The Carolina Panthers are entering a critical offseason in which they must take the necessary steps to reach the next level of their rebuild.
The Panthers showed serious signs of progression during the second half of 2024, meaning that they are now closer than you may think to legitimately contending in the weak NFC South.
As a result, Carolina needs to start assembling the proper roster, making the necessary moves to fill clear holes rather than just going best player available. That also means the Panthers will have to open some available money.
Right now, Carolina has a tick under $30 million in cap space heading into free agency. That’s an alright chunk of money, but it isn’t great. In fact, the Panthers rank just 20th in the NFL in cap room.
Given all of the needs Carolina has, it would strongly behoove the Panthers to clear some cash, and that means they will have to make some difficult decisions.
That could include trading Jadeveon Clowney.
Carolina signed Clowney to a two-year deal last offseason, hoping that the former No. 1 overall pick would help soften the blow of losing fellow edge rusher Brian Burns. But it really didn’t, as Clowney managed just 5.5 sacks in 2024.
The Panthers would save around $8 million if they trade the 32-year-old, which could mean an awful lot when it comes to adding another star player. Carolina could also take some of that money and put it toward a younger, more effective pass rusher.
Clowney probably wouldn’t be worth a whole lot on the trade market, especially because he is now widely viewed as an overrated player. An impactful one for sure, but definitely not as advertised. Heck, he’s never even logged double-digit sacks in any one individual campaign since entering the league back in 2014.
Perhaps the Panthers could extract an early Day 3 pick out of Clowney, who would definitely still have some value to a contender in need of another pass rusher. But really, the main objective here is to create some financial wiggle room to increase Carolina’s opportunities in the coming weeks.
The Panthers may be left with no choice to move Clowney.