The Carolina Panthers have officially locked in all of their 2026 draftees.
As announced on Friday, defensive lineman and second-round pick Lee Hunter has signed his rookie contract. Hunter is the seventh and final member of the team’s draft class to ink his deal.
Carolina landed the 6-foot-3, 318-pound Texas Tech standout upon trading up to this year’s 49th overall selection. Hunter now enters the pros as a 2025 first-team All-American and first-team All-Big 12 member.
General manager Dan Morgan, after Day 2 of the draft, explained why he jumped only two spots to secure Hunter.
“The board was kinda thinning out at the time,” Morgan told reporters. “We just felt like, hey, this is like the last guy we kinda had in the higher rounds. And we just felt like, hey, let’s go get our guy instead of kinda settling for somebody else. We were all convicted on him—not just as a player, but as a person.”
Hunter finished up his final campaign in Lubbock with 41 combined tackles and 2.5 sacks.
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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Panthers sign 2nd-round pick Lee Hunter, lock up entire 2026 class
