Now that they have played their last game of the season, the team has some decisions to make. Analyzing the Carolina Panthers’ free agents allows the readers the opportunity to not only find out who will be in that pool, but why they should or shouldn’t get the deal so many players try to get when the time comes.
Analyzing Carolina Panthers Free Agents
There are currently 17 unrestricted Carlina Panthers free agents this offseason. Some notable players include wide receiver, Curtis Samuel, running back, Mike Davis, long snapper, J.J. Jansen, and tackle, Taylor Moton. Of the names mentioned, there are some guys that, should the Panthers want to sustain for the next few years, they should consider signing. Below, I’ll list a few.
Curtis Samuel
Analyzing the Carolina Panthers free agents, we have to take a long look at Samuel. A player that has been with the team for four years now and that seems to have found his role. He had two more touchdowns last season than he did this season but had 106 more yards this season. I think it was the fact that at points, he was utilized as a running back as well which benefited him more. He fit in well with D.J. Moore and Robby Anderson as the Panthers’ premier receiving corp–all three combining for 3,377 total yards on offense.
Samuel is valuable to this team, no doubt about it. To keep him in Charlotte, the Panthers will most likely have to be willing to match or come close to his new asking price, or at the very least try to place the franchise tag on him for the year.
The Panthers are in a predicament though, with trying to keep him and pay Moton a considerable amount of money to protect the edge for them, according to Cat Crave‘s Dean Jones. One of his likely destinations might have been the Houston Texans two months ago when Jones’ article came out but with Deshaun Watson being on the fence about staying or going so going with the Indianapolis Colts or staying with the Panthers are better options.
Taylor Moton
Speaking of Moton, he’s amassed some stats of his own starting all 16 games of three of his four seasons with the Panthers. He was also in 100 percent of the offensive snaps in 2018 and 2020; 99 percent in 2019. As an offensive lineman, those sort of numbers is vital to a team–especially the Panthers.
Not to mention, Moton has accounted for five or fewer penalties over his career with this team. Not only is he dependable to his team but he causes the least amount of frustration with penalties. The Panthers desperately need that sort of stability on their team right now. They will probably pay him a substantial amount of money for his services which again, leaves questions about Samuel.
Tahir Whitehead
There isn’t much to talk about the defense when analyzing Carolina Panthers free agents. Outside of Jeremy Chinn, Brian Burns, and Shaq Thompson, there were only flashes from the rest of that side of the ball. Whitehead was one of those flashes. He had very minimal success during the season whether it be due to a lack of an offseason or something else.
His solo quarterback hit that came in Week 6 against the Chicago Bears was the most exciting deed outside of the one interception he had against the Washington Football Team at the end of the season. Of all the people sitting on the free agency list, I don’t see him as a top priority of people to keep. The Panthers might think about using that eighth-overall pick to put someone on the field with Thomspon and Burns.
Mike Davis
Going back to the offensive side of the ball and analyzing the Carolina Panthers free agents, Davis is another player perhaps to look at. His presence over the 12 games he started didn’t produce huge numbers but during those games, he scored six touchdowns and carried the ball for 638 yards over 163 rushing attempts.
There was a time when people thought Christian McCaffrey would be with the Panthers for a long time but with the recent indications that Deshaun Watson could be going to another team, the consensus seems to be that he should be the one getting traded. Knowing that means that the Panthers should think about the backfield some and try to sign Davis. They wouldn’t have to pay him a ton of money and works really hard.
Analyzing Carolina Panthers Free Agents
Where the Panthers need work and how they spend their free agency remains to be seen. The most important thing that the new general manager, Scott Fitterer, should address in his new role starts with the offensive line.
David Tepper along with Fitterer has some interesting decisions to make over the next few months before the draft coming up on April 29. The offensive line should be their main focus so let’s see how Tepper and the gang handle their offseason moves.
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