2021 Draft Allowed Panthers to Stockpile Athletes | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of Panthers.com. The author of this post is Darin Gantt.


    CHARLOTTE — The Panthers knew they wanted to leave the NFL Draft with more players.

    But they also had more specific requirements in mind.

    When general manager Scott Fitterer and head coach Matt Rhule were scouting this spring, there were tangible qualities they were looking for, in addition to all the game tape they watched.

    "If you look at the great players on our team, there are certain positions where maybe not as much, but the great players on our team are all great, great, great athletes," Rhule said. "Christian McCaffrey's a great athlete, DJ Moore's a great athlete, Robby Anderson's a great athlete, Taylor Moton's a great athlete, Jeremy Chinn, Brian Burns, Donte Jackson, Shaq Thompson.

    "This is a game made up of elite athletes. So, I think if you can find elite athletes with football instincts and also a love of the game, and who treat people well, you have something special. Again, the tape's the most important thing for us, but their metrics, they just verify that what you see on tape is real. Fast people run fast, they're powerful, they jump high, and these guys do all those things."

    Raw athleticism (relative to their position) was a common trait among most of the 11 players they drafted. But perhaps no player sums up what they were looking for better than third-round tackle Brady Christensen.

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    Read the full article HERE on Panthers.com.