A look at the stars who could be extended to help the team
The Carolina Panthers are entering the 2025 season with approximately $250M in cap liabilities against a $272M salary cap. That leaves them with just shy of $21M in cap space at the moment. Based on future cap projections, they are currently working with about $150M in space in 2026 and $222M in space in 2027.
Half of the Panthers current liabilities are eaten up by their seven most expensive players. $123M of their cap is accounted for by the contracts of Taylor Moton, Robert Hunt, Derrick Brown, Damien Lewis, Jadaveon Clowney, Jaycee Horn, and Bryce Young. With holes all over, plenty of cap space in the future, and few players signed beyond this season, Carolina is likely to extend a few contracts to open up their 2025 team building options. Today we’re taking a look at the team’s right tackle: Moton
Robert Hunt’s 2025 cap hit: $21,650,000
Damien Lewis’ 2025 cap hit: $14,570,00
While Taylor Moton‘s contract offers some obvious room to work with for the Panthers front office, the combined $36M hit for their starting guards simply is what it is.
Both players are entering the second years of their respective deals and earned every penny last season while protecting Bryce Young as he developed into, and I do say this while crossing everything I’ve got, a franchise quarterback.
Hunt signed a 5-year, $100M deal last season with $44M fully guaranteed. Lewis signed a 4-year, $53M deal in the same free agency period with $26M guaranteed.
This team building strategy closely follows how the New Orleans Saints built their offensive line for Drew Brees. It looks like this is just the cost of doing business for the Carolina Panthers for the foreseeable future.