Pieces to the Puzzle: Chau Smith-Wade

Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty ImagesWith the 2024 NFL Draft behind us, we now have the opportunity to look forward and predict how this draft class will fit into the current regime’s plans. Obviously the coaches and scouts believe these players fit in some form or fashion into at least one of the three phases, but let’s try to look at past trends from this coaching staff and guess what type of usage we can expect from the newest Carolina Panthers.

In the fifth round of the Draft, the Panthers took a corner who had a very impressive Senior Bowl in Chau Smith-Wade out of Washington State. Smith-Wade is the opposite of the previous defensive player taken by the Panthers two rounds earlier,…