Carolina Panthers will certainly benefit from compensatory pick

The Carolina Panthers now have an extra draft pick.

On Friday, the Carolina Panthers were the beneficiaries of an extra draft pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. They can thank Andrew Norwell for giving them an extra spot to get better.

Friday, the Carolina Panthers were informed they would receive a compensatory third-round pick in the NFL draft. They pick is slotted at number 100 overall.

The third round pick has been an interesting one for the Panthers in recent years. Daryl Worley was selected in 2016 and Daeshon Hall was selected in 2017. With neither of those picks on the roster, it would be fair to say that those two did not work out.

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The jury is still out on Carolina’s 2018 third-round pick, as Rashaan Gaulden did not receive much playing time last season.

With most of Carolina’s draft picks being later in the draft within the middle rounds, Carolina has to hope that they pick well at number 16. Even still, it cannot be denied the value of the compensatory pick. It is highly doubtful that they will get a pick with the same skill as Norwell’s, but having that extra draft slot is important for Carolina moving forward. At the very least, losing Norwell was not a total bummer, even if the offensive line did not perform as well as some may have hoped last season. All things considered, the line did pretty well.

The Carolina Panthers certainly have a lot of things that need to be taken care of. Most notably, the defensive end, offensive line and linebacker positions need to be addressed. I would suspect that the third-round pick would be used for a position of secondary need. Wide receiver, or an additional running back would be possible positions here. Truthfully, it is hard to predict as it all depends on what Carolina does with their first couple of selections. This is a draft where several needs should to be filled.

Of course, that too depends on what the organization does in free agency. My guess is that they will spend big, not in acquiring talent but retaining players. That does not mean that they won’t do anything during free agency. They just have many players that need to be resigned as well. It will be a tricky offseason for the organization to navigate as they look to improve and put a better team on the field for 2019.

At the very least, what this means is they now have an extra draft pick. How they will use it remains to be seen but it is always nice to have an extra opportunity to stock up the roster with young talent.