The Carolina Panthers are back on the field soon enough, with rookies set to report Tuesday and veterans arriving the next day. For Dave Canales, it’s another chance to keep building on a team that went from 2-15 in 2024 to 5-12, then added three more wins this past season. Carolina still hasn’t finished above .500 since 2017, but the franchise’s direction looks better than it has in a while.
A big reason for that is Dan Morgan. Since taking over as president of football operations/general manager, the former Panthers linebacker has been aggressive in reshaping the roster, and this offseason was no different.
Morgan’s headline additions came in free agency, where he spent big on pass-rusher Jaelan Phillips and 2025 Pro Bowl linebacker Devin Lloyd. Phillips got four years and $120 million after a 2025 season split between the Dolphins and Eagles, where he appeared in 18 combined games including the playoffs.
That followed a stretch in Miami in which he missed 22 games from 2023-24. He now joins Nic Scourton as part of a pass-rushing duo that could keep getting better as the season goes on.
Lloyd brings a different kind of impact. The versatile linebacker did a little bit of everything for the eventual AFC South champions and was tied for second in the league with five interceptions.
But the move that stands out as the best offseason addition is second-round pick Lee Hunter. At 6-foot-3 1/2 and 318 pounds, the Texas Tech defensive lineman brings size and edge, and Carolina needs that kind of force up front.
The Panthers were last in the NFL against the run in 2024, allowing 179.8 rushing yards per game, and that number dropped to 123.3 yards per game this past season. Even so, Ejiro Evero’s defense had trouble holding up against the run in the second half of 2025.
Hunter, alongside veteran Derrick Brown, should help ease the burden on the front seven.
Morgan also made a notable move last offseason in the secondary, signing Tre’von Moehrig away from the Raiders. Moehrig finished third on the team in defensive stops and helped the run defense, and Morgan followed that by using a fourth-round pick on Ohio State safety Lathan Ransom.
The question mark among the offseason moves is Scott. He started all 17 games and the playoffs for Canales’s team this past season and finished second on the roster with 109 tackles, including nine stops in the playoff loss to the Rams. Still, he has not made many splash plays in Charlotte, with just two takeaways in 28 games, including playoffs, since arriving in 2024.
Scott signed a one-year deal to return this offseason, but training camp will be worth watching closely, especially with rookie Zakee Wheatley, a fifth-round pick from Penn State, waiting in the wings.
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Why Jeremy Chinn Still Frustrates Panthers Fans Years Later
Jeremy Chinn arrived in Carolina as a second-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and quickly looked like the kind of defensive building block the Panthers had been searching for. He started most of his games over three seasons, piled up significant production and gave the defense a playmaking edge that made him easy to notice, especially for a fan base that still remembers how much promise he flashed early in his career.
The frustration came later, when coaching changes and scheme shifts changed his role and his time on the field. By the time he left in 2024, the Panthers had already watched a player who once seemed central to their future move on, and he has since kept starting elsewhere, first in Washington and then with the Raiders. For Carolina, he remains one of those reminders of how quickly a young standout can go from cornerstone to what might have been. [Read more 🡒]
Brady Christensens Panthers Return Feels Like A Big Camp Reunion
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Christensen was drafted by the Panthers in 2021 and became a full-time starter at left guard in 2022, so this is not a fresh introduction so much as a reunion. His versatility gives Carolina some flexibility up front, and the timing of the move only adds to the sense that the Panthers wanted one more known commodity in place as camp opens and the competition begins. [Read more 🡒]
Monroe Freeling Suddenly Has A Massive Chance Panthers Fans Didn't Expect
With rookies reporting to training camp Tuesday and veterans following a day later, the Panthers are about to get a first real look at how their reshaped offensive line might settle. Carolina has already taken steps to address the group by signing Rasheed Walker and adding Monroe Freeling in the first round, and the expectation is that the line jobs will be earned rather than handed out once camp gets rolling.
Freeling arrives with a clearer path than most first-year linemen usually get, especially with the left tackle picture suddenly in flux. The Panthers still have competition brewing across the interior, too, with Luke Fortner and Sam Hecht in the mix at center and Brady Christensen back in the conversation, so the next few weeks should reveal whether Carolinas plan is to lean on the rookie sooner than expected or let the battle play out deeper into camp. [Read more 🡒]