The Carolina Panthers entered free agency with a clear goal: make life as easy as possible for Bryce Young. Following a rookie season where the Alabama product never had a true chance to succeed, the Panthers spent big on guards, traded for Diontae Johnson, and reinforced the defense with a few depth signings. While they’re not going to compete for a Lombardi Trophy any time soon, the Panthers did enough to earn a higher free agency grade than what the fine folks at PFF handed out.
In a recent article, Brad Spielberger assigned a grade for every single team in free agency, and the Panthers came away with a C+. This is somewhat surprising, as the Panthers did reasonably well with the resources available to them.
PFF Gives Panthers A C+ Free Agency Grade
The Article
Spielberger begins his analysis by talking about the biggest addition to the team: former Miami Dolphins guard Robert Hunt. Singed to a major deal, the PFF analyst seems to believe that this massive contract was justified for such an impressive player.
Hunt becomes the fourth guard in the NFL to reach the $20 million per year mark, with the position market exploding this offseason as a response to the interior defender market doing the same for the second year running. Carolina needs to protect quarterback Bryce Young at all costs, and this is a good first step.
Following a similar assessment of the Damien Lewis contract, Spielberger turned his attention to the defense. Like most others, the NFL analyst believes the Panthers overpaid for solid talent, which likely had an impact on the unremarkable free agency grade. However, he does acknowledge that Carolina’s defensive interior is one to be feared, as the duo of Derrick Brown and A’Shawn Robinson should be one of the best run-stuffing tandems in the league.
Why Did the Panthers Receive the Low Free Agency Grade?
Spielberger spends the article focusing on the positive additions to the team, so we have to guess as to why the Panthers received a C+ grade for their moves in free agency. The most likely culprit is the Brian Burns trade.
After refusing to deal their homegrown pass rusher for greater returns in the past, Carolina had to settle for a second- and fifth-round pick. This is objectively bad business, as they should have traded him years ago. However, the fault for this lies not with current general manager Dan Morgan, but with former general manager Scott Fitterer.
Seeing as Morgan only took over after the 2023 season, we have no way of knowing if he would’ve pulled the trigger on previous Brian Burns trade offers. While it would have been nice to get a first-round pick for Burns, at the end of the day, the team had no leverage in any sort of trade talks by the time Morgan was running the show. Additionally, as of this posting, the Panthers have to find a reliable replacement for Burns, which probably impacts the underwhelming free agency grade.
The Panthers low free agency grade could also stem from the fact that this team is still not likely to make the playoffs. While that is true, you can’t hold that against Morgan. Carolina had the worst roster in the league last year and didn’t have that much money entering free agency. There was no way for this organization to build a complete team, so they decided to use their limited resources to give Bryce Young a fighting chance in 2024.
While the subpar return for Brian Burns and the relative overspending on defenders should keep the Panthers from getting an A+, the C+ free agency grade they received is far too low.
Main Photo: Bob Donnan – USA Today Sports
