5 trade targets for the Carolina Panthers to consider before 2021 deadline
By Dean Jones
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif – OG
After opting out of the 2020 season to join the front line fight against COVID-19, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif hasn’t featured much for the Kansas City Chiefs as the team brought in Joe Thuney and Trey Smith this offseason.
Although Thuney suffered an injury in their Week 5 loss against the Buffalo Bills, they might be willing to part ways with Duvernay-Tardif before the trade deadline and this should be of real interest to the Carolina Panthers.
The former sixth-round pick is certainly an upgrade on anything Carolina currently has on the interior. John Miller’s production has been horrific in pass protection and Dennis Daley also remains inconsistent in this area of the field.
Duvernay-Tardif hasn’t seen the field consistently since the 2019 season, where he gave up two sacks and conceded three penalties from 899 snaps.
A long time away from the game – albeit for incredibly selfless reasons – means he’s almost starting from scratch and few imagined the impact Smith would have in such a short space of time after he plummeted to the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
The Panthers might continue with what they have and wait until the next batch of college recruits and free agents become available next spring. But the complications that could emerge from that are pretty severe.