We’re counting down the days until the Panthers open up the 2025 season!
There are 71 days left of offseason that separate us from the first day of the 2025 regular season for the Carolina Panthers. That means today’s countdown post is dedicated to the men who donned the #71 jersey for the Panthers. The man wearing it today is offensive lineman Michael Tarquin.
It’s hard to find much on Tarquin. All I know is he played college football for six seasons between Florida, USC, and Oklahoma while starting most of those games. He didn’t get drafted in the 2025 NFL Draft and was promptly signed for the Panthers. That’s all I got.
The number hasn’t meant much to anyone throughout the entire existence of the Panthers franchise. Defensive tackle Greg Kragen had some success in it during the organization’s first three years of play. After that, it had been given to a couple of decent offensive linemen in early the 2000s—Matt Willig and Evan Mathis (who went on to eventually be dominant in Philadelphia several years later). It hasn’t been worn by a player of consequence since 2007.
Tarquin will try to join the ranks of rotational offensive linemen that wore the number 71 for the Panthers, but he has a mountain to climb since the team actually has some depth along the offensive front for once.