Three thoughts on Carolina Panthers standing pat at 2023 NFL trade deadline
The NFL trade deadline came and went Tuesday without any action coming from Bank of America Stadium.
The Carolina Panthers, who are 1-6 to begin the Frank Reich era, decided to stand pat with their current roster, as the organization chose not to trade for new players or ship off incumbent ones.
The team will now focus on trying to salvage its season with 10 games remaining on the schedule.
Here are three thoughts on the Panthers’ decision to stay static ahead of the trade deadline:
Carolina was right to not give up assets
While the Panthers could definitely use wide receiver help on offense and front-seven reinforcements on defense, they ultimately decided to avoid trading long-term, cost-controlled assets for aging players with short-term outlooks.
The Washington Commanders made a pair of notable pass rusher trades on Tuesday. Washington sent Montez Sweat to the Chicago Bears for a 2024 second-round pick. The franchise also traded Chase Young to the San Francisco 49ers for a third-round pick. The wideout trade market was essentially non-existent outside of a minor trade with the Cleveland Browns sending Donovan Peoples-Jones to the Detroit Lions for a 2025 sixth-round pick.
The Panthers are a bad team right now. Their outlook this season received a glimmer of hope on Sunday with the 15-13 win against the Houston Texans, but they aren’t in a position to immediately compete, even as the NFC South looks like the laughingstock division of the NFL.
With uncertainty seemingly hovering over the front office and coaching staff after a lame start, gambling with future picks would only make the Panthers an even bigger mess to figure out next offseason.
Trading for someone like Sweat or Young, when the Panthers haven’t paid Pro Bowl pass rusher and homegrown talent Brian Burns yet, might have led to more problems than solutions. Both pass rushers are in contract years, and so far, they’ve been either more productive (Sweat) or equally productive (Chase) compared to Burns. Having to negotiate with two top-tier pass rushers, especially as Burns and the team already don’t see eye to eye on a contract extension, would be a tough task for the front office’s long-term outlook.
At wide receiver, there just wasn’t a cost-effective way to upgrade that unit. The Broncos didn’t trade Jerry Jeudy or Courtland Sutton and the Las Vegas Raiders didn’t trade Davante Adams or Hunter Renfrow, and most of the league followed suit. Of those four players, only Adams would have made a substantial difference, and Las Vegas was clearly not inclined to deal him away, despite his visible frustration during Monday’s loss to the Lions.
The Panthers have an unclear future at the top. Few gambles from this offseason have yielded successful gains, and the coaching staff was supposed to be a dream team of teachers. At 1-6, it’s time for Carolina to take its medicine.
If Carolina turns things around and makes some legitimate progress this season, the Panthers can go into the offseason with most of their resources intact. If they falter, the Panthers can keep some semblance of normalcy and appeal — beyond the missing first-round pick — for whoever potentially has to clean up the squad’s mess.
Panthers likely to have a light draft haul (again) in 2024
The Panthers will have just six draft picks heading into next offseason after cultivating a five-member draft class this year.
The team traded away its 2024 first-round pick in the blockbuster deal to gain the No. 1 overall selection in March. That deal helped the Panthers land rookie quarterback Bryce Young. And the cost of that swap will impact the team’s ability to supplement the roster with young, cheap talent, especially at the top of the depth chart.
The team held tight with Burns, which — after seeing the returns for Sweat and Young — makes sense. The Los Angeles Rams’ 2022 offer — two first-round picks and more — or anything remotely similar to it has fallen by the wayside for Burns. The Panthers and Burns will likely wait until the offseason to figure out their future together, as the squad has the franchise tag in its back pocket.
Burns has had a solid season, but he isn’t playing at a market-setting level. He has five sacks in seven games, which ties him with seven others for the 21st ranking in that category. He has half the sacks of league leader Danielle Hunter (10), who also wasn’t traded, despite being in the final year of his contract.
Six players in total have eight or more sacks so far this season, further diminishing Burns’ negotiating power. Nick Bosa, who signed a market-setting contract ahead of Week 1, has two less sacks than Burns (three), but he also has a league-leading 19 QB hits compared to Burns’ 10 in that category. At this point, it’s probably best for all parties to take a deep breath and revisit the negotiations next offseason.
The Panthers also didn’t trade wideout Terrace Marshall or cornerback Donte Jackson. Marshall was granted the opportunity to seek out a trade, but clearly the interest — at least from a return standpoint — wasn’t to Carolina’s liking. Jackson, who had an appealing salary for this season, apparently also couldn’t garner enough of a return to deal him.
So, the Panthers will need to revisit trades in the offseason if they want to add to their draft haul in the future. They’ll also need to figure out what to do with some of the free-agent gambles that haven’t worked out so far. Tight end Hayden Hurst and running back Miles Sanders remain on the roster, and it’s on the coaching staff to turn their respective campaigns around.
Marshall, who made it clear he wanted a bigger role, will be an interesting player to watch, as he had just four snaps against Houston, despite being third on the team in catches.
The next month will probably define the season
The Panthers got a win in Week 8. They’ll need to build on that victory to gain any semblance of success this season, especially as they prepare to face off against much weaker competition compared to the first six weeks of the campaign.
The Panthers will host the Indianapolis Colts without rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson (shoulder) on Sunday. While the Colts have been among the top scoring teams in the league, backup quarterback Gardner Minshew is prone to making poor decisions and bad throws that lead to turnovers. If the defense can build on its strong performance against Houston, the Panthers should be able to one-up Reich’s former team.
From there, the Panthers will hit the road for a Thursday Night Football matchup against the Bears. The Panthers obviously control the return value on their trade with the Bears, and a win would potentially push their original 2024 first-round pick, ever-so-slowly, down the pecking order of the draft. The Panthers have received plenty of deserved flak for their poor start and its impact on the blockbuster trade for No. 1 this year. Carolina will be tied to Chicago for a few years because of that trade, and a win could go a long way for the morale of those in the building and the fan base.
The Panthers will then face a tough test at home against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 11. But they’ll be able to rebound after a likely loss with a trip to Nashville to play the Tennessee Titans. While rookie quarterback Will Levis came out firing in a big win against the Atlanta Falcons last week, he didn’t have much tape out there for the opposing team to study. The Titans’ offense hasn’t played well throughout most of the season, and a strong showing from Young could help Carolina pick up a road win.
With realistic opportunities for wins in three of their next four games, the Panthers have the opportunity to improve the narrative on their seemingly lost season and bounce back from an awful start. That potential redemption could go a long way in establishing Reich and general manager Scott Fitterer’s long-term statuses as leaders of the franchise.
This story was originally published November 1, 2023 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Three thoughts on Carolina Panthers standing pat at 2023 NFL trade deadline."
