Former Tennessee Volunteers defensive back Rashaan Gaulden was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
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By far the best combination of potential and having a proven track record among Tennessee football players, Rashaan Gaulden became the first former Vol taken in the NFL Draft for 2018. The Carolina Panthers took him to beef up their defense.
As a team that focuses on elite, smart and versatile defensive backs, Carolina struck gold with Gaulden. As you can see in our post here, we had the Panthers as one of the top landing spots for Gaulden. It was a huge boost for the team.
After Josh Norman, Carolina has desperately needed a situational defensive back who shows versatility. They found just that in Gaulden.
On top of that, they got a player who is highly competitive and will fight for his teammates and himself. His intangibles and personality provide the necessary replacement for Norman as well.
Oh, and we should mention this. Despite losing to the Tide, Gaulden is infamous for his flipping of the bird to those fans last year. Well, he joins Cam Newton’s team, a guy infamous for giving the Alabama Crimson Tide one of its most heartbreaking losses ever.
Simply put, the Panthers got a huge steal in the NFL Draft. It was a surprise that Gaulden was taken in the third round. Most projections had him going in the fourth with the third round as an optimistic projection. But he went in the third round to a team two years removed from the Super Bowl.
Our predictions of Gaulden’s landing spots had him going to the Dallas Cowboys and behind John Kelly in a surprise NFL Draft move. But, as predicted, he went before any Vol. The surprise was him going so high.
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As a result, this was a huge story. Carolina got a versatile and elite talent at defensive back. Gaulden was a major bright spot for Tennessee football last year. It’s pretty clear he can translate that into the NFL. So Carolina got a great pick.