The Carolina Panthers may be looking ahead a lot sooner than they’d like, and in Pro Football Network’s updated 2027 mock draft, the message is clear: help on defense is waiting for them at No. 8 overall.
That slot would point to a season that went sideways from where Carolina wants to be. The Panthers finished 8-9 last year and still made the playoffs, but the expectation for 2026 is to build on that, not slide backward. Even with training camp approaching and the team set to open a little earlier because of its Hall of Fame preseason game appearance, the bigger-picture goal remains simple: get better.
PFN’s projection doesn’t exactly scream progress.
In the mock, Carolina is paired with Notre Dame safety Tae Johnson, a move aimed straight at one of the defense’s clearest trouble spots. PFN made the case this way:
This is where a player like Notre Dame’s Tae Johnson can come into the fold. A part of one of the best secondaries in college football, Johnson put up an elite season in 2025, logging a PFN Safety Impact score of 95.8, outranking 2026 first-round picks Caleb Downs and Dillon Thieneman.
On film, there are not too many flaws in Johnson’s game, making him a true blue-chip prospect at the position. Another elite year at Notre Dame will only further prove what some fans and analysts already know: Johnson is a first-round talent.
That fits the Panthers’ situation neatly. Their defense is strong in a broad sense, but safety is where the cracks show up. Johnson would be a natural answer for a back end that needs to tighten up.
There’s also a layer of regret baked into this scenario. Carolina passed on taking a safety in the 2026 NFL Draft, and passed on several options while doing it. If that choice comes back to bite them this season, safety could easily become the position they can’t ignore next spring, no matter where they end up picking in the 2027 draft.
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