5 Panthers players who could be impacted most by 2022 draft picks

Brady Christensen – Carolina Panthers OL

It’s hard to look at Brady Christensen‘s rookie season and not come to the conclusion that he was seriously mismanaged by the Carolina Panthers. Cam Erving’s constant struggles at left tackle led many to believe the BYU product would be installed at his preferred position sooner rather than later, but Matt Rhule’s obsession with his supposedly insufficient arm length meant he wasn’t given a true opportunity until much later in the campaign.

This was incredibly frustrating and leaves more questions than answers surrounding Christensen’s best position. The Panthers are also in a prime spot to pick up an elite blindside protector from the college ranks such as Ikem Ekwonu, Evan Neal, and Charles Cross at No. 6 overall if any are still on the board.

Carolina clearly envisages Christensen to be a starter next season based on comments in recent weeks. However, just where that’ll be is still undecided.

We’ll have a much better indication of what the Panthers plan to do with Christensen after the draft. If they take a left tackle with Day 1 starting potential, then the former third-round pick will probably slot in as a left guard moving forward.

While this would be a substantial upgrade on anything Carolina put at the spot last season, the indecisiveness surrounding Christensen indicates those in power did not have the first clue how to deploy the player after trading up to acquire him.