The Carolina Panthers didn’t just spend to make noise in free agency - they spent to reshape the defense, and one of their new additions is already drawing breakout buzz for 2026.
Jaelan Phillips grabbed the headlines when Carolina handed him the most lucrative contract in franchise history last March, but it’s linebacker Devin Lloyd who is being pointed to as a possible difference-maker for the Panthers next season. Joe Person of The Athletic tabbed Lloyd as Carolina’s breakout candidate, and the case starts with what he did in Jacksonville.
Lloyd arrives on a three-year, $45 million deal that could look like a bargain if he carries over the form he showed in 2025. Person noted that Lloyd “made plays at every level of Jacksonville’s defense, averaging 109 tackles while collecting nine interceptions, including a career-high five in ‘25.” He also added that Lloyd “showed he could be disruptive as a blitzer, something the Panthers have lacked at the inside linebacker spot since Ejiro Evero took over as defensive coordinator.”
That kind of production is exactly why Carolina targeted him. The Panthers are coming off a strong year by recent standards, winning the NFC South and reaching the playoffs in 2025. But the record told the other side of the story: they finished 8-9 and got in through tiebreakers before falling to the Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card round.
That leaves plenty of room for growth in 2026, and the Panthers clearly spent the offseason trying to address it on defense. Derrick Brown remains the centerpiece, but Carolina needed more playmakers, especially when it comes to pressure and blitz packages. Phillips and Lloyd both fit that need, and Lloyd’s blend of tackling, ball production and blitz ability gives the Panthers another weapon in a unit that wants to be more disruptive this season.
Lloyd is coming off a Pro Bowl season in 2025, and if he brings that level of play to Carolina, the Panthers may have landed one of the better value additions of the offseason.
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The real question now is whether the front can finally change the tone of games. ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky pointed to Evero as a major reason for optimism and said the edge rush has to take a step for the defense to reach another tier, which matters because Carolinas pressure problems last season were impossible to ignore. If that part of the roster comes together, the Panthers could go from merely improved to something much more dangerous. [Read more 🡒]
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That matters because Carolina is trying to build toward a playoff push, not tear things down and start over at quarterback. With the roster constructed the way it is and no easy path to a clean reset, the Panthers are stuck weighing Youngs future against a market that does not appear to offer much relief. [Read more 🡒]