4 ways the Carolina Panthers can avoid disaster in 2023 free agency

Carolina Panthers must save money to extend top stars

Retaining core pieces should be a team’s top priority, and the Carolina Panthers have a handful of key players that need new contracts. The two most notable – Bradley Bozeman and D’Onta Foreman – are both pending free agents.

The players expiring after 2023 are Jeremy Chinn, Frankie Luvu, Shaq Thompson, and Brian Burns. Additionally, Derrick Brown will enter his fifth-year option, or he will need a new contract after next season.

Carolina cannot spend too much money in free agency this season if they want to keep these guys around long-term. Restructuring and cutting players are ways to create breathing room for the Panthers, who are already over the cap ceiling before free agency, but Scott Fitterer must also save money for 2024.

Losing one player from that list is bad enough, but losing more than one of them would be catastrophic to the Panthers’ success. And Fitterer needs to save long-term cap space if he wants to bring all of them back to Carolina.

Thompson will likely take a pay cut if he continues with the team. However, the likes of Chinn, Luvu, Burns, and Brown are all expected to get big paydays for their contributions to the organization. And all four of them are integral to the Panthers.

Carolina has gained momentum over the past few months. But Fitterer cannot throw away the team’s long-term goals to chase short-term success.

The front office figure needs to continue building for the future. That begins and ends with retaining the core defensive pieces in 2023 and beyond.