CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Only once since 2014 has a rookie draft pick started all 16 games for the Carolina Panthers. Only 12 times in team history has a rookie draft pick started all 16 games, and never has more than one out of a class started the entire season.
That could change as the 2020 class of first-year NFL head coach Matt Rhule -- the first in the modern era to consist of all defensive players -- will be counted on heavily. The Panthers return only three defensive players who started 10 or more games for Carolina last season and only one who started all 16.