7 Panthers players that could be traded if slump continues in 2022
By Dean Jones
Which Carolina Panthers could potentially be traded before the deadline if the team’s concerning slump continues in 2022?
Things are teetering on the edge for the Carolina Panthers, to put it mildly. A 1-3 start to the campaign and almost no inspiration on offense despite other areas living up to their end of the bargain means improvements must be made extremely quickly ahead of a tough stretch of games leading up to midseason.
Carolina isn’t getting anywhere fast under head coach Matt Rhule. The pressure is growing on the former Baylor man, although he didn’t appear to be all that concerned about his job status following another disappointing home loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
The Panthers are projected to be around $17 million over the cap in 2023 and don’t have many draft selections following a flurry of trade activity. Something those in power could rectify if Carolina’s current slump continues in the coming weeks.
With this in mind, here are seven Panthers players who could be on the chopping block via trade in this scenario.
Player No. 1
Donte Jackson – Carolina Panthers CB
Keeping Donte Jackson around in preference to Stephon Gilmore was a huge call for the Carolina Panthers to make. The money allocated to the former second-round selection was more than enough to make the All-Pro stay and could have left some assets aside to extend Haason Reddick for good measure.
It’s been an indifferent start to the 2022 campaign for Jackson. His coverage has been sluggish at times and if this continues throughout the campaign, then Carolina might look at moving on from the LSU product in pursuit of acquiring valuable draft capital.
Trading Jackson comes with a dead-cap figure of $3.66 million and a saving of $2.43 million, according to Over the Cap. Whether it’s something those in power would contemplate is another matter.