Panthers face yet another former first-rounder, Brian Burns

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carolina Panthers outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney was shocked when told the organization had moved on from four straight first-round draft picks from 2016 to 2019.

"That's crazy," said the three-time Pro Bowler, whom the Houston Texans made the No. 1 pick of the 2014 draft. "That's not a good sign. Usually, most organizations don't let their great or best players out of the building.

"It's kind of surprising ... and shocking."

The Panthers (2-7) will face one of those four, outside linebacker Brian Burns, when they play the New York Giants (2-7) Sunday at Munich's Allianz Arena (9:30 a.m. ET, NFL Network).

Burns, who had 46 career sacks in five seasons with Carolina, already has five in nine games for the Giants. The Panthers have 10 as a team.

The Panthers traded Burns, the 16th pick of the 2019 draft, for a 2024 second-round pick (No. 39) and a 2025 fifth-round selection. They had already moved on from their previous three first-rounders, WR DJ Moore (No. 24, 2018), RB Christian McCaffrey (No. 8, 2017) and DT Vernon Butler (No. 30, 2016).

Those moves, coupled with uncertainty about whether left tackle Ikem Ekwonu (No. 6, 2022) and quarterback Bryce Young (No. 1, 2023) will be long-term solutions, is, many around the NFL believe, a big reason the Panthers have gone 50-90 since 2016 and are headed for their seventh straight losing season.

"Generally, when you blow a No. 1, you've lost two years," said one NFL talent evaluator who asked not to be named. "If you have roster erosion on both sides of the ball, it's literally a mess."

First-year Panthers general manager Dan Morgan is tasked with digging out of the hole he inherited from three head-coaching changes and three general manager changes between 2019 and 2023.

He is trying to do it through the draft with young players, such as the three rookie pass catchers -- first-round WR Xavier Legette, undrafted WR Jalen Coker and fourth-round TE Ja'Tavian Sanders -- who played a role in Carolina ending a five-game losing streak Sunday. And rookie second-round RB Jonathon Brooks likely will make his debut against the Giants as he works his way back from a torn right ACL.

Morgan recently traded two wide receivers -- Diontae Johnson to the Baltimore Ravens for a fifth-rounder and Jonathan Mingo to the Dallas Cowboys for a fourth-rounder -- in an attempt to stockpile picks for 2025.

It's a philosophy similar to what the Panthers did after going 1-15 in 2001, when Morgan was the No. 11 pick as an inside linebacker out of Miami. Two years later, Carolina was in Super Bowl XXXVIII with defensive end Julius Peppers (the No. 2 pick in 2002 and now a Hall of Famer) and other high draft picks as its core.

And it's the same philosophy the Panthers used to build the 2015 team that reached Super Bowl 50 with an NFL-best 15-1 regular-season record.

The core of that team included five first-round picks: QB Cam Newton (No. 1, 2011), LB Luke Kuechly (No. 9, 2012), RB Jonathan Stewart (No. 13, 2008), LB Thomas Davis Sr. (No. 14, 2005) and LB Shaq Thompson (No. 25, 2015).

Quarterback was the key to both Super Bowl teams: Jake Delhomme in 2003 and Newton, the 2015 NFL MVP. Young is 3-17 as a starter, and there are no guarantees he won't be traded at some point, like those other first-rounders, despite improvement shown in Sunday's 23-22 victory over the New Orleans Saints.

Multiple current and former NFL executives interviewed for this story agree it's going to be a slow rebuild, in large part because Carolina moved on from so many first-round picks.

"When you're constantly having to bring in so many outsiders because you're constantly not hitting in the draft, it's hard to truly set a firm culture and hold people to a standard," one said.

Said another: "Those picks should be the core of the team and the culture-setters."

Those interviewed for this story questioned some of the reasoning behind moving on from those four first-rounders.

They agreed that Butler was an underachiever and that it made sense not to use his fifth-year option.

They disagreed with trading McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers, even though injuries had been an issue for him the previous two seasons and the team cleared more than $24 million in salary cap for 2023 and 2024. McCaffrey went on to become the NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 2023 with 2,023 yards from scrimmage. He has yet to play this season as he's dealing with a calf issue and Achilles tendinitis.

Of the four players the Panthers added via those 49ers draft picks, only backup cornerback Chau Smith-Wade remains on the roster.

Those interviewed also weren't fans of putting Moore in the trade, which also included two first-rounders and two seconds, with the Chicago Bears so they could move up to draft Young with the top pick in 2023, believing Carolina overpaid.

They were in favor of trading Burns, not for what Carolina got from the Giants but for the two first-round picks the Los Angeles Ramsreportedly offered before the 2023 trade deadline.

"I'm guessing they're looking back and going, 'Damn! We might have traded him and gotten those two first-rounders and never moved on from McCaffrey and Moore,'" one executive said. "The ultimate piece you need for sustained success is a franchise quarterback. How can you make him successful?

"You've got to protect him and give him weapons."

Trading Burns also made sense because Carolina, according to league sources with direct knowledge of the situation, wasn't going to pay him $28.2 million annually like the Giants did.

McCaffrey and Moore already were under contract through 2025.

"You replaced McCaffrey with Chuba [Hubbard], but what you haven't replaced is his ability to win games on his own when he's healthy," one executive said. "From a game-changing standpoint, it did not make sense."

In search of a solution at quarterback, the Panthers traded with the Jets for Sam Darnold (2021), the Cleveland Browns for Baker Mayfield (2022) and the Bears for the right to pick Young (2023). Multiple executives agreed those moves set the Panthers further behind.

The result is a team in search of an identity with no quick path to finding it.

"What is their foundation? What is their standard?" one executive said. "I don't know. Maybe from the inside they know, but from the outside you don't really know when you watch them play."

Morgan's goal before the draft was to find physical, aggressive players. First-year coach Dave Canales says he wants to build around the run game.

But without the star players Carolina has moved on from, all agreed it will take time.

That's something owner David Tepper seems to accept now, according to multiple league sources familiar with the situation, understanding that the constant turnover of coaches and GMs contributed to this situation.

That's why Clowney was so surprised to learn the organization had moved on from four straight first-rounders.

"The teams that are constantly in turmoil are there because they don't have stability," one executive said. "If you don't draft well and build a culture the right way ... it's just the blind leading the blind in the locker room."