Panthers love the Jet Award and need its winner
The Carolina Panthers would benefit from using a draft pick on the Jet Award winner…
If the Jet Award were a bumper sticker and the Carolina Panthers a sparkling new truck, you could bet your bottom dollar that on the bumper you’d find that sticker. A proponent of Jet Award winners, the Panthers front office has historically pursued recipients of this honor.
The Jet Award was created in 2011 to recognize college football’s most outstanding return specialist. Joe Adams was the inaugural winner selected and later he was drafted by the Panthers in the fourth-round of the 2012 draft. Five years later, Carolina selected the 2015 Jet Award winner, Christian McCaffrey. The Panthers are currently the only team to have more than one player drafted after winning this award.
In the upcoming NFL Draft, Carolina should extend their tradition of grabbing the nations most talented return-man by selecting University of Washington wide receiver, Dante Pettis.
Cited as a dedicated route runner with an excellent work ethic, Pettis would be a welcome addition to the Panthers roster. Currently, he holds two NCAA records for both consecutive games with a punt return for a touchdown (3) and broke DeSean Jackson‘s Pac-12 record, amassing nine scoring punt returns during his career.
NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein offered the following comments on Pettis per his official draft profile.
"Good athlete with explosion traits. Can play outside or from slot. Fine-tuned route runner known for his work ethic. Runs full route tree. Accelerates off line and sinks hips into breaks for sharp turns and additional separation. Impressive short-area quickness for receiver with his stride length. Moves cornerbacks around with route savvy and effective fakes. Scrambles to uncover when quarterback leaves pocket. Works back to throws. Natural pass catcher with stick-and-stay hands. Plus concentration in traffic. Has sudden hands. Makes necessary deep ball and in-air body adjustments to catch. Has slant and fade quickness near goal line to dismantle coverage. Elusive punt return specialist with nine career touchdowns. Eludes first tackler and hits his top gear quickly."
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While Pettis wasn’t able to participate in any of the NFL Combine drills due to rehabbing an ankle injury he sustained during the Apple Cup, he did flash signs of greatness. During the 2016 season he was playing opposite of last year’s top-ten pick, John Ross, and had 53 receptions, 822 yards and 15 touchdowns. Last season he was able to increase his reception total to 63, although his receiving yards and touchdowns fell to 761 and 7, respectively.
The Panthers should draft Pettis as he is currently projected to be selected as early as the second round or even still available in the fifth. His skill set would add some consistency to the turnstile at punt returner that the Panthers had all last season and ideally, he would add competition for the second wide receiver or slot receiving positions.
Selecting Pettis would also mean that Carolina would have selected three out of seven Jet Award winners, adding possibly a dynamic and explosive playmaker onto the roster.