The Carolina Panthers power duo of head coach Matt Rhule and general manager Scott Fitterer wouldn’t disclose exactly where they had Matt Corral on their draft board. But there’s no doubt that they liked the University of Mississippi product enough to make a move on him.
Shortly after trading up to the third round of the 2022 NFL draft for the 6-foot-2, 212-pound passer, Rhule and Fitterer took to the press conference table to give their initial reactions on the decision. Right off the top, Corral got some props.
“One of the things that really stood out, aside from the physical traits, was the competitiveness and toughness of him. The guy took a pounding—kept getting up, kept getting up,” Fitterer said. “And when it just comes to the physical traits—the quick release, the mobility, the ability to get out and run, throw on the run. He sees the field well. He processes quickly. So all those things really stood out to us.”
Corral was an elite dual-threat weapon at Ole Miss. He finished up his last two years in Oxford with 7,806 total yards—the most in college football over that span.
David Newton of ESPN then probed Fitterer and Rhule as to where Corral ranked for them amongst the class’ other quarterbacks. Unfortunately, there was no straight answer.
“We would never talk about the ranking,” Rhule said. “In the first round, we might. We don’t wanna disrespect anybody.”
But even though we didn’t get a number, Rhule left the impression that they thought their new guy was worth much more than the 94th overall selection.
“We would’ve taken him high,” he’d then add.
The number we do know is four—as Corral was the fourth quarterback taken, with Kenny Pickett, Desmond Ridder and Malik Willis ahead of him. Can Corral, however, create his own ranking in due time and prove to be the No. 1 prize of the group?