With a newfound belief in Bryce Young, the Carolina Panthers enter the 2025 NFL offseason with the most optimism they have had in years. The 2025 season will be crucial for the development of both Young and the Panthers, putting general manager Dan Morgan in a sink-or-swim position.
Despite building a mostly young core, Morgan does not have much cap space in the 2025 NFL offseason. Carolina is expected to have just $20 million in available room, the 14th-fewest in the league. That puts them in an undesirable position and likely one that forces the Panthers to turn to their list of cut candidates.
For the second straight offseason, the Panthers are tasked with finding Young an alpha receiver. Diontae Johnson was believed to be the answer in 2024, but disastrously ended his tenure within just a handful of weeks. With the way Young ended his second season, one would figure Carolina would have a better chance of finding a viable solution to its long-standing issue.
Wideout is not their only need, as the Panthers’ defense continues to leak yardage on the ground. Carolina ranked bottom 10 against the rush and generating pressure, leading to some of the worst numbers in the league. D.J. Wonnum, Jaycee Horn and Josey Jewell give the team a place to start, but it will take more than one move to address the problem.
With a lot of room for improvement, the Panthers have many potential areas to start with in the 2025 NFL offseason. To make room for such transactions, Carolina will need to begin internally by releasing a portion of its veteran contracts.
RB Miles Sanders
Sanders has been one of the Panthers’ top cut candidates since they drafted Jonathon Brooks with their second-round pick in 2024. The situation only got worse for him in 2024 as he fell further behind Chuba Hubbard, cementing himself as the most expensive third-string running back in the NFL.
Two years into his massive $25 million contract, Sanders is still owed roughly $12.7 million over the next two seasons. That gives him the 15th-highest annual salary in the league, with Hubbard’s $8.3 million annual salary the 10th most. Their combined $14.6 annual salaries are far too high for a team still currently working on a rebuild.
Sanders, who will turn 28 in May, would be on the roster bubble for his inefficiency alone if his contract was not a factor. In his two years with the Panthers, he has yet to even breach 4.0 yards per carry, averaging 3.3 and 3.7 yards per attempt in 2023 and 2024, respectively. In that span, he has just 637 total rushing yards in 28 games.
Once Brooks returns, he will be coming back from his second significant injury in as many years. He is still young and gushing with talent, but the injury concerns are eminent, while Carolina cannot be confident in his return form. Either way, there is no need for the Panthers to pay Sanders for even one more week of service.
DE JaDeveon Clowney
Eleven years into his NFL career, JaDeveon Clowney still has a lot left in the tank. The main issue for him seems to be his fit in defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero’s system and status on the roster with a host of young talent around him.
In 2024, Clowney managed 5.5 sacks, a decrease from the 9.5 he recorded in 2023. While a modest number, he was unable to build on his career-best production the year before. Regardless, he still tied veteran defensive end A’Shawn Robinson for the team lead in sacks. Without longtime linebacker Brian Burns, the Panthers struggled as a unit to generate pressure with just 100 pressures and 32 sacks as a team.
While Clowney led the pass-rush unit, his production was still not enough to warrant his $10 million annual paycheck. Should the Panthers release Clowney, DJ Johnson and Jacoby Windman are right behind him to potentially fill the void. Neither would be as efficient off the bat, but the gap would not be very noticeable.
DT Shy Tuttle
Although their individual statistics all looked competent on paper, none of the Panthers’ front seven can be guaranteed to return. The unit was cohesively one of the worst positional groups in 2024, allowing the most rushing yards in the league with the fourth-fewest sacks. The veteran corps failed to gel under Evero, consistently contributing to nearly every one of the team’s losses.
Ahead of the final year of his contract, Tuttle is the biggest liability of the group. Despite posting similar numbers compared to the rest of his career, Tuttle is being paid like a game-changing nose tackle. The Panthers’ defensive numbers clearly indicate that has not been the case.
In 2024, Tuttle had 46 tackles in 15 games. He failed to record a sack, but affected three passes at the line. While respectable numbers, he is not the run-stuffer in the middle of the defense that Evero hoped he would be. Should he remain on the roster, Tuttle will be owed the remaining $6.5 million of the initial $18.5 million he agreed to in 2023.
While Tuttle is a veteran of the league, he just wrapped up his second season in Carolina. He is not the respected captain that Derrick Brown is, nor can he match the youth of LaBryan Ray or Deshawn Williams. Ray, in particular, is a player Canales wants to see more of in 2025 following his second-year breakout in 2024. Given the current state of the Panthers, everything adds up to Tuttle becoming one of the Panthers’ top cut candidates in the 2025 NFL offseason.
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