Carolina

Panthers

Pavia, the fiery 2025 SEC Offensive Player of the Year who threw for 29 touchdowns and eight interceptions in his final collegiate season, shapes up as a Day Two or Three selection in the 2026 draft. Completing 70.5 percent of his passes at a high 9.94 adjusted yards per attempt, Pavia is among the most productive quarterbacks in this draft class and could slot in as a backup behind Bryce Young, who, like Pavia, is short in stature. “I feel like a lot of teams love the tenacity, the fight,” Pavia said at the 2026 NFL Combine. “The life of an underdog, that’s for sure. And, so, they ask questions. But you go back, you look at my record, ain’t nothing on my record. I just want everyone to know what’s true about me is I’m humble and I get my confidence from my process.”

The Bills drafted Gilmore with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. He remained in Buffalo until 2017, when he signed with the Patriots in free agency. Gilmore enjoyed the best seasons of his career in New England, winning Super Bowl LII in 2018. He earned first-team All-Pro honors in 2018 and 2019, and co-led the NFL in interceptions while also winning NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2019. He earned Pro Bowl honors in 2016 and 2018-2021. He spent one-year stints with the Panthers, Colts, Cowboys and Vikings from 2021-2024. Gilmore logged 149 passes defended, 32 interceptions, 617 combined tackles and one sack in his NFL career.

Across the 2025 college football regular season, Cooper outright led, or tied for the team-high, all Hoosiers pass catchers with 75 targets, 58 receptions, 804 yards and 11 touchdowns while averaging 2.68 yards per route run. Per Reid, Cooper could be an option for the Panthers with the No. 19 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Brooks missed all of 2025 after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ACL he suffered in 2024. It was the same ACL he also tore in 2023 during his final season at Texas, making for a long recovery for the former second-round pick. Assuming he can stay healthy, Brooks will have a chance to compete with Trevor Etienne and AJ Dillon for touches behind Chuba Hubbard, and could make for an interesting late-round stash in fantasy drafts if he were to win the backup job. The RB2 job behind Hubbard will be one to monitor throughout training camp until somebody separates themselves from the pack.

Cushenberry is not an elite player, but he respectably earned a 65.5 PFF pass-blocking grade during the 2025 regular season. The Bills also signed OL Austin Corbett, formerly of the Panthers. Corbett earned a 66.7 PFF run-blocking grade last year and has experience at right guard, left guard and center. The Bills signed WR Trent Sherfield, formerly of the Cardinals, as well. He is unlikely to be relevant in fantasy. All three players are on one-year contracts.

Rozeboom totaled 122 tackles for the Panthers last season and started all 15 games he appeared in. The veteran linebacker has started 26 games over the last two seasons after being used primarily as a backup for the first three years of his career, and he becomes the second veteran linebacker to join the Buccaneers this offseason. Lavonte David, who is mulling retirement, could still return to play for the Bucs this season, but the team continues to strengthen it’s linebacking corps in the event David should choose to walk away from the game.

The former third-round pick spent the first three seasons of his career with the Rams. This will be his first time playing for a new team. Through three NFL seasons, he has five quarterback pressures and 10 solo tackles. Hampton, 25, will now try to carve out a role in Carolina.

Franks logged 15 snaps offensively last year, but earned zero targets. He logged 283 special teams snaps and racked up nine special teams tackles, ranking second among Falcons players. He is likely to operate in a similar capacity on the Panthers this season.

Chark, 29, last stepped foot on an NFL field as a member of the Falcons in two 2025 preseason games. He was released before the regular season began and did not sign with a new team. Chark spent the first four seasons of his career with the Jaguars after they drafted him via a second-round pick in 2018. He produced career highs across the board in 2019, catching 73-of-114 targets for 1,008 yards and eight touchdowns, and earned Pro Bowl honors for his efforts. He spent 2022 with the Lions, 2023 with the Panthers and 2024 with the Chargers. Over the course of his career, Chark caught 216-of-393 targets for 3,100 yards and 24 touchdowns.

Morgan gave a lengthy reply when fielding a question about trading QB Andy Dalton to the Eagles, highlighting the importance of mobility at the position. Dalton, 38, lacks it. We do not get the sense that the Panthers are searching for a new, immediate starter, but adding “another young guy to the mix” for competition’s sake is on Morgan’s mind. He notes that heading into the draft, the team thinks there are going to be “options” at the quarterback position for them to consider. Head coach Dave Canales has not had the opportunity to develop his own prospect since taking the job. Perhaps he gets a chance to do so this year. Young is currently backed up by QB Kenny Pickett.