The Panthers Need to Draft Isaiah Simmons

The Carolina Panthers have completely revamped their offense. Teddy Bridgewater will take the quarterback spot vacated by the departure of Cam Newton and Kyle Allen, and the offense could look much more efficient under new head coach Matt Rhule. The same can't be said of the defense, though.

Grading out as the league's No. 25 defense per Football Outsiders' DVOA metrics, the Panthers could be even worse in 2020 thanks to the loss of key contributors like Luke Kuechly and James Bradberry. If the Panthers want to completely revamp their defense, they need to hope and pray for the perfect fit at No. 7. And Isaiah Simmons would be just that.

Last season, the Panthers graded out as the league's worst run defense by DVOA. Simmons, arguably the most athletic LB in the draft, would instantly revamp this lackluster run defense.

He's capable of contributing in far more areas than just run defense, though. In 2019, Simmons racked up 104 tackles, 16.5 tackles for loss, 8 sacks, 8 passes defended and 3 interceptions. He'd be the best-possible replacement for a future Hall-of-Famer like Kuechly.

Simmons is widely being projected to go ahead of Carolina's No. 7 pick, but crazier things have happened and it's not too much of a stretch to believe he could fall to them. If he does, the Panthers should rush to the podium to snatch up the most versatile defender in the class.

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Max Staley is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Max Staley also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mstaley1212. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.