The Carolina Panthers may have built enough tackle depth to feel comfortable in March. By Tuesday, that comfort was gone.
A pair of injuries has pushed a former Las Vegas Raiders lineman, Stone Forsythe, back into the kind of role nobody wanted him to have. What looked like a depth signing is suddenly a real possibility to matter, because Carolina is now down both of its starting tackles.
Left tackle Ikem Ekwonu ruptured his patellar tendon in the Panthers’ playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams, which is why Carolina invested in three tackles this offseason. Then came the bigger hit: NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe reported that right tackle Taylor Moton is receiving treatment for blood clots and will be placed on the non-football injury list when training camp opens. The expectation is that Moton will miss the start of the season, though the hope is that he can return at some point in 2026.
That’s the football side of it, and it leaves Carolina leaning on a rookie and a veteran who was supposed to be more of an afterthought. Rasheed Walker and Monroe Freeling were brought in to help stabilize things, but now Forsythe is the next man up if the Panthers get hit again.
Raiders fans know that name well, and not for good reasons.
Las Vegas brought Forsythe in under Pete Carroll, and when Kolton Miller went down with an injury in Week 4 of the 2025 season, Forsythe became the replacement at left tackle. What followed was a rough stretch that made the Raiders’ offensive line even harder to watch.
Forsythe led the NFL in sacks allowed with 11, and he was tied for 15th in total pressures allowed with 41. He also graded out as a below-average run blocker.
It was a brutal year in a line unit that was already struggling, and Forsythe stood out for all the wrong reasons.
So it makes sense that Dave Canales took a shot on him. Canales has a Carroll connection and spent two years in the Seattle Seahawks’ building with Forsythe in 2021 and 2022. But if Carolina has any memory of what Forsythe looked like last season, the Panthers know exactly how thin their margin is.
The scary part is how quickly this changed. Forsythe was easy to view as a roster filler not long ago. Now, with Ekwonu out and Moton sidelined, he’s one snap away from being asked to play a meaningful role.
Raider Nation has already seen how that movie ends.
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