From Matt Ramas (@matt_ramas):
Matt, I don’t know. Very few people do. But if I’m putting puzzle pieces together here, knowing what I do about the prospects, my guess would be that Alabama’s Bryce Young is the leader in the clubhouse, and that he set the baseline for the Panthers as they started to aggressively pursue a trade for the No. 1 pick. In that scenario, Carolina would be saying, implicitly, it’d be satisfied taking Young there, while giving the other three presumptive first-round quarterbacks a shot to catch or pass him over the next six weeks.
Now, as for what I know, the Panthers do have a couple of quarterbacks that they’d be comfortable spending the first pick on. I don’t know definitively who they are. But I do know the plan is to go through all the requisite predraft paces—from pro days to 30 visits in Charlotte to private works, dinners and all the rest—with Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Florida’s Anthony Richardson and Kentucky’s Will Levis, to see if anyone else leaps into the top group (and also assure those there for Carolina really belong there).
If that happens, a short trade back is possible, with the only nonnegotiable being that the Panthers come away with a quarterback. The more likely conclusion, of course, is that they will stick at No. 1 and pick one.
And if I had to guess which one, I’d say Young. But I’ve got five weeks to change my mind.
