Marty Hurney used all seven draft picks on defense, Rhule and Fitterer are 1-for-1 in 2021. Eight is enough.
This story was originally published April 29, 2021 at 10:32 PM with the headline "Panthers were a pick too late for Penei Sewell and a year too early for Justin Fields."
