USA Today went through and played “matchmaker” for all 32 NFL teams ahead of this week’s NFL Draft, identifying the “perfect prospect” for each team in the draft.
A couple of Clemson players – cornerback Avieon Terrell and defensive tackle Peter Woods – were pegged as the perfect prospects for two NFL teams.
The Carolina Panthers are the only team in the NFL that has never drafted a player from Clemson, but could that change in this year’s draft?
USA Today’s Ayrton Ostly tabbed Terrell as the perfect prospect for the Panthers.
“Carolina spent massively in free agency to bring in Jaelan Phillips and Devin Lloyd to bolster the front seven on defense. Terrell upgrades the secondary to bring it more on par with the improvements up front,” Ostly wrote. “He could stick outside opposite Jaycee Horn or kick inside to the slot thanks to his smaller frame. Either way, he’d be a force in run defense with an attacking attitude.”
Meanwhile, Woods was circled as the perfect draft prospect for the Buffalo Bills.
“Buffalo’s secondary could use some help but adding another young body up front could lift the unit’s floor as a whole,” Ostly wrote. “Woods is similarly sized to Ed Oliver and T.J. Sanders with plenty of potential that he flashed in Clemson that made him a potential top-five prospect coming into 2025. He could work out the holes in his game in a rotational role early before developing into a star later on.”
The 2026 NFL Draft will be held from Thursday to Saturday in Pittsburgh. Round 1 is Thursday, followed by Rounds 2-3 on Friday and Rounds 4-7 on Saturday. The draft will be televised on NFL Network, ABC, ESPN and ESPN Deportes.
Longtime ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. ranks Woods as the No. 32 overall prospect in this year’s draft class and the No. 1 defensive tackle, while Terrell is ranked by Kiper as the No. 46 overall prospect and the fifth-best cornerback.
A 2025 All-American and Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist, Terrell was credited with 128 tackles (nine for loss), 30 pass breakups, three interceptions, four sacks, eight forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries across 39 games (31 starts) in his career as a Tiger from 2023-25.
The two-time All-ACC selection set Clemson records for a defensive back in forced fumbles in a season (five in 2025) and a career (eight), and he led all cornerbacks nationally in forced fumbles across his Clemson career.
Woods was credited with 99 tackles (14.5 for loss), five sacks, two forced fumbles and two pass breakups over 35 games (24 starts) in his Clemson career from 2023-25.
Offensively, Woods also rushed eight times for 15 yards with two rushing touchdowns. This past season, he became Clemson’s first defensive tackle named as an AP All-American since Christian Wilkins’ unanimous All-America sweep in 2018, and he was the only player in America in 2025 to record multiple games with both a sack and a rushing touchdown. He earned freshman All-American honors in 2023, and he was also a first-team All-ACC selection by the league, the AP and Phil Steele in 2025.