We’re counting down the days until the Panthers open up the 2025 season!
In this series, we’ll be counting down until opening kickoff by running through the Panthers roster by jersey number. Today’s piece looks at No. 62 for the Carolina Panthers, guard Chandler Zavala.
Before the Panthers
While most players that stick in the NFL hail from Power Four college football powerhouses, Chandler Zavala’s path to the pros started in relative obscurity. The 6-foot-3, 322 pounder spent his first four college seasons from 2017-2020 at Fairmont State where he twice was named First Team All-MEC.
His dominance at a smaller school led to him transferring to NC State for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. He was named First Team All-ACC during his final season with the Wolfpack. While he wasn’t selected to participate in the NFL Combine, the NFL’s draft projection website labeled him as a player with the potential to become an average starter.
His time with the Panthers
The Panthers selected Zavala in 2023 in the fourth round of the NFL Draft. Through two seasons he has appeared in 27 games with nine starts, which is solid production for a mid-round draft pick. In all, he has played 572 offensive snaps in his brief career, making him a more important piece to the offensive line than many Panthers fans realize.
Zavala’s path to playing time decreased significantly last year after the Panthers invested a boatload of money in starting guards Damien Lewis and Robert Hunt, and the duo performed well in 2024. Lewis and Hunt will start for the foreseeable future, making Zavala a backup at guard alongside versatile veteran Brady Christensen.
But even as a backup who plays spot duty and special teams, Zavala is still a bargain. As a fourth round pick entering Year 3 of his four-year rookie contract, his cap hit for 2024 is just $1.2 million. His 2026 cap hit rises to just $1.3 million.
Chandler Zavala might not be a star, but the Panthers are getting exactly what they should have wanted and reasonably expected from a young, mid-round pick.