Sportsnaut
After allowing more points than any other NFL team in league history in 2024, the Carolina Panthers had some extra work to do this offseason. Yet, as a former Pro Bowl linebacker, Panthers general manager Dan Morgan knew his roster was in rough shape.
The Panthers did make several free agency additions to the defensive line, the linebacker unit, and the secondary. They also invested third, fourth, and fifth-round picks into defensive players. Still, the Panthers evidently felt that wasn’t quite enough, not when there’s a possibility of adding an All-Pro player.
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Panthers actually inquired about trading for now-Green Bay Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons when he was still a member of the Dallas Cowboys. However, unlike the Packers, who were ready to strike quickly, the Panthers never actually presented a trade offer to the Cowboys.
Thus, the rest is history. The Packers promptly got Parsons, a two-time All-Pro talent, signed to a four-year contract worth roughly $188 million. Could the Panthers have struck a similar deal?
Who knows whether they would have been willing to part with two first-round picks, plus a former Pro Bowl player like Kenny Clark. However, it’s hard not to dream about the possibility of adding Parsons to this Panthers team. Could he have single-handedly made the Panthers into an above-average defense? At this point, we’ll never know.
One might say you can’t fault the Panthers for trying, yet by not making an offer, did they really? Perhaps they caught early winds of the Cowboys’ asking price and quickly determined they just weren’t willing to meet the cost demands, knowing their draft picks will likely be much more valuable than the ones the Packers parted with.
Plus, with the Packers expected to make the playoffs and the Panthers not (at least not without Parsons), Carolina may have had to kick in even more trade compensation to get the Cowboys to say yes. In other words, perhaps the Panthers were never really in the running, despite their interest in the two-time All-Pro.
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