The Panthers were 'jacked' to finally get Bryce Young a deep threat in Chris Brazzell II

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After trading up two spots for Texas Tech nose tackle Lee Hunter in the second round, the Panthers drafted Tennessee receiver Chris Brazzell II in the third — two developments that left Morgan “jacked.” Canales called Brazzell one of his favorite players in the draft and said he was surprised to see Brazzell still available when the Panthers were on the board with the 83rd pick. Canales, a former receivers coach, raved about how the 6-4, 198-pounder with 4.37 speed can complement a receiving corps featuring Tetairoa McMillan, Jalen Coker and Xavier Legette. “We’ve seen how we’ve been able to use Xavier, T-Mac, Jalen with all the intermediate stuff and it’s gotten us down the field a little bit,” Canales said. “But I think about the space created when they know this is a real burner and what that does to safeties, what that does to corners, just creating space for the whole group.” Brazzell, whose father was a Dallas Cowboys receiver for two seasons, said he would have run a faster 40 at the combine had the lasers not picked up on a small movement he made that prompted the digital timing system to start. “I kind of false started, so I really could have ran like a 4.34 or a little faster than that,” he said Friday. “Y’all gonna see my speed for sure. I’ll leave it like that.” SEC defenses saw it the last two seasons after Brazzell transferred from Tulane. He led the conference with 84.8 receiving yards a game and nine touchdown catches, three of which came in an overtime loss to Georgia in September. Some scouts thought Brazzell had a limited route tree. According to The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, nearly 50 percent of Brazzell’s routes last season were either a hitch or a go. But Canales said Brazzell’s tape at Tulane and Tennessee combined for a more extensive route tree, adding that his tracking skills and jump-ball abilities are elite. Brazzell came down with 13 of his 23 targets of 20-plus yards in 2025. Just as impressive to Canales was the fact that Brazzell came down on his feet on many of those. “That’s something that’s very rare. A lot of times you see a guy high point a ball, lay out for it, they end up on the ground,” Canales said. “He’s just got a special balance with how he finishes, which translates (with) that speed and that size.” After first giving Young a good-natured jab for losing to Tennessee while at Alabama, Brazzell went on to praise the Panthers’ fourth-year starter. “He’s probably the most underrated quarterback in the league, and I just want to take some stress off his shoulders, to be honest.” He’s also looking forward to playing alongside McMillan, who won NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year after being selected eighth overall last year. “He’s been a dawg since Arizona. … I plan on learning from him and hopefully he teaches me some things,” Brazzell said. “I hope I can add the deep-ball threat, hopefully add a playmaker. And not just a deep-ball threat — I feel I can do anything. So hopefully him on one side, me on the other side, we can just make things work and be unstoppable.” Brazzell won’t bring return skills to Charlotte, and his build probably doesn’t lend itself to a lot of jet sweeps. But Morgan said he does have “a little” run after catch. “Obviously, he’s got the 4.37 speed. So if he gets it and he hits a crease, he has the speed to take it the distance.” In addition to keeping his wide receiver drafting streak intact, Morgan also executed a second-round trade for the third year in a row. Concerned about missing out on Hunter in a weak defensive line class, Morgan worked a deal with the Minnesota Vikings to move from 51 to 49. Morgan felt strongly enough about Hunter’s run-stuffing prowess that he was willing to slide back 37 spots on Day 3, going from 159 (in the fifth round) to 196 (in the sixth) in the swap with the Vikings. “D-line’s pretty thin this draft,” Morgan said. “So I felt like, ‘Hey, let’s go get our guy. Let’s make sure we get who we want.’ That’s why we traded up and got aggressive.” Morgan’s willingness to trade up for him did not go unnoticed by Hunter, who used some strong language when describing how he’d make the move worthwhile for the Panthers. “They wanted me. They came and got me. They showed love and interest,” Hunter said. “So the response they’re gonna get from me — I’m ready to run through a f—ing brick wall for ‘em.” He will be running through that wall alongside one of his football idols. Hunter, who grew up in Mobile, Ala., spent one season at Auburn, where he missed Panthers defensive tackle Derrick Brown by a year. Hunter watched a lot of Brown’s tape, in which he would run through SEC offensive linemen and hawk down running backs behind the line of scrimmage — which Brown is still doing in the NFL. “Just seeing his game, how violent he is, how he puts hands on people and how he chases down (ball carriers) outside the tackle box,” Hunter said. “How the majority of his plays come in the backfield and outside the tackle box.” Hunter showed some of those same skills at Texas Tech, where he was a first-team All-American on one of the country’s best defenses. Hunter had three sacks and 11 tackles for loss in his lone season with the Red Raiders, and his interior push was a boon to David Bailey off the edge. In Texas Tech’s first appearance in the College Football Playoff, Hunter collected seven tackles, including two for loss, in a loss to Oregon. Hunter’s defensive coordinator in high school started calling him “The Fridge,” a nickname not unlike William “The Refrigerator” Perry and one that Hunter embraced. “He said, ‘When people want to eat, they gotta get through you,’” Hunter said. “So I took that and ran with it.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms