The 2023 NFL draft begins Thursday night, and the Carolina Panthers have the top overall pick.
Most draft analysts still expect the Panthers to select Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, but coach Frank Reich notes that the team has five other picks. Reich said at a press conference this week that general manager Scott Fitterer and his staff have been going over all the options for weeks.
"We've had several draft meetings with the coaches, but more recently, you know, had them in there, (with Fitterer) kind of running the meetings, getting the coaches final opinion," Reich said. "The scouts have already done, you know, 90% of the work. But the coaches kind of come in and we give our evaluation, we meld it together with what the scouts have done. You know, we start wrapping our minds around that 39th pick, you know, and around that 93rd pick."
The team is widely expected to select Young, but Reich said even though team officials know who they want, it wasn’t necessarily an easy choice.
"The conviction built gradually for us as coaches because the scouts were ahead of us," Reich said. "I mean, the scouts were ahead of us. They had already done all their work. So as coaches, as we dug in, our conviction started to build slowly but surely."
During veteran minicamp activities this week, Reich said that with a new staff, it's a good time for a young player to get a fresh start with the team.
"It's a new offense," he said. "So really, it's new to the whole team, it's not just gonna be new to the rookie quarterback. So, we're all kind of starting from the ground floor up and, you know, really the vets get a couple of weeks ahead of them over the rookies, but, you know, they'll come in and catch up quickly."
The draft starts at 8 p.m., and there’s a draft party at Bank of America Stadium starting at 6:30 p.m. Graham Street will be closed from 6-9 p.m. between Mint Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard.
The second and third rounds of the draft will take place Friday, followed by rounds four through seven on Saturday. The Panthers have six total picks, but trades during the draft could change that number.