Todd McShay New Mock Draft Projects Wild First-Round Move for Panthers

With Super Bowl LV behind us, the attention of the NFL world turns ahead to the 2021 offseason. Free agency will come first, but the marquee event is always the NFL Draft.

ESPN expert Todd McShay has released his first post-Super Bowl mock draft, and it includes some serious surprises.

One of the biggest is what he projects for the Carolina Panthers.

Carolina Panthers Mock Draft

Todd McShay projects the Panthers to trade up for the No. 3 overall pick, where he has them selecting North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance.

This move would be a shocker on so many levels.

At this point it's no surprise that the Panthers may not be sold on Teddy Bridgewater as their franchise QB, but trading up for a quarterback just one year after making a splash in free agency would still be a bit of a surprise.

Trading up to No. 3 would also not come cheaply. Even though they'd only be moving five picks, that's the kind of a shift that would cost some serious draft capital to pull off, making the move a definite gamble.

Trey Lance is definitely an exciting prospect, but seeing him go off the board as the third overall pick would be another layer of surprise here — especially while once near-consensus No. 2 pick Justin Fields is projected to still be on the board.

The Panthers have committed to head coach Matt Rhule for the long-term, however. If Lance is the guy that Rhule thinks he can build this offense around to make the Panthers a contender again, the front office may very well be willing to accommodate that with some big moves.

The 2021 NFL Draft could be a wild one for Panthers fans.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. 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 his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.