{"id":265566,"date":"2026-04-25T06:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T06:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/265566\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T06:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T06:46:12","slug":"carolina-panthers-draft-lee-hunter-dt-from-texas-tech-with-no-49-pick-in-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/265566\/","title":{"rendered":"Carolina Panthers draft Lee Hunter, DT from Texas Tech, with No. 49 pick in 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage<\/a> of the 2026 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

The Carolina Panthers selected Texas Tech defensive tackle Lee Hunter in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft<\/a> with the 49th pick. The Panthers traded up to No. 49 with the Minnesota Vikings, also receiving the 196th selection and giving up their picks at No. 51 and No. 159.<\/p>\n

Hunter anchored the interior of Texas Tech\u2019s defensive front, emerging as a first-team All-American in 2025. His presence in the middle powered one of the nation\u2019s top defenses, as the Red Raiders led the country in defensive stop rate, ranked second in total defense and finished No. 5 overall.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old Hunter, who is 6-foot-3 and 318 pounds, was a force up front, earning All-Big 12 honors twice while totaling 17 tackles for loss across 24 games over the past two seasons. With Hunter setting the tone in the trenches, Texas Tech reached the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history. He delivered on that stage as well, finishing with seven tackles and two tackles for loss against Oregon.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Beast\u2019 breakdown<\/p>\n

Hunter ranked No. 55 in Dane Brugler\u2019s top 300 big board<\/a>. Here\u2019s what Brugler had to say about him in his annual NFL Draft guide:<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWith light feet for a big guy, Hunter offers a balanced blend of strength, length and movements. He can post up on run downs and shut down A-gaps, while also flashing the lateral range to make more plays away from his square than your average nose. He is naturally strong, although high pads and a narrow base can take away from his power supply. He is limited on passing downs and is more of a slow-burn pocket pusher than a man with a plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cHunter doesn\u2019t have the pass-rush skill set to consistently impact the quarterback, but he is instinctive as a run defender and has heavy hands to make stops at the line of scrimmage. He projects as a scheme-diverse, two-gapping nose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott Dochterman grades the pick<\/p>\n

Grade: A<\/p>\n

The Panthers needed to upgrade the defensive line alongside Derrick Brown, and they did so with one of the top zero-techs in the draft. Hunter was Texas Tech\u2019s physical run-stuffer who allowed David Bailey to get free off the edge. But make no mistake: Hunter was every bit as instrumental in the Red Raiders\u2019 success as Bailey. He\u2019ll instantly upgrade the Carolina defensive line.<\/p>\n

How he fits<\/p>\n

Defensive tackle was a positional need that didn\u2019t get discussed much after the Panthers cut A\u2019Shawn Robinson in a cap-clearing move in March. Robinson collected eight sacks and 145 tackles over his two seasons in Carolina. Hunter likely won\u2019t give the Panthers that kind of pass-rush production. He was more of a run stuffer over his five college seasons at three schools (Auburn, UCF and Texas Tech). The 6-3, 318-pound Hunter has good length (33 1\/4-inch arms) but lacks explosive traits, as evidenced by his 21 1\/2-inch vertical jump and 8-foot, four-inch broad jump.<\/p>\n

Depth chart impact<\/p>\n

Hunter has scheme versatility, but most analysts project him as a nose tackle, where Bobby Brown is the Panthers\u2019 incumbent. Brown had a minimal impact in his first season in Charlotte, managing just 31 tackles and half of a sack in 17 games, including five starts. The same could be said of Turk Wharton, the Panthers\u2019 big-ticket defensive line acquisition last offseason. Although Wharton\u2019s season was slowed by injuries, more was expected from the former Chief after he signed for three years and $45 million.<\/p>\n

They also could have picked \u2026<\/p>\n

The Panthers could have made a buzzier pick by giving quarterback Bryce Young another weapon. Georgia\u2019s Zachariah Branch and Tennessee\u2019s Chris Brazzell II \u2014 two speedy, playmaking wideouts \u2014 were both available, as was Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers, who went to the Eagles soon after. The Panthers also could have drafted someone to help at the second or third levels of the defense. The second round was the sweet spot for inside linebackers in my mock drafts, and Texas\u2019 Anthony Hill Jr. was still on the board. Toledo safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren also was available.<\/p>\n

Fast evaluation<\/p>\n

Panthers GM Dan Morgan said Thursday night that he wanted to make the offensive and defensive lines as strong as possible, so getting a functional, interior player like Hunter wasn\u2019t much of a surprise. It was interesting that Morgan felt the need to trade up two picks for Hunter and was willing to move back 37 spots (out of the fifth round and into the sixth). I would have been more tempted to take Branch or Hill. \u2014 Joe Person<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 NFL Draft. The Carolina Panthers selected Texas Tech defensive tackle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7707,27,29,28,415,9816],"class_list":{"0":"post-265566","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-carolina-panthers","9":"tag-texas","10":"tag-texas-headlines","11":"tag-texas-news","12":"tag-texas-tech-red-raiders","13":"tag-ucf-knights"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}