Panthers coach Matt Rhule reportedly wanted to trade down in the first round of last year’s draft. However, former general manager Marty Hurney was in love with Derrick Brown and determined to pick him if he was there. Hurney is now out of the picture and even though there’s a new GM in town, it’s clear that coach Rhule is the face of this franchise right now.

What does that mean for the 2021 NFL draft? For one thing, we should expect Carolina to add more picks at some point. Peter King reports that they want more than they currently have.

“One thing I do know (and not just because Matt Rhule just spent a learning day with Jimmy Johnson, who always had a trove of picks to work with) is Carolina wants to come out of this draft with more picks than the seven it currently holds.”

This is the right idea, especially for a franchise with as many needs as this one.

Evaluating college prospects and projecting how well they could do in the NFL is a terribly difficult thing and every year every team gets at least a few prospects wrong. The more picks a team has, the better their chances of landing a special player.

So, what’s the sweet spot to trade down?

It all depends on how the board falls, but based on what we’ve learned from the Sam Darnold trade, Carolina might not look to add more picks until Day 3 of the draft. Albert Breer at Sports Illustrated reported that the Panthers felt it was important to hang on to their first three 2021 picks during their negotiations with the Jets.