Carolina Panthers trade up 16 spots, take Michigan’s Devin Funchess
The Carolina Panthers pulled off a trade Friday, moving up 16 spots in the second round to select Michigan wide receiver Devin Funchess with the 41st pick Friday during the second night of the NFL draft.
For the second night in a row, the Panthers took a player most experts believe doesn’t have a true position.
Funchess, 6-foot-5 and 232 pounds, has good size. But when he ran the 40 in 4.70 seconds at the combine in February, some scouts wondered whether he might be better suited as a tight end in the NFL.
Dave Gettleman, who spent nearly 25 years as a scout before becoming the Panthers’ general manager, said Funchess is fast enough. Funchess ran a 4.47 at Michigan’s pro day this spring after the combine.
“He plays fast. He’s a smooth, fluid big man,” Gettleman said. “We really like that about him.”
A night after Gettleman said he didn’t expect to trade up during the first three rounds, the Panthers gave St. Louis their 57th (second round), 89th (third) and 201st (sixth) picks to move up for Funchess.
Gettleman said the Panthers counted six teams ahead of them at 57 that had a need for a wide receiver.
Funchess caught 62 passes for 733 yards and four touchdowns last season as a junior at Michigan. The Panthers will have a big group of receivers, with Funchess joining last year’s first-round pick, Kelvin Benjamin, who is 6-5 and 240 pounds.
Gettleman noted that with the next pick after the Panthers took Funchess, the division rival Atlanta Falcons drafted Jalen Collins, the LSU cornerback who is 6-1 and 203 pounds.
“He’s a matchup issue,” Gettleman said.
Like everyone else, Panthers coach Ron Rivera heard the concerns about Funchess’ speed. Then Rivera turned on the tape and saw Funchess making tough catches over the middle, as well as beating defensive backs deep.
“You see a couple things that tell you this kid is a little bit different. He makes catches in traffic. He presents a big target in traffic and takes a lot of big shots, similar to what Kelvin does,” Rivera said. “And then you watch him go vertical, which was surprising. I was like, ‘Wait a minute, I thought people talked about he was not a vertical threat.’ He was a vertical threat.”
Rivera said the potential Benjamin-Funchess pairing reminds him of the Chargers’ big receiver tandem of Malcom Floyd and Vincent Jackson when Rivera was in San Diego.
Funchess, who is from Farmington Hills, Mich., was asked about the Twin Tower receiving tandem he and Benjamin could form.
“It’s not just him. It’s all the other wide receivers that are there, too,” said Funchess, who also mentioned Ted Ginn Jr., Jerricho Cotchery and Corey Brown.
More than his pro day time, Funchess said he believes his game film answered scouts’ questions about his speed.
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This story was originally published May 1, 2015 at 8:18 PM with the headline "Carolina Panthers trade up 16 spots, take Michigan’s Devin Funchess."