Cat Scratch Reader
Many Panthers fans want the Panthers to trade down and acquire more picks. What would that look like?
My idea of trading up in the 2025 NFL Draft did not go over well, so let’s give the people what they want. In this particular mock draft, I used the Pro Football Network mock draft simulator (because I didn’t want to pay for the PFF one). I had a simple set of rules for this mock as the Carolina Panthers. If another team offers a trade, I have to accept. If multiple teams offer a trade, I accept what I consider the best offer. My first priority was to gain more picks in this year’s draft, but gaining picks in next year’s draft would also be an option. If no other teams offered a trade, I took what I considered to be the best player available who could fit what the Panthers like to do on offense and defense. Let’s see what happened in our first mock draft officially sponsored by Trade Down Island!
The top seven picks went in this order with no trades: Ward, Hunter, Membou, Carter, McMillan, Johnson, Graham. That is close to the worst possible scenario for the Panthers sitting at eighth overall, but luckily four different teams offered trades. Instead of dropping all the way into the 20s, I traded the pick to the Bears in exchange for the 10th overall pick and a second round pick in next year’s draft. The Bears ended up taking Kelvin Banks, the OT from Texas.
After dropping to the 10th pick, the Lions and Texans offered similar packages, but the Texans offer was better by a couple draft slots. I ended up giving the 10th pick to Houston for the 25th and 58th picks in this draft and next year’s second and third round picks. Interestingly, the Texans also took a tackle, LSU’s Will Campbell, with that pick.
Three teams were interested in the 25th pick, and the best offer was from Kansas City. I gave up 25 and 140 for 31 and 63. Once again, it was an offensive tackle the trading team was targeting, and the Chiefs used pick 25 to take Josh Simmons from Ohio State.
The Steelers traded down with the Eagles, so Pittsburgh actually had the 32nd pick. They offered that pick and a third rounder next year to move up one spot, and I happily obliged. They took edge rusher Mike Green from Marshall.
With the last pick in the first round, the Panthers were once again taking calls. This time the Saints offered the 40th pick and a second rounder next year for pick 32. The division rivals took Ohio State offensive guard Donovan Jackson. And with that trade, the Panthers were out of the first round entirely.
Now in the second round and without using a single pick, the Panthers got offers for the 40th pick from the Bengals and Seahawks. Both offers had two...
