NFL Draft countdown: Focus on Panthers' first-round pick at No. 8

Only the Patriots (176.1) and Bears (181.5) passed for fewer yards than the Panthers (187.5) last season, which explains why Mason Cameron has the team taking McMillan in his latest mock draft for Pro Football Focus.

“Do the Panthers need pass-rush and coverage help? Yes. Should that deter them from selecting the big-bodied X receiver they desperately need? No," Cameron wrote. "Maximizing Bryce Young’s potential as a passer is a must after the former first-overall pick racked up the most big-time throws in the NFL from Week 8 onward.”

At 6-foot-5 and 212 pounds, McMillan is three inches taller and 17 pounds heavier than 34-year-old Adam Thielen, who led Carolina pass-catchers with 614 yards and five touchdowns last year. 

No Panthers receiver had 50 or more catches last season, including Xavier Legette, the team’s first-round pick in 2024, while McMillan had 84 receptions for the Wildcats.

LB Jalon Walker | Georgia

Walker went to high school in Salisbury, North Carolina, which, as NFL.com’s Mike Band points out, is less than an hour’s drive from Charlotte. In three years with Georgia, he had 90 tackles and 12.5 sacks, with 6.5 sacks coming last season.

Band believes the 6-foot-2, 245-pound linebacker is tailor-made to serve as a hybrid stand-up edge rusher in Ejiro Evero’s 3-4 base front. Walker brings a strong upper body and explosive first step to the table and can be used in the box, on the line and from the corner.

Carolina could certainly use a player like Walker. Only the Patriots (28) and Falcons (31) had fewer sacks than the Panthers last season, and no team allowed more yards (404.5) or points (31.4) per game in 2024.

CB Jahdae Barron | Texas

NFL.com’s Gennaro Filice thinks Walker will be taken eighth overall as well, but by the Cowboys after sending Carolina the 12th pick, which they’ll use to take the versatile Baron. “The Texas product lined up all over the field as a starter for the last three seasons,” Gennaro says, “deftly executing different techniques across myriad coverages.”

Barron played for the Longhorns for five seasons and improved each year. Last season, he had a career-high 67 tackles and five interceptions and won the Jim Thorpe Award as the best defensive back in college football.

Of course, the Panthers gave Pro Bowl cornerback Jaycee Horn a four-year, $100M contract extension in March, but pairing him with Barron couldn’t hurt, or as Filice puts it, “Jahdae can be the resourceful Robin to Jaycee’s Batman.”