PHOENIX — Panthers head coach Dave Canales was asked about drafting a wide receiver at the league meetings last year, and they ended up using the eighth overall pick on Tetairoa McMillan, and were quite happy with that after he won offensive rookie of the year honors.

This year, they're in a much different position, picking 19th overall in the first round. There are far fewer knowns at that point, which creates a layer of mystery about this year's process.

Canales said the goal was still to find impact, and he thinks they'll be able to.

"At this point, with the 19th pick, we really have an opportunity to bring a player in that can help us immediately. Who's that going to be?" Canales said Monday morning at the Arizona Biltmore resort. "Of course, Dan (Morgan), Brandt (Tilis), and myself will always say we want to take the best available player. That's what we did last year. When we looked at who was available at that spot at eight, T-Mac was the best player. And so we were able to do that.

"We'd like to do that again. I don't really believe in drafting for depth or doing things like that. It's like, who can impact our team at that level? It could be a wideout. It could be a tight end. Could be a safety. There's a couple of dynamic safeties that could free us up. The pass-rush class, we've got to still kind of see where they are at the top. Where do we think the top guys are going? Look at the mocks and all that, and see where there might be a little bit of a dropoff there. But I think it's an opportunity for us to really add a value player at 19 where we're still kind of high enough that's an impact player."

People will read into that what they will, but after a busy free agency in which they filled out a depth chart and didn't leave any immediate vacancies in the starting lineup, the Panthers go into the draft with options.

Canales expecting to see Jonathon Brooks soon

Running back Jonathon Brooks missed the entire 2025 season recovering from his second ACL tear (the first coming in his final college season), but Canales said he's encouraged by Brooks' rehab and looks forward to seeing him when the offseason program begins.

"Yep, I would think so," Canales replied when asked if Brooks would be ready for OTAs in May. "All the work that he's done up to this point, it's all but put him in a football scenario with other people around him."

The first two weeks of the offseason program (which will begin in April) feature conditioning on the fields without coaches, then progress to non-contact work.

The Panthers lost Rico Dowdle in free agency, but brought in veteran AJ Dillon to compete for a role behind starter Chuba Hubbard. Canales said he was open to Brooks having a contributing role.

"I'm open to whatever he wants to bring, and I know what he looked like prior to the injury," Canales said. "I know what that player looks like, so I have that in the back of my mind. And that's a vision that I hope he has too. And so that we can go and attack that. How do we get to a point where you can play your best, where you can be ready? And that'll be our goal.

"We'll make sure we do the right thing for Jonathon for sure. But I see the excitement. He's been in the building. He's been working out, he's been training with our guys. And I know that he's excited about this opportunity to compete."

Luke Fortner to compete for center job

At the moment, the only true centers on the roster are free agent acquisition Luke Fortner and Nick Samac, and Canales suggested some more were on the way as they look for someone between guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis.

The Panthers lost Cade Mays (Detroit) and Austin Corbett (Buffalo) in free agency, and seem to be looking to the draft for reinforcements there.

"It's just important to replace the experience that we lost in our apartment and with Cade, with Corbs," Canales said. "So Luke certainly gives us that, and he'll be competing for the job. We also have Nick Samac, whom we brought in, and I'm excited about Nick. He looks good. has been training. We could draft a guy, so we wanted to try to make that position a really competitive spot.

"Luke comes in as a really sharp guy. If he wins the job, you put him between D-Lew and Rob, and have a guy that can really drive it and allow Bryce to do his thing. He's a great, great option at the position."

Looking forward to working with Kenny Pickett

Canales came to the Panthers with a reputation for working with second-chance quarterbacks, from his results with Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield. And that extended to adding Kenny Pickett to back up Bryce Young, after they traded veteran backup Andy Dalton to Philadelphia.

"I believe this is a player who's on the rise, who's trending towards having another opportunity as a starter," Canales said of Pickett. "He's not here to do that. He's not here to compete with Bryce to be the starter. But I see a guy like Geno Smith, like Baker Mayfield, like Sam Darnold. I see a guy who's accumulating enough playtime and experience and exposure to different systems, seeing different defenses, with his ability, with his mind, um, the way that he works, I see a guy that's going to have another opportunity.

"I love being a part of that story. And I love that he chose to come to Carolina to take the next step in his career. And I just want to be a part of that story and to see where he goes from there."

Timeline still unclear for Ikem Ekwonu

Canales said it's still too soon to know when left tackle Ikem Ekwonu will be ready to contribute after suffering a torn patellar tendon in the playoff loss to the Rams.

When asked if he could even estimate when he'd know a timeline, he replied: "Nope. We won't know until we start pushing on him."

But signing former Packers starter Rasheed Walker to a one-year deal gives them experienced cover.

Walker's not the run-blocker Ekwonu is (few are), but he's more of a polished pass-protector, and Canales said he got a better feel for the person during Zoom calls during the free-agent negotiating period.

"We were fortunate to get Rasheed," Canales said. "The guy's got a bunch of experience and has played a lot of games. I feel great about that. Scheme-wise, he can do whatever he has to. So we feel good about the athlete. Just talking to him, met with him on Zoom a couple of times during the legal window, we were able to talk to him, met with him and his agents on Zoom, and started to get to know each other.

"And we're really fortunate that he's coming in here, gives us flexibility, along with Stone Forsythe, so that whatever Ickey's timeline looks like, we have guys that have played significant snaps."

Extra game an extra chance to evaluate roster

By being chosen to play in this year's Hall of Fame Game against the Cardinals, the Panthers get an extra preseason game and an extra week-plus of training camp.

For Canales, who is always trying to create competition, he mentioned chances for younger players at positions from running back to the secondary, who will get a lot of extra work as the experienced players likely won't play much in Canton.

"To me, it's another opportunity to evaluate our roster, and we're always looking for opportunities to challenge positional groups," Canales said. "So we have more games, more live reps for guys to show us what they can do and who they are. I value every person on our 90-man roster and what they can do for us. The players should be excited about this as well.

"Whether it's at running back, whether it's at quarterback, having Kenny Pickett and whoever else we might bring in to show us what they can do from that standpoint. On the defensive side, there are certainly opportunities in the secondary to try to make our team and impact our roster. So excited about another opportunity for guys to show us what they can do in a game setting."