"With the eighth pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, the Carolina Panthers select…"
Who will be announced in Philadelphia on April 27 remains anybody's guess, and the litany of mock drafts are endless. Our first look samples six predictions for the eighth overall selection in the Panthers' efforts to return to the playoffs.
This set of mock drafts has a distinctive running back flavor, with Leonard Fournette and Dalvin Cook emerging as two of the most popular names associated with the Panthers in early mock drafts.
In all six mocks, Fournette was the first running back off the board. In the two mocks where Carolina chose Cook, Fournette had been selected by the Jets with the seventh overall pick.
But some analysts believe the team will address different needs. In one scenario, offensive tackle Cam Robinson from Alabama has been marked as a possibility. Lance Zierlein's prediction of the Panthers selecting Robinson is the only instance of an offensive lineman being picked in the top eight of any of the six featured mock drafts.
Dane Brugler went with Stanford defensive end Solomon Thomas to the Panthers – the only defensive player mocked to Carolina in this report. Thomas was the third defensive lineman drafted behind Texas A&M's Myles Garrett and Alabama's Jonathan Allen.
