The Panthers traded their 47th and 77th pick in the NFL draft and moved up ten spots to select offensive tackle Greg Little with the 37th pick.
“We thought we had a chance to get a left tackle who has a chance to come in here and compete for playing time really quickly,” Panthers GM Marty Hurney said after he pick. “He’s got a lot of traits. He’s big, he’s athletic, he’s got long arms, he can sit and anchor and he played in the SEC against some of the best competition. There’s a stat out there that says in the last 960-plus snaps in the last two years he’s given up 26 pressures.”
When discussing the move-up for Little, Hurney said there was a run on tackles and if they didn’t trade up they feared Little wouldn’t be there when it was time their time to pick.
“We really like Greg. We had really good grades on him…the run on tackles didn’t stop last night. We didn’t think he had any chance to get to us. We had a chance to get a guy at a premier position that can come in and compete for playing time immediately and we think has all the skills to be our starting left tackle for a long time. There’s times to be patient, then there’s times you feel you better make a move. We felt like getting Greg, along with Brian Burns, we have two guys who can come in and compete from the get go.”
The Panthers will next pick 100th in the 3rd round.