Will Panthers take a receiver at No. 24 in draft? What does ESPN's Mel Kiper think?

ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper thinks the two projected first-round wide receivers this year – Alabama’s Calvin Ridley and Maryland’s D.J. Moore – are better than the three wideouts taken in the top 10 last year.

Kiper thinks Ridley and Moore will be great picks for teams selecting in the middle of the first round or lower. Kiper just doesn’t think the Panthers will go with a wideout in the first round.

Kiper has the Panthers general manager Marty Hurney taking Stanford safety Justin Reid with the 24th pick in his latest two mock drafts, including a three-round mock that was published last week.

A strong argument can be made that the Panthers’ needs in the secondary exceed the value of giving quarterback Cam Newton another weapon. And while Kiper is high on Ridley and Moore, he’s not sold on the other top-rated receivers – at least not in the first round.

“If Ridley’s gone and Moore’s gone, who are you looking at?” Kiper said Wednesday during a predraft conference call.

Kiper said he could see LSU’s D.J. Chark sneaking into the first round after strong showings at the Senior Bowl and the scouting combine. But Kiper doesn’t like that Chark caught too many passes off his body in college rather than snatching balls out of the air with his hands.

Memphis wideout Anthony Miller, a former walk-on and a state champion hurdler, is the most underrated receiver in the draft, Kiper said.

Miller (5-11, 190) was among the wideouts the Panthers brought to Charlotte for predraft visits last week. Ridley, Moore and Texas A&M slot receiver Christian Kirk also were in town.

Kiper sees Riley and Moore as tremendous value picks who could be more productive than last year’s trio of top-10 receivers – Corey Davis (No. 5, Tennessee), Clemson’s Mike Williams (No. 7, San Diego) and John Ross (No. 9, Cincinnati).

“I think you can get them at a great point in the first round, where normally – I mean, Ridley’s a good player,” Kiper said. “He just didn’t have a quarterback to get him the ball on a consistent basis and he had the 31 (-inch) vertical. So I think people are pushing him down a bit. But I think he’s going to be better than the three receivers that went in the top-10 last year.

“Same thing for D.J. Moore. Great year with four different quarterbacks, then he tests off the charts with the broad jump and the vertical jump, which was in the elite category.”

Kiper had Moore going to Atlanta at No. 26 in his latest mock, two spots after he projected Reid to the Panthers. In a previous mock draft, Kiper had the Panthers using their first-round pick on Oklahoma State wideout James Washington, whom he now views as a second-rounder.

“They certainly could go wide receiver. In the one mock I know I did have them taking a wide receiver,” Kiper said. “If you’re looking at (what's most) valuable at that point, that’s the question. That’s what you have to look at. Who would be a real strong possibility?”

This story was originally published April 18, 2018 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Will Panthers take a receiver at No. 24 in draft? What does ESPN's Mel Kiper think?."