6 Senior Bowl standouts that should be on Panthers 2022 draft radar

Boye Mafe – DE/OLB (Minnesota)

Again, finding help for the front seven is not a top priority for the Carolina Panthers right now. However, this might change if Haason Reddick and Marquis Haynes depart in free agency and a contingency plan needs to be formed for every eventuality this offseason.

Much like the situation at defensive tackle, quality edge rushers don’t come cheap on the market. And if the Panthers want to make Reddick part of their long-term plans, they’ll need to shell out a substantial amount of financial resources to make this possible.

If terms cannot be agreed upon, then getting an explosive prospect via the draft is almost essential. Boye Mafe is now on many draft boards after an exceptional Senior Bowl, which follows on from a productive college career at Minnesota that ended with 15 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss.

One thing that really stands out where Mafe is concerned would be power. His bull rush is a devastating weapon to call upon and his work ethic at the line of scrimmage is nothing short of exceptional.

There are some obvious areas of improvement for Mafe to work on. Getting out of his stance quicker and defending the run effectively is probably the biggest two – but if he can make strides then someone is going to have a real player on their hands.