We’re counting down the days until the Panthers open up the 2025 season!
There are 41 days until the first game of the 2025 season for the Carolina Panthers. Today, we’re taking a closer look at the the player currently wearing the No. 41 jersey — linebacker Jacoby Windmon.
Windmon’s time before Carolina
The 6-foot-2, 250-pound linebacker began his college spending three seasons at UNLV that culminated in a solid 2021 campaign in which he racked up 118 tackles and 6.5 sacks. Not surprisingly, big-time football powerhouses came calling and he made the jump from the Mountain West to the Big Ten by signing with Michigan State. In two years with the Spartans he appeared in just 11 games with 64 tackles and a healthy 6.5 sacks.
Windmon went undrafted in 2024 and signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted rookie free agent. The Steelers saw enough from him in last year’s camp that the team ultimately signed him to their practice squad.
As the 2024 season progressed, the Panthers suffered a rash of injuries to their linebackers and in October they poached Windmon from the Steelers, placing him on Carolina’s 53-man roster.
Windmon’s fairly impressive 2024 rookie season
After joining the Panthers mid-season last year, Windmon made his debut in Week 7. Between Week 7 and Week 15 he appeared in five games, playing almost exclusively on special teams.
In Week 16 Windmon earned the first start of his rookie season and played 53 defensive snaps against the Arizona Cardinals, registering eight tackles, one sack, and a pass defended.
In Week 17 he started again and racked up an impressive 10 tackles with half a sack against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He closed the season out playing six defensive snaps in Week 18.
In all, he had an impressive rookie season given how relatively little he played. In just 127 defensive snaps he put up 22 tackles and 1.5 sacks, which is a more than successful rookie campaign for an undrafted free agent who joined his new team in the middle of the season.
With another solid summer, he should be in line to make the Panthers two-deep roster in 2025.