4 possible 2020 trade deadline regrets for the Carolina Panthers
By Dean Jones
Not trading for a Tahir Whitehead replacement
As stated previously, the Carolina Panthers are facing a significant problem at linebacker. Few envisaged anyone on the roster would reach the sort of production Luke Kuechly gave the franchise over eight prolific seasons, but this situation is far worse than originally feared.
The free-agent signing of Tahir Whitehead has been a disaster. He signed a one-year deal worth $2.5 million to reunite with his former college coach Matt Rhule and came into the campaign as a nice short-term option who could earn a longer commitment from the organization if he reached or exceeded what was expected.
Sadly for the player and the Panthers, this won’t be the case.
Whitehead is one of the NFL’s worst-graded players by Pro Football Focus through Week 8 and it remains to be seen just how many more starts he’s going to get in Carolina. His snaps are diminishing with every passing week due to his unreliability and the longer he continues to let the team down, the more problematic it’s going to become.
Not moving to bring in a better option to sure up the middle of the field before the trade deadline has the scope to hurt the Panthers. It’s sometimes hard for a team to admit they got it wrong and Rhule’s previous relationship with Whitehead has only complicated matters.