CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolina Panthers are on the clock.
And while it took a blockbuster trade and a whole lot of assets to get there, they have done exactly the right thing.
On Friday, the Panthers agreed to trade four draft picks and wide receiver DJ Moore to the Chicago Bears in exchange for the No. 1 overall selection in the 2023 NFL draft. With that pick on April 27, a source said, the Panthers will definitely pick a quarterback, but aren’t quite sure which one yet.
Of course, now the Panthers have to choose the right one, and there are four QBs who may be in this draft’s top 10.
But if they do, that trade they just made will become the leap they have tried to take for the past five years from a bad team to a good one. In that case, this trade will be a bargain. It’s a risk, but it’s a risk well worth taking, because the reward could be unfathomable.
If they do get the pick right — and my guess is that they will end up taking Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud — this will be the most important trade the Panthers have ever made.
To be sure, the Panthers gave up a large part of the farm to get to this point. But, as a source said, the Panthers badly wanted to “control” the top of the draft board so they could do what they want at No. 1. That’s the key word: Control. The Panthers wanted it. Now they have it.
The Panthers could even trade down to No. 2 and recoup some of what they just gave up if they like two QBs equally, and that is a consideration very much in play, a source said.
But before you go all “The Panthers gave up too much” on me, let’s remember what they kept. Carolina’s best and most valuable player right now is edge rusher Brian Burns. He’s still here. So is bedrock left tackle Ickey Ekwonu, defensive lineman Derrick Brown and a host of other pieces.
Also in favor of making this trade: Drafting a quarterback and having him perform well early is the definition of high-quality cheap labor in the NFL.
If Carolina was going to spin the QB carousel again and sign a veteran for a few years, that market has ballooned enough that it might have cost them $30 million a year to be average, and then they would be in this same boat again soon.
This, on the other hand, is a long-term play. If the Panthers draft correctly — the top four QB choices are Stroud, Bryce Young, Will Levis or Anthony Richardson — then they get their quarterback for the next decade. They get their Patrick Mahomes, their Joe Burrow or their Cam Newton. And for the next 3-4 years, he’s very cheap by NFL standards, which means they can pay other players a lot of money to join him.
Historically, when the Panthers have had the No. 1 draft pick twice before, in both cases they have soon become a good team afterward. Not immediately, but soon.
In 1995, Carolina had the No. 1 pick as an expansion team, traded down to No. 5, chose QB Kerry Collins and were in the NFC Championship game two years later.
It took three years with Cam Newton when Carolina picked him No. 1 overall in 2011, but by 2013, the Panthers went 12-4 and began a run in which they made the playoffs four times in five years and the Super Bowl once.
Moore? Sure, he’s a loss to this team. He’s talented.
But you tell me how many games Moore actually won for the Panthers over his career here. The answer is not many.
It’s not his fault, but Moore doesn’t play a position in which he can affect a game nearly as much as a QB can. The Panthers had five losing seasons in his five years here and, despite his three 1,100-yard plus seasons, he wasn’t very adept at finding the end zone in the way big-time receivers are. Moore averaged 4.2 TD catches per season in his five years with the Panthers.
Moore’s most memorable play, sadly, was when he took his helmet off in 2022 and drew a 15-yard penalty after an unbelievable catch against Atlanta.
Moore was a tough receiver with fine running ability after the catch, but he shouldn’t have been untouchable. The Bears wanted him badly — the trade would never have happened if Moore hadn’t been an essential part of the deal — and the Panthers made the right decision to trade him.
The Bears had wished for three first-round picks for that No. 1 selection. But they were willing to count Moore as one of those, so Carolina then was down to two first-round picks: this year’s No. 9 and next year’s first-round pick (no matter where that is). Then, the Panthers also sent a second-round pick this year (No. 61) and a second-round pick in 2025 to Chicago.
So yeah, it’s a lot to give up.
It’s a whole lot.
But it’s worth the gamble.
