CAROLINA PANTHERS

Round 1 (7): DI Derrick Brown, Auburn
Round 2 (38): Edge Yetur Gross-Matos, Penn State
Round 2 (64): S Jeremy Chinn, SIU
Round 4 (113): CB Troy Pride Jr., Notre Dame
Round 5 (152): S Kenny Robinson, WVU
Round 6 (184): DI Bravvion Roy, Baylor
Round 7 (221): CB Stantley Thomas-Oliver, FIU

1st Round: The Panthers in no way swung for the fences with their No. 7 overall selection, but the floor projection for former Auburn defensive interior lineman Brown is still very good, especially considering his high-end run defense. Were there more valuable players on the board? Absolutely. But Brown was still the 16th-best player on PFF’s board and sixth-best player on the 2020 Consensus Board. He also earned 90.0-plus overall grades in each of the past two seasons.  Given this thundering size, Brown has superb athleticism. “He probably ends up as a top-20 player in this draft class, but I don’t think he ends up as a top seven player,” says PFF’s Mike Renner.

Balance Of The Draft: While his grade did improve every year of his career Penn State, Gross-Matos never had high-end production at the collegiate level. He finished the 2019 season ranked 32nd among qualifying edge defenders in overall grade (84.7). There's awkwardness in the way Gross-Matos rushes the passer that is tough to ignore. His lack of dominance despite dominant tools gives us pause. They got physically stronger at the sport next to Brown ... The Panthers traded pick Nos. 69 and 148 to move to pick No. 64 and draft former SIU safety, Chinn. He has peak athletic tools for the safety position, but he's far more athlete than football player at this point. Chinn played a lot of Quarters coverage at SIU. It’s the zone-coverage the Panthers have played in recent years. “Carolina has that defined box role, so he’d be the box safety in that defense. If you are banking on him banking being a box safety, I’m not sure he’s necessarily your guy. I don’t think he brings that to the table. A guy that plays below his athletic traits is worrisome,” warns PFF’s Mike Renner ... There is a lot to like about what the Panthers did on Day 3. Having the skill set to be able to play in man coverage is not something that everyone has, but Pride does with track star speed and good length for his height. The problems come when tracking the ball in relation to the wide receiver and recognizing routes, but from a movement skills standpoint, Pride is one of the best in the class. That’s the stuff you can’t teach ... Robinson projects as a guy who can cover the deep part of the field well. While his lack of experience in the box or in the slot is something of a concern, he will have a role at least in sub-packages early on, as more and more teams play with three or more safeties on the field at the same time ... Roy won't win any awards for aesthetics of the way he plays the game, but his raw production is up there with any other pure nose tackle in the country.

Steal Of The Draft: Yetur Gross-Matos
Draft Grades: Playbook B+
ESPN: B... PFF: B... SI: B... Composite: B

In closing we highly recommend you view the PFF Player Grades for each player in the 2020 NFL draft. PFF assigns a grade for every play to each player during a football game. Each grade is reviewed at least once, and usually multiple times, using every camera angle available, including All-22 coaches’ tape. You can view it here: PFF.Com/Grades