Cat Scratch Reader
The Panthers are in good shape as they turn towards the draft
The Carolina Panthers entered the 2025 Free Agency period with a moderate amount of cap space, about $42M by some estimates, and long, long list of needs. The NFL’s All-Time worst defense needed to be completely overhauled and Bryce Young was in need of some added talent to throw towards. Fast forward a few weeks and the defense has been upgraded from top to bottom and Young, well, could still use some more talent. That said, the Panthers have signed about $51M in new contracts in the last two weeks, just in terms of 2025 cap hits, and are still estimated to have about $15M in cap space remaining.
The magic of restructures, pay cuts, and extensions has allowed the Panthers new front office, helmed by general manager Dan Morgan and executive vice president of football operations Brandt Tilis, to play some serious chess this year. The salary cap has always been somewhat flexible, but bringing on that many new contracts while still having enough rough to make some big plays is impressive.
Couple that with the fact that none of the contracts signed this year placed a new player in the top ten of the team’s cap hits. Trevon Moehrig has the highest hit of any new signing so far, and his $7.2M cap number for 2025 is only the 13th highest on the team.
Free Agency is often analyzed through the lens of the “bad teams tax.” The idea is that teams with poor track records, like the Panthers, have to overpay to attract talent. This is a phenomenon that certainly exists, but is also one that the Panthers have managed to balance this year. Their free agency class certainly speaks to a philosophy of upgrading talent and depth without breaking the bank.
This is a longer term game, setting the team up for greater success a year or two down the road. It may not be the sexiest strategy for this upcoming season of football, but it is a prudent strategy nonetheless. The Panthers roster was in rough shape. There is no better indication of that than the fact that, of the team’s 21 unrestricted free agents entering this offseason, only seven found homes with other teams. Six were re-signed by the Panthers, and the remaining guys still haven’t landed.
I’d call that a successful free agency for the Panthers, but we also want to hear how you feel about how the team navigated this year’s market. Scroll on down to the comments to let us know your feelings on the bad team tax, compensatory draft picks, and the lack of top end wide receivers this year.
