In “ideal world” they draft a quarterback

General manager Scott Fitterer said that when you consider all the factors — including future salary caps and roster constructions — there are clear advantages to drafting one.

“You always want to draft a quarterback,” he said. “Draft, develop, and then have that guy here for five or 10 years. You want to have that consistency; it helps for many different reasons, the continuity on your roster, for salary cap reasons — there’s so many benefits to drafting and developing.

“We’ll see if we can get in a position where we get one of the guys we like. Is there a guy there in the second round? Is it can we get up in the first round? Those are all the things we’re exploring right now. But yes, you’re right. I don’t think it’s wrong to necessarily look at the veteran route if you can’t do that, but in an ideal world, you do want to draft (your quarterback).”

Making this a non-ideal world is the pesky fact that picking ninth overall, the Panthers don’t have the luxury of being choosy without making a big deal.

With so much interest in the top quarterbacks in this draft and so many teams interested in acquiring one of them, the Panthers are in an unusual position.

The Bears have acknowledged they’re open for business with the top pick, and the Cardinals (picking third) and Seahawks (always interested in trading down) have also communicated a willingness to listen this week.

So they’re working through a number of options at the moment, including evaluating Carr (who is available now) and the rest of the free agent class (who they can’t negotiate with until March 13), and all these quarterbacks arrayed before them in Indianapolis.