Tag: Panthers Roster

Panthers officially cut K Graham Gano plus a defensive end

Panthers officially cut kicker Graham Gano plus a defensive end.

The Panthers have made the news official that Graham Gano’s wife broke on Instagram earlier today. The team has released the 11-year veteran from his contract, freeing up $2.8 million in cap space and paving the way for Joey Slye to become their full-time kicker.

Cutting Gano also comes with another dead money penalty, bringing the team’s total to $42 million for the year.

The Panthers also announced that they released defensive end Chris Smith, who signed with the team in March. Smith has been in the league since the Jaguars picked him in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL draft. He’s played in 60 games, totaling 8.5 sacks and 19 quarterback hits.

Smith’s release should open up more opportunities for younger edge defenders on the roster like Marquis Haynes and Christian Miller.

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NFL free agency: Panthers re-sign former linebacker, waive undrafted defensive tackle

Panthers re-sign former linebacker Adarius Taylor, waive undrafted defensive tackle Austrian Robinson.

The Carolina Panthers will be making some cuts in the coming days to trim down the roster ahead of 2020 training camp. Today, we have our first victim. Carolina has waived undrafted defensive tackle Austrian Robinson, who played his college football at Ole Miss, per the team website.

A familiar face will be taking Robinson’s place. In a corresponding move, the Panthers re-signed former linebacker Adarius Taylor.

Like Robinson, Taylor was an undrafted free agent at one point himself. Carolina first signed him in May of 2014 out of Florida Atlantic. He appeared in 10 games that season, but was only on the field for 148 snaps – all on special teams. Taylor was relegated to the practice squad in 2015 until the Buccaneers signed him. Tampa Bay had Taylor for 50 games. Most of them he spent coming off the bench, as he only earned 14 starts.

Last season, Taylor was on the Browns. He only recorded nine tackles in limited defensive duty. However, he was a core special teams contributor, on the field for 312 snaps (72%).

If he makes the team, that will likely be the role Taylor gets with the Panthers.

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Do the Panthers have the thinnest roster in the NFL?

Do the Carolina Panthers have the thinnest roster in the NFL going into the 2020 season?

The Carolina Panthers are in for a rough ride during the 2020 season. While Matt Rhule has built his career on turning bad teams into contenders, no NFL team has lost more talent or experience this year. There’s an argument to make that Carolina has the thinnest roster in the league right now.

According to a new ranking by Mark Schofield at Touchdown Wire, they’re not far off. He has listed the 11 thinnest rosters in the NFL going into 2020, and the Panthers came in next-to-last. Only Ron Rivera’s Washington Redskins were ranked lower.

Here’s what he said about Carolina’s situation.

“There is potential for the 2020 Carolina Panthers to vastly surpass expectations. . . Beyond the skill positions, however, there are issues. The offensive line has some holes, perhaps bigger than Russell Okung can plug. Pass rush is a question mark, although Derrick Brown on the inside and Yetur Gross-Matos on the outside can help. Luke Kuechly’s retirement leaves a big hole, and the secondary also faces questions after the departure of James Bradberry. Eli Apple showed promise while in New Orleans, so he could step into that cornerback spot, Jeremy Chinn was a very intriguing prospect prior to the draft and fits the mold of the modern NFL safety. So while there is talent on both sides of the football, the depth behind those players, as well as how those new faces gel, are big questions facing Rhule in 2020.”

A case could be made that teams like the Jets, Bengals and the Lions are in worse shape, but there’s no denying that this roster is relatively weak, especially compared to the rest of the NFC South.

At least there’s nowhere to go but up from here.

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Panthers ranked last in continuity going into 2020

No part of this team has been spared from a radical makeover.

Building a winner in the NFL requires more than just talent and quality coaching. It usually takes time for contenders to gel. In other words, Super Bowl teams don’t come out of nowhere and franchises that maintain consistency tend to do better than those that don’t.

This is perhaps the difficult part of what the Carolina Panthers are facing in 2020. Not only do they have one of the most difficult schedules in the league, they’ll have to do it with an almost totally-remade roster and coaching staff.

According to ESPN, this team ranks dead last in the NFL in continuity going into next season by a huge margin. The Panthers are returning just 46.9% of their snaps played from last year. For some context, the team that ranks No. 31 on their list is the Giants, and they’re returning 66.1%.

There’s no silver lining, either. No part of this team has been spared from a radical makeover.

Carolina ranks last in offensive snaps returning (58.2%) and defensive snaps returning (35.2%). They also have just one coach staying in the same spot as last year – Chase Blackburn remains the special teams coordinator – and his unit struggled alot in 2019.

At least there’s nowhere to go but up.

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Panthers waive Greg Dortch again, promote linebacker from practice squad

It’s been a revolving door for the Panthers at the kick returner spots this season.

It’s been a revolving door for the Panthers at the kick returner spots this season. The carousel continued to turn on Tuesday when the team waived Greg Dortch for the second time this year. Dortch fumbled another return in Sunday’s loss to the Falcons.

This morning, the team announced that move as well as a corresponding one to fill out the 53-man roster. Linebacker Ramik Wilson has been promoted from the practice squad, according to the official team website.

Wilson (6-foot-2, 238 pounds) was a fourth-round pick by the Chiefs in the 2015 NFL draft. After three years in Kansas City, he played for the Rams last season and one game for the Cardinals in 2019. Wilson has 21 career starts but he’s mostly been a backup. He’s totaled 146 combined tackles (15 for a loss), 10 QB hits and two defensive touchdowns.

The Panthers also signed wide receiver/kick returner Bobo Wilson to take his place on the practice squad.

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Panthers release DB Rashaan Gaulden

The Panthers waived the second-year defensive back on Monday.

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The Panthers have released defensive back Rashaan Gaulden after an awful game against the Saints, the team announced Monday.

Gaulden ran into D.J. Moore on a punt return, which led to a fumble and a recovery by New Orleans. That mistake helped put Carolina in a 14-0 hole. Later, Gaulden committed a boneheaded penalty on special teams by shoving a Saints player long after the whistle had blown.

Mental errors are hard enough for any NFL player to overcome. In the end, Gaulden’s lack of athleticism and discipline made it impossible.

No corresponding roster move has been announced as of yet.

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