The Carolina Panthers left the second day of the 2026 NFL Draft with a mammoth of a defensive tackle/3-4 defensive end in Lee Hunter and a blazing fast wide receiver in Chris Brazzwell. They also, to read the comments section, executed a questionable trade and then reached a bit for their third round selection. Let’s talk a bit about each player before we slap a pair of way-too-early grades on them.

The Panthers were horrible last season at getting off the field on third down. That their first defender selected in the draft is considered a two-down, run stopping mountain with little in the way of a pass rushing resume caused more than a few of us to scratch our heads.

Hunter is going to be an absolute beast against the run next to Derrick Brown. That part of this pick is excellent. He’ll probably also be a three down player in short yardage situations. But I think the hope for him is to have an impact on the defense even when he isn’t on the field. If he can massively improve the Panthers run defense, in part just by eating up a double team that lets Devin Lloyd roam freely, then the Panthers should see fewer of those easy third and short situations that they couldn’t get out of last year.

Defensive tackle wasn’t even on the poll I posted yesterday asking y’all what the Panthers were going to do to open Round 2, but this pick does fit with the same thinking that led linebacker to run away with that poll in a landslide.

Maybe he isn’t the one-man solution to the Panthers defensive woes we were all hoping for, but he is the kind of pick that should make the next linebacker selected that much more effective. At the end of the day, I like Hunter more now than I did at the moment he was selected. I still have questions about the trade, though.

Reception for the Brazewell selection has been cooler across CSR than for most recent draft picks. I think there are three reasons for that.

First of all, he’s a third round wide receiver who is 6’4” and ran a 4.37 40-yard dash at the combine, of course he isn’t the most polished receiver in the draft. If he was then he’d be a first round talent.

Second, he’s a 6’4” wide receiver who ran a 4.37 40-yard dash at the combine, but that doesn’t mean he is a Xavier Legette clone. The Panthers clearly have a type of wide receiver they want on their team and Brazewell fits that archetype. There is value in drafting players who fit the team you are building and not just players who the wider media agree are “better” in a vacuum. That kinda BPA math belongs in the first round. As for the XL comparisons, let’s let him sink or swim on his own.

Third, a lot of folks saw him as a reach by a team that had wide receiver tunnel vision. NFL Mock Draft Database’s Consensus Big Board had Brazewell as WR9 and the 57th overall prospect in the 2026 NFL Draft. The Panthers selected him as WR14 with the 83rd overall pick. That doesn’t look like a reach to me.

As for tunnel vision, I’m not convinced. People have said that tight end, safety, and linebacker are priorities for this team and that doesn’t match their behavior over the past three seasons. Dave Canales does not historically value tight ends very highly. Ejiro Evero has spent his entire Panthers tenure screaming through his actions that he doesn’t really use free safeties the way most fans expect and want him to. And all the good linebackers were gone and, for good measure, there wasn’t a center worth the 83rd pick.

I actually like the process of standing pat at 83 and taking Brazewell there more than I do the process of dropping back 37 picks on Day 3 just to jump up two picks on Day 2 for a guy with a limited skillset. Hunter is growing on me, but Brazewell doesn’t have to overcome the trade cost to do that.

All he’s gotta do for me is actually catch the ball.