5 former Panthers who might’ve already played their last NFL season
By Dean Jones
Russell Okung – Former Carolina Panthers OT
One of the more surprising names still sitting on the free-agent market is Russell Okung. The Carolina Panthers opted to go in a different direction after he had troubles staying healthy, but there was nothing wrong with his production for the most part.
Okung turned out just seven times in Carolina following his trade from the Los Angeles Chargers. As the old saying goes, the best ability is availability in the NFL and the former Pro Bowler has a lot of tread on the tires at this stage of his career.
In truth, the Panthers probably don’t have a better option at left tackle on their roster currently.
But putting faith in a player who’s played 13 games in two years is a big risk.
This is a sentiment shared by others across the league. Okung is still looking for a new team and for someone that’s earned $108.8 million during his career, there isn’t a great rush on his behalf.
It would have to be a team ready to win a Super Bowl for Okung to even consider it, one would suspect. The Bitcoin king has plenty of other interests to keep him amused post-retirement, so the Super Bowl winner might just decide that putting his body through another grueling campaign or two just isn’t worth it.
Okung doesn’t owe the game anything. He’s more than left his mark on the NFL.