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It doesn’t seem like the Carolina Panthers plan on being nice to Adam Thielen. Regardless, they need to focus on the draft ahead. And they also should sign these two sneaky-good free agents in the 2025 NFL offseason.
Yet another bad year got tacked onto the Panthers’ history as they finished 5-12 on the season. Quarterback Bryce Young showed a little spark down the stretch, but there’s still not a lot of hope for him becoming a franchise player at the critical position.
However, they could dance into the 2025 season with optimism if they could land a couple of key free agents.
In his fourth NFL season, Williams emerged as a player who could make a difference along the defensive line. He finished with five sacks despite playing limited snaps for the World Champions.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni spoke highly of Williams during the regular season, according to a team transcript on eagles.1rmg.com.
“Milton has done a really good job,” Siranni said. “He’s tough. He works hard. Good teammate. All the things that you want out of one of your players. Plays with good fundamentals. His fundamentals continue to get better.
“And Milton has seen that success because of how he works and the coaching that he’s getting from (assistant coach Clint) Hurtt. He … had a really nice game against the Rams. That being said, you can’t be great without the greatness of others.”
Williams thrived on a great defense. Would he able to produce in the same way for a defensive unit that counted on him to move the needle. That’s the question the Panthers have to answer. But he’s 25 years old, soon to be 26, and should have four or five more good years left in his NFL career.
Panthers head coach Dave Canales knows his defense must improve. The team gave up the most total points in NFL history at 534. But Canales decided to bring back much-maligned defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero for the upcoming season, according to a post on X by Joe Person.
“We have a lot of things to evaluate … into the offseason to reflect on our schemes … and personnel,” Canales said. “And to reflect on the guys we have here, going forward. So there’s a lot of really important conversations about all those factors.”
So reading between the lines, it seems Canales is saying Evero didn’t succeed because the team didn’t have the players it needed on the defensive side of the ball. Getting a guy like Williams could help smooth things over.
Carolina ranks No. 19 in available cap space, so it won’t be able to go whole hog on guys like Tee Higgins or Chris Godwin. Instead, the Panthers should set their sights on Hollwood Brown.
Ranked No. 36 on the Pro Football Focus list of free agents, Brown could still make a difference for the right team....
