The Carolina Panthers seemed to have gotten their man in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft. But their ultimate pick wasn’t their only option.
On Tuesday, the team presented the latest installment of Panthers Blueprint—giving us with an inside look into their journey through this year’s selection process. Part of the episode highlighted vice president of football analytics Eric Eager’s prediction model, which provided the front office with case-by-case likelihoods of who may be available to them by the time their pick hit the clock.
And based off a conversation between executive vice president of football operations Brandt Tilis, general manager Dan Morgan and owner David Tepper—the cluster of players the Panthers might’ve been targeting included offensive tackles Monroe Freeling and Kadyn Proctor and pass rusher Rueben Bain Jr.
Listen in . . .
Carolina, of course, ended up with Freeling at the 19th overall spot. Proctor and Bain were off the board by then, as the former went 12th to the Miami Dolphins and the latter 15th to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
This would be contrary to the popular belief prior to the draft that the Panthers were eyeing a pair of Oregon standouts in tight end Kenyon Sadiq and safety Dillon Thieneman. Sadiq would go 16th to the New York Jets while Thieneman dropped down to 25th to the Chicago Bears.
Follow @ThePanthersWire on Twitter/X for more Panthers content.
This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: 2026 NFL Draft: Panthers reveal who else they may have picked at 19