Carolina Panthers: 7-round 2016 NFL mock draft

There may not be a player who’s harder to predict for the 2016 NFL Draft than Jaylon Smith, formerly of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Prior to his knee injury, there’s no question that the outside linebacker would’ve been selected within the first 10 picks in the draft. In fact, there were some of his supporters and some scouts that considered Smith to be the No. 1 overall player in the 2016 NFL Draft class. But the injury and subsequent reports that he won’t play this upcoming season have complicated things a great deal.

If he can return to full health once he completes his rehab and even if he’s a half-step slower, Smith is an intelligent enough and skilled enough player at the position that he could be an All-Pro linebacker as he makes the jump to the next level. The problem is that no one knows with any kind of certainty at this point whether he’s ever going to be able to get to that point. As such, he could go anywhere from the second round to early in the fourth round based on projections.

That’s obviously a wide range, but if he’s there late in the third round when the Panthers are making their selection, they’re actually kind of the perfect team to take that risk at this point in the draft. They obviously have a loaded defense, but with tough contract decisions, potentially loading up with an All-Pro linebacker in the third round is a calculated move that could pay off huge for them down the road.

Next: Round 4