The Carolina Panthers have received a rather odd offseason prediction.
Everyone knows that the Carolina Panthers need to improve their pass rush this offseason. The fans know it, the players surely know it and general manager Dan Morgan has already admitted as much.
So you would think that the Panthers would spend their first-round draft pick on an edge rusher, right?
Well, I guess it depends on what Carolina decides to do in free agency, especially considering that the Panthers are slated to have a nice chunk of cap room. Still, the general consensus is that Carolina will be taking an edge on Day 1 this April.
Don't tell that to Eric Froton of NBC Sports, however, who has the Panthers selecting Florida Gators defensive tackle Caleb Banks in his latest mock draft.
"Caleb Banks flashed disruptive upside along Florida’s interior in 2023–24 before a foot injury cut short his 2025 campaign," Froton wrote. "His 2025 breakout bid was derailed after just 96 snaps, but his two-year trajectory beforehand painted the profile of a plus athlete with real interior penetration skills and a pass-rush ceiling that Florida coaches believed was just beginning to unlock."
Florida Gators defensive tackle Caleb Banks. Credit: Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images.Let me start by saying that the 6-foot-6, 340-pound Banks — who is generally viewed as a second-rounder — has the potential to be an absolute monster on the NFL level ... but I'm not sure Carolina can afford to take this risk.
Banks underwent foot surgery early this past season and actually returned late in the year, but whenever a man that size begins to have lower-body issues, it's always a concern. Plus, the Panthers really don't need an interior defensive lineman.
Carolina has Derrick Brown in the trenches, and it signed both Tershawn Wharton and Bobby Brown in free agency last March. What the Panthers do need is a pass rusher on the outside, which is why they have already been linked to Texas A&M's Cashius Howell. That makes a lot more sense.
Banks has shown pass-rushing chops himself, having logged 4.5 sacks at Florida in 2024, but again, the injury is scary, and Carolina already has a strong interior pass rusher in Brown.
The Panthers amassed a grand total of 30 sacks this season, which was even less than the 32 they accrued last year. It would be a genuine surprise if Carolina didn't go with an edge rusher with the 19th overall pick.