The Carolina Panthers need an interior defensive lineman badly this offseason. Mason Graham is by far the best interior defensive lineman available in the draft. On some big boards, he’s the number two overall prospect behind Abdul Carter, another player the Panthers would love to get.
The only problem is how good Graham is and how many teams could take him. He could conceivably be picked second overall, so a slide to eight isn’t something the Panthers can really count on. However, as The Athletic’s Joe Person noted, a slightly disappointing measurement might cause the Michigan tackle to plummet right to Carolina.
In Person’s mock draft 2.0, he picked Graham eighth overall. He said, “The Panthers have been open about wanting to improve the defensive line. Graham would be a big piece in helping Dave Canales and Ejiro Evero do so. The question is whether he’ll make it to 8. But there’s a chance Graham slips a bit after weighing in at 296 pounds (about 20 lighter than some expected), with 32-inch arms that scouts consider short-ish.”
Graham’s “short” arms aren’t a new development, as that’s always been one of the knocks against him. However, the weight is. He’s not as stout as many had hoped, which could be good news for Carolina.
Graham has some shortcomings, but not enough for the Panthers to pass up a chance to get him. He would be a dominant partner for Derrick Brown, giving the Panthers one of the best interior defensive line duos in the top draft selection and a player who set the record for tackles by a DT.
The only question is how many teams will pass on Graham given this development. It’s still a long shot, but Graham to Carolina is much more in play now than it was before the combine.
