According to Over the Cap, the Carolina Panthers are projected to have $11.14 million in cap space this offseason. However, that number alone is misleading.
The Panthers are expected to roll over more than $18 million from 2025. With the league cap projected to jump into the $302-305 million range, their real spending power is already well north of $29 million.
What they do with that will determine not just how competitive they are in 2026, but how painful (or painless) the Bryce Young era becomes financially.
Carolina Panthers need more of Brandt Tilis' salary-cap wizardry over the next two years
In 2026, Taylor Moton, Robert Hunt, Jaycee Horn, Tre’von Moehrig, and Derrick Brown will all carry cap hits above $20 million. That’s the cost of building a credible core, and one Carolina is comfortable paying.
Most of those deals aren’t dangerously backloaded. There isn’t a ticking time bomb lurking in 2026. The real tension lies in one year's time.
Ikem Ekwonu’s $17.5 million fifth-year option is guaranteed for 2026, even as he rehabs a ruptured patellar tendon that could sideline him for much or all of the season. Young, meanwhile, will count just $12.6 million against the cap next year, an enormous bargain at quarterback. Still, that will disappear quickly.
The Panthers have already telegraphed their plan. Young’s fifth-year option will be triggered, locking him in through 2027 at a projected $26.5 million cap hit.
That number is reasonable, even favorable, but it sets the stage for a far larger decision.
If Young continues his upward trajectory under Dave Canales, the Panthers won’t be talking about $26 million per year for long. They’ll be staring down a $40-50 million per-season extension. Once that hits the books, everything changes.
That reality is why 2026 matters so much. This is the final offseason where the Panthers can aggressively add talent without a quarterback mega-deal warping the cap. Miss now, and the margin for error shrinks dramatically.
At the same time, a wave of extensions is approaching.
Jalen Coker is playing himself into a second contract. Mike Jackson Sr. won’t be coming back on another bargain deal in 2027. Several role players like Cade Mays, Rico Dowdle, Yosh Nijman, Christian Rozeboom, Brady Christensen, Sam Martin, J.J. Jansen, and Nick Scott are set to hit free agency.
Carolina won’t gut the roster. They don’t need to. But some moves feel inevitable.
Xavier Legette could be a trade candidate, even if the return is modest. Patrick Jones II and Tommy Tremble are expendable. Veterans like Scott and Rozeboom may walk if Ejiro Evero gets a head-coaching job. Select restructures will smooth the math.
What the Panthers choose to do now in who they keep, who they let go, and how aggressively they spend will define not just 2026 but the financial shape of the Young era itself.
They finally have a little room to breathe. Now they have to make it count.