Despite finishing the 2025 campaign with an 8-9 record, the Carolina Panthers were one score from the NFC Divisional Round. Ahead of the 2026 season, the Panthers will be looking to add talent on both sides of the ball. That plan could include drafting a receiver for yet another.
Panthers Eye New Weapon For Bryce Young
Despite making receiver a focal point in the draft for several years, the Panthers could go down that familiar road again when the 2026 NFL Draft comes around. That would be five times in the last six drafts that Carolina selected a receiver in the 1st or 2nd round.
In 2021, they drafted Terrace Marshall Jr. (2nd round); in 2023, Jonathan Mingo (2nd round); in 2024, Xavier Legette (1st round); and in 2025, the Panthers made Tetairoa McMillan a 1st-round selection.
According to PFSN’s Cameron Sheath, Carolina is going to draft USC receiver Makai Lemon with the 16th-overall pick and give Young another offensive piece to work with.
“The Carolina Panthers have taken a wide receiver in the first round of each of the last two drafts,” Sheath wrote on Monday, “but that won’t stop me from putting Makai Lemon here. Veteran receivers Adam Thielen and Hunter Renfrow have both been heavily involved during short-term spells with the Panthers in recent years.
“Bryce Young seems to be at his best when given a reliable slot receiver to lean on, and Lemon fits that mold perfectly. The USC product blew up in 2025, catching 79 passes for 1,156 yards and 11 scores. The Panthers need to build on an impressive 2025 season, and Lemon is probably the best player still on the board.”
In their 2025 season, the selection of McMillan paid off immediately, as the rookie produced 1,014 yards and caught seven touchdowns. However, their 2024 1st-round pick, Legette, struggled with only 363 yards and three scores in the 15 games he played.
With Legette underperforming (860 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns in two seasons), it might not be the wildest idea to believe that the Panthers need to bring in a real WR2 that could surpass the meager output that Legette has brought since his rookie year in 2024.
Lemon continued to improve through his three collegiate seasons with USC. His freshman year in 2023 was more of an introduction to the bigger stage (six catches for 88 yards), but in 2024, he upped that to 764 receiving yards and three touchdowns. 2025 was Lemon’s breakout season, and what may have caught the eye of the Panthers’ front office.
The USC receiver had 79 catches for 1,156 yards and found the endzone 13 total times (11 receiving, two rushing). Considering that Legette was supposed to be a spark, the potential to bring in an on-the-rise receiver from a big-name program could be too much to pass up.
There is a universe where Legette puts it together, and 2026 becomes the season where Young lights up the league with McMillan, Lemon, and the 2024 first-round pick all hitting their strides. With plenty of teams on the hunt for a receiver ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft, the only question is whether the Panthers hand in Lemon’s name when their pick rolls around.
