Carolina Panthers 2020 NFL Draft grades: Matt Rhule nailed his first draft class
By Josh Hill
Best Pick: Derrick Brown, DT, Auburn
It’s hard to go wrong with the top pick, even though it’s often hard for teams to get it right. That’s not the case with Derrick Brown, who seems like a slam dunk pick for first-year head coach Matt Rhule.
Brown headlines a class that leaned all the way into the theme of defense, as the Panthers began reconstructing one of the worst units in the league with a slew of talented young players. Brown is a devastating force and the type of player a reconstriction can be built around. It’s a matter of when, not if, he’s going to develop into a Gerald McCoy-type star in the league.
Worst Pick: Not taking a wide receiver
Carolina had a strategy heading into the draft and executed its plan without wavering once. That’s admirable, especially considering Matt Rhule has never done this before and the idea of a new head coach getting easily swayed isn’t that hard to consider.
But given how deep the receiver class was, no one would have faulted him for dipping his toe in the talent pool. Of course, that would be a much easier argument to make if Carolina hadn’t nailed every single one of their picks, and the fact that the defensive talent they got was so much better than the receiver talent available at the time of the picks says a lot about how great this class was.