Scott Fitterer’s Year 1 review: The 2021 draft

In this series we are looking back on Scott Fitterer’s first year as the Carolina Panthers general manager and assessing his performance in salary cap management, free agent signings, the 2021 draft, and player trades. This week we’ll review Fitterer’s performance during the 2021 NFL draft.

I’m going to give Fitterer three different grades here: draft day trades, position strategy for Rounds 1-3, and quality of players drafted. A “C” grade means he met expectations. Anything above a “C” means Fitterer exceeded expectations and anything below means he fell short.

Draft day trades

As the Benevolent Dictator of Trade Down Island, I swooned over Scott Fitterer’s willingness to smartly trade down…