What They Are Saying: Troy Pride Jr. To The Panthers
The Carolina Panthers selected Notre Dame cornerback Troy Pride Jr. in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
Going to the Panthers is an ideal situation for Pride, who was not only drafted by a franchise that is just an hour and a half away from his hometown of Greer, South Carolina, it's a franchise in desperate need of talented cornerbacks.
Here is what Panthers head coach Matt Rhule and outside analysts are saying about the selection of Pride:
Matt Rhule, Carolina Panthers Head Coach — We felt really good about Troy, and here’s a guy whose from right down the road. He’s a track athlete … had a video conference with him one day. My wife was actually cooking on the other side of where I was doing the video conference and afterwards she said “Who is that, that’s a professional.” Just really, really mature guy and he’s played a lot of football
Rhule — I think he has the maturity to come in and help us in training camp … We wanted elite speed, if you can have that we can develop you … Length is important to us, especially in this division, so you’re always looking for corners with some length … Troy ran a 4.42 and probably could have run a 4.32.
Chris Trapasso, CBS Sports — Panthers needed to address CB. Pride has first-round athleticism and speed. Just has a real problem finding the football to make plays on it. Somewhat of a smaller frame but will mirror outstandingly down the field and has serious recovery speed.
Trapasso gave the Panthers an A- for their selection of Pride.
Pro Football Focus — Having the skill set to be able to play in man coverage is not something that everyone has, but Pride does with track star speed and good length for his height. The problems come when tracking the ball in relation to the wide receiver and recognizing routes, but from a movement skills standpoint, Pride is one of the best in the class. That’s the stuff you can’t teach.
NFL.com — One of the Panthers' top needs heading into the offseason was at cornerback. In a division loaded with big-time receiver talent, they were due for an addition to that group. Pride has some sticky man-to-man skills and he's in a situation where he could have an early impact.
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