{"id":274160,"date":"2026-04-13T13:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T17:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=274160"},"modified":"2026-04-12T19:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T23:33:10","slug":"panthers-support-bryce-young-with-another-weapon-in-latest-mock-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/04\/13\/panthers-support-bryce-young-with-another-weapon-in-latest-mock-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers Support Bryce Young With Another Weapon In Latest Mock Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Carolina Panthers are coming off their best season in years, and fans have every reason to scourge the web for a mock draft that would help the team take the next step in 2026. Optimism is high for this organization, as Bryce Young continues to improve, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/02\/06\/tetairoa-mcmillan-rookie-of-the-year-panthers\/\" target=\"_self\">Tetairoa McMillan looks like a great player<\/a>, and the team added several quality free agents at the start of the league year. However, the right draft pick can make or break an organization, and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/nfl\/draft\/news\/2026-nfl-mock-draft-ty-simpson-trade-top-five-surprises\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jordan Dajani of CBS Sports<\/a> believes the Panthers should add more firepower to their offense.<\/p>\n<p>In a recent article, Dajani has the Panthers selecting <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/09\/30\/kenyon-sadiq-2026-nfl-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_self\">Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq<\/a> with the 19th pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Sadiq is one of the most athletic players in the draft and should be a welcome addition to this offense if this prediction comes to light.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Carolina has taken some small swings at the position with Ja&#8217;Tavion Sanders, Tommy Tremble, and Mitchell Evans, but those guys are not the versatile pass-catcher that Sadiq is,&#8221; Dajani writes. &#8220;His eight receiving touchdowns ranked first among all FBS tight ends last season, while his 51 receptions ranked fifth.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOB4CuRVElV\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 4769px; aspect-ratio: 4769\/3747;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<h2>Panthers Select TE Kenyon Sadiq In Latest Mock Draft<\/h2>\n<p>An elite tight end can be one of the most valuable non-quarterbacks in football, and Kenyon Sadiq has that in his range of outcomes. Blessed with elite physical gifts, the Oregon product runs a complete route tree and can do a little bit of everything as a receiver. He has the speed to blow past linebackers, the size to outmuscle safeties at the point of attack, and the stamina to pick up yards after the catch and break tackles.<\/p>\n<p>Historically speaking, tight ends struggle to adjust to the NFL and usually need a season or two before they can consistently contribute. However, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/09\/13\/3-tight-ends-that-can-replace-brock-bowers-in-your-fantasy-football-lineup\/\" target=\"_self\">players like Brock Bowers<\/a> and Harold Fannin Jr have immediately made positive impacts for their team, so there is a recent precedent for quick results. The NFL game is getting more and more similar to college by the year, so perhaps Carolina can expect fast contributions from Sadiq.<\/p>\n<h3>Fit on the Depth Chart<\/h3>\n<p>Carolina has a small army of adequate role players at the tight end position, but nobody who&#8217;s anything more than a low-end starter. While Mitchell Evans, Tommy Tremble, and Ja&#8217;Tavion Sanders all have had their moments, their strengths aren&#8217;t strong enough to justify a full-time role, and they&#8217;re not well-rounded enough to be a jack of all trades, master of none. If this mock draft is correct, the Panthers could immediately put Kenyon Sadiq in as the top tight end on the depth chart.<\/p>\n<p>Bryce Young continues to improve on a year-by-year basis, but he&#8217;s not the type of quarterback who can succeed regardless of environment. Carolina built a solid offensive line and receiving core, and Sadiq could be the missing piece for this offense. With three reliable pass-catchers in Sadiq, McMillan, and Jalen Coker, Young should be able to lead an above-average passing attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One prominent NFL mock draft has the Carolina Panthers using their first-round pick on Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":274163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":true,"sfio_embed_code":"<smartframe-embed customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBG7ZkIb06\" style=\"width: 100%;max-width: 3722px;aspect-ratio: 3722\/2925\"><\/smartframe-embed><!-- https:\/\/smartframe.io\/embedding-support -->","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33761,30,1647,36,6431],"tags":[33533,33905,33777,7661],"class_list":["post-274160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mock-drafts","category-panthers","category-nfl-draft","category-nfl-news","category-nfl-teams","tag-2026-nfl-draft","tag-carolina-panthers-draft","tag-kenyon-sadiq","tag-panthers-featured"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":274165,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274160\/revisions\/274165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}