Cat Scratch Reader
At 5-4 and firmly in the hunt, for the moment, for a playoff berth, the 2025 Carolina Panthers are ahead of schedule. That makes the pressure of today’s 4:00 PM ET trade deadline all the more attractive. General manager Dan Morgan and head coach Dave Canales were hired to fix one of the worst teams in the NFL. It was viewed internally as a three year job, and we aren’t at the end of the second year yet. How much closer could they be to having a truly competitive team if they just ponied up some future assets to pick up that missing pass rusher right now?
The roster is much improved already from the bare, dusty cupboards left behind by former general manager Scott Fitterer. But it isn’t finished yet. The team still needs difference makers at quarterback, edge defender, inside linebacker, and, to a lesser degree, safety. Those needs are in the order of priority and in the order of cost, high to low. The Panthers two biggest needs are also the two costliest and hardest to find players in the league. The deadline can create a feeding frenzy amongst the top teams and a false sense of urgency that would just serve artificially inflate the trade prices of any players who would make a real impact for the Panthers.
The Philadelphia Eagles sent a third round pick yesterday to the Miami Dolphins for edge rusher Jaelan Phillips. Phillips would have been an instant starter for the Panthers but at the cost of a top 100 pick. Just this year, Morgan used two top 100 picks to bring in two promising young pass rushers that will be here and be cheap for years to come. The Panthers should remember that they are still early in their rebuild and not in win now mode. They should not take the idea of being ahead of schedule as license to also get ahead of their budget.
Being mildly competitive now is a promising sign that their strategy to be build a consistently competitive team may yet pay off. Of course, all of that goes out the window if there is great value to be had. A starter for a day three pick is a no-brainer. They shouldn’t pass up a reliable quarterback for literal peanuts. But those deals are unlikely to materialize.Their choice is to stay the course and win more later or follow the same organizational habits of previous leaders that got us into this mess in the first place. Seems obvious to me.
