The Panthers were busy last week cutting long-time veterans and restructuring contracts to free up more salary cap space. After converting most of Matt Paradis’ 2021 salary into a signing bonus, they now have around $35-$36 million in cap room. That gives them enough cash to make at least one splash move in free agency, or more likely several mid-level deals to address the considerable number of holes on their roster.
One spot they’ll need to address this offseason is cornerback, where they got inconsistent-at-best play from everybody except Donte Jackson outside and Corn Elder in the slot. There are some very interesting names at cornerback who are about to hit the market – including Richard Sherman – however, most of them are on the wrong side of 30. A younger alternative Carolina should look at is Ronald Darby.
Pros
Darby (27) has had an up-and-down kind of career. He appears to be on the up-swing at the moment, though. He had a couple good years in Buffalo, followed by some injury-riddled ones in Philadelphia. He put together a strong 2020 campaign in Washington under Ron Rivera, suggesting with the right coaching he can still be a solid starting corner at this level. Darby played 96% of WFT’s defensive snaps. He only allowed one touchdown in coverage to go with an 81.0 passer rating and a 54.1% completion rate. Spotrac is projecting his market value to be a reasonable $9.2 million a year.
Cons
Consistent coverage is hard to come by. There’s a simple reason for that. It’s much, much, much easier to be Julio Jones trying to catch a football than it is to be someone trying to stop him from doing so. That’s why a defender like Tre Boston can go from indispensable to liability in just one season, or why Stephon Gilmore can get roasted by D.K. Metcalf after winning DPOY. In Darby’s case, it’s not difficult to imagine his coverage declining again soon. During the 2019 season (his last with the Eagles) he gave up six touchdowns and a 116.8 passer rating. His missed tackle rate is also a little concerning.
Conclusion
Darby is a name that won’t excite a lot of fans. He certainly doesn’t have the same starpower as a Sherman, Patrick Peterson or A.J. Bouye, who are also pending free agents. Darby has a solid mix of youth and experience, though and at anything under $10 million a season he might turn out to be a bargain.
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