Monroe Freeling made the Carolina Panthers' decision from last Thursday night a pretty easy one.

The latest episode of Panthers Blueprint, which was released on Tuesday, gave us an inside look at how the team landed on the Georgia offensive tackle as their first-round pick of the 2026 NFL Draft. One of the segments documented Freeling's Zoom meeting with Carolina offensive line coach Joe Gilbert, who came away from the virtual chat extremely impressed.

Gilbert would, of course, end up with a bright new pupil—as the Panthers selected Freeling with this year's 19th overall pick. President of football operations and general manager Dan Morgan explained their choice during his post-first-round presser.

"Best player on our board," Morgan stated of Freeling. "Big, long, athletic, physical, a guy with high upside that we're extremely excited about. I think he can play left side, he can play right side. Brings a lot of value to us. So, yeah, we're really excited."

As of now, with usual starter Ikem Ekwonu recovering from a torn patellar tendon, free-agent addition Rasheed Walker is the favorite to start on the blindside in Week 1. But if Freeling continues to get this offense down, he may challenge for the job sooner rather than later.

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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: NFL Draft: Panthers give behind-the-scenes look with Monroe Freeling