The Carolina Panthers have spent the last few seasons chasing a pass rush that just hasn’t shown up often enough, and now they’re staring at another setback before the 2026 season even gets going.
Nic Scourton is done for the year after tearing his ACL on the first day of training camp. That’s a crushing blow for a team that was banking on Scourton and expensive newcomer Jaelan Phillips to give it a real edge presence. Instead, Carolina has to pivot fast.
The Panthers’ issues here are not new. Since 2023, under coordinator Ejiro Evero, they’ve managed only 89 sacks, the fewest in the NFL. Back in Evero’s first season as defensive coordinator, they finished with just 27 sacks, also last in the league.
Dan Morgan has tried to fix the problem. In 2024, his first year as president of football operations/general manager, Carolina added Jadeveon Clowney, A’Shawn Robinson and D.J.
Wonnum in free agency. Clowney and Robinson led the team with 5.5 sacks apiece, while Wonnum added 4.0.
The Panthers improved to 32 sacks, but that still left them tied for the third-fewest in the league.
Last offseason brought more help. Patrick Jones II arrived from Minnesota, while Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen came in through the draft.
Jones was limited to four games because of injuries, but Scourton kept getting better each week and finished tied with Derrick Brown for the team lead with five sacks. Even then, Carolina’s 30 sacks again ranked tied for third-fewest in the NFL.
Now Scourton is out, and the attention turns to who can pick up the slack.
One name already standing out is Princely Umanmielen. Phillips calls him the best natural pass rusher on the team.
Umanmielen played in 16 regular-season games as a rookie, plus the playoff matchup with the Los Angeles Rams. He finished the regular season with 20 tackles, including two for loss, 1.5 sacks, four quarterback hits and a forced fumble. He also chipped in on special teams with four tackles and a fumble recovery.
At 6-foot-4 and 244 pounds, he logged only 222 defensive snaps in 2025, which was 22 percent of the workload, but that number should climb this season. His college résumé suggests there’s more in there too: in five seasons between Florida and Ole Miss, he piled up 38.0 sacks and four forced fumbles in 57 games, including 13.5 sacks in his lone year with the Rebels.
Umanmielen also flashed at FanFest, where he was one of several Panthers defensive linemen who stood out.
The Panthers did bring back Cam Gill, who appeared in 10 games for the team in 2024. Devin Lloyd is another free-agent addition with pass-rushing ability. And with Jones back in the mix and Phillips healthy, Carolina still has pieces to work with.
But after Scourton’s injury, the path forward is clearer than ever: the Panthers may need Umanmielen to take a real step and help carry a defense that badly needs a pass rush.
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