Ohio State football: Todd McShay says Carolina loves Justin Fields at No. 8

According to the ESPN Draft guru, the former Ohio State player is someone who Carolina loves at 8th overall and is eyeing him on Thursday night.

With the NFL Draft starting on Thursday, rumors are starting to fly everywhere about where players might land. That includes former Ohio State football player Justin Fields. Fields has been linked to every team from San Francisco, to Atlanta, to New England.

One team that hasn’t been linked to Fields at all through the process so far is the Carolina Panthers. It wouldn’t make a ton of sense for them to since they just signed Teddy Bridgewater last year and then traded him for Sam Darnold this offseason.

According to ESPN’s Todd McShay, Carolina is enamored with Fields. Speaking on Ryen Russillo’s podcast, he said that the Panthers are eyeing him at number eight overall. Both scouts and the coaches love what they’ve seen from Fields and would pounce on him if he lasts that long.

Would that make sense for them to do? It does when you really look at the finances of the situation. Darnold is still on his rookie contract and only costs about $5 million. They can start him this year and then let Fields sit for a year or for half the season to let him learn.

If Darnold ends up playing poorly this season, Fields can slide in and start playing in his rookie year 8 or 9 games in. Then Carolina has their true franchise quarterback lined up if Darnold ends up struggling in a new situation. Matt Rhule would love him.

That would be a very interesting place for Justin Fields to wind up. He would have some interesting weapons to work with. He’d have Christian McCaffery in the backfield, Robby Anderson and DJ Moore outside, and a decent offensive line. Fields could have success there.

The Draft starts Thursday at 8 pm and we will be locked in the entire weekend. Make sure to follow us on Twitter for all the picks and instant reactions!