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Panthers draft safety-linebacker Shaq Thompson 25th

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As the reigning Walter Payton Man of the Year, Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis was in Chicago to announce his team’s pick.

And he got to pick the guy who might eventually replace him.

The Panthers took Washington safety-linebacker Shaq Thompson with the 25th overall pick.

How they’ll use Thompson remains to be seen, but there was equivalent confusion when they took Davis 14th overall in 2005, when the Georgia safety came to Charlotte without a defined role.

Davis settled in at linebacker, and the same might be true of Thompson, who also played running back for the Huskies.