Desperate times might call for desperate measures from the Carolina Panthers.
In his newest, post-combine edition of “Football Morning in America,” NBC Sports’ Peter King notes that the quarterback-needy Panthers—along with the equally quarterback-needy Indianapolis Colts—are likely to be the most aggressive pursuers of the 2023 draft’s first overall pick. Here’s what he thinks it may take for Carolina to get the goods from the Chicago Bears:
The owner, David Tepper, has made it clear internally he wants a long-term answer at quarterback, and he wants it now. Indianapolis wouldn’t have to trade as much as Carolina for the pick, because it’d be moving up three spots. But the Panthers might be willing to overpay relative to the Colts, and if the Bears have enough “blue” players on the board to ensure they’d get one picking at nine, I could see them taking that deal. What would that package look like? Maybe Chicago trading from one to nine and getting first-round picks in 2024 and ’25 and extra second- and third-round picks over the next two drafts. I’m told it’s entirely possible cooler heads will prevail in Carolina, but we’ll see.
King is the latest to report on the Panthers’ possible pursuit of that top pick. NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe and ESPN’s Dan Graziano also came away from Indianapolis with that impression this week.
The No. 1 overall selection has been traded a total of 12 times since 1967 and just once over the last 20 years. That lone deal helped the Los Angeles Rams—who were nestled in the 15th spot—net quarterback Jared Goff while stocking up the Tennessee Titans with two first-round picks, two second-round picks and two third-round picks.
So while King’s proposed package is a lot more expensive than that 2016 one, yesterday’s price is seemingly not today’s price.