The Carolina Panthers selected wide receivers in the first round of each of the past two seasons, taking Offensive Rookie of the Year Tetairoa McMillan at No. 8 last year and Xavier Legette at 32 in 2024. Does that fact make general manager Dan Morgan wary of using a third-straight top-round selection on a WR?
“No,” Morgan said Tuesday via the team’s official website. “I think with anything, we’re going to take the best player. So, if the best player we feel is that at 19, I wouldn’t hesitate to draft another wideout. I don’t think there’s a rule that says you can’t draft a wide receiver three years in a row. So I’m not really going to box us in and say we’re not going to draft him.”
To confirm Morgan’s glib comment: No, there is no rule prohibiting a team from taking a wide receiver in the first round in three straight seasons. That rule would be the definition of tedious.
However, that move has only been done once before. Per NFL Research, in the common draft era (since 1967), the only NFL team to draft a wide receiver in the first round three years in a row was the Detroit Lions from 2003-05: Charles Rogers, Roy Williams and Mike Williams. Two out of the three struggled with injuries and ineffective play before washing out, and Roy Williams had just a single Pro Bowl season. Perhaps the more interesting part of the Lions’ draft oddity is that striking out three times at the position eventually landed them one of the greatest WRs in NFL history, when they took Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson No. 2 overall two years later (2007).
The Panthers have more dire needs with the No. 19 overall pick, including continuing to bulk up the defense, but it’s not as if they’re set at receiver. Undrafted free agent Jalen Coker has leapfrogged Legette as the No. 2 wideout. Legette’s struggles on the field with consistency, route running and missed plays make the position a need entering the 2026 draft.
The depth of the position this year means the Panthers could find production in the later rounds, but Morgan is right not to pigeonhole himself. Given the lack of overall first-round talent in this year’s draft, if a wide receiver is his top-graded player when the Panthers are on the clock, then he should make the selection without hesitation. Take the best player available and figure out how he fits later.
Giving Bryce Young another weapon can’t be viewed as a bad thing, even if it’s the third big swing at the spot.
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