Carolina Panthers: 4 players who could regress in 2020

Kawann Short

When Kawann Short is at his best then there is no doubt he has game-changing potential on the defensive line. The questions surrounding the player do not stem from his production. But his ability to fully recover from a serious injury that brought his 2019 season to a premature halt.

Short suffered a partially torn rotator cuff in week two against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and he formally called it a day following his inability to take the field in week four. He is expected to make a return to health and the starting lineup alongside No. 7 overall pick Derrick Brown in the Carolina Panthers’ new 4-3 base. But whether he can return to the player of old is another matter.

The player is comfortably the highest earner on the Panthers heading into 2020. Short is scheduled to make $12.5 million in base salary and count an eye-watering $19.46 million against Carolina’s salary cap. If he wants to see the final year of his deal, the defensive lineman needs to produce the goods on a consistent basis for a young defense that will be counting on him heavily.

Releasing Short after this season would represent a cap saving of around $9 million. So the writing might already be on the wall for Short regardless of his production.

However, the simple fact is that there is just no telling what long-term impact the injury has had and it will be one of the more intriguing things to keep an eye on from the Panthers’ perspective.