The Carolina Panthers are one of the biggest sleeping giants ahead of the 2025 NFL season. In Year 2 of the Dave Canales experiment, both the team and fan base are expecting to be much improved and make a run at an NFC South title.
This offseason, they secured a major piece of their future by extending Jaycee Horn on a massive four-year, $100 million deal. While Mike Jackson Sr. will be a solid supplementary player in the secondary, Horn and Derrick Brown are the centerpieces of the defense.
Carolina still needed to add some talent to the back end of their roster ahead of Week 1, however, as injuries are far too frequent in the NFL to not have a strong contingency plan. During final roster cutdown week, the Panthers claimed cornerback Damarri Mathis from the Denver Broncos.
Panthers CB Damarri Mathis tore ACL, will miss 2025 NFL season
Mathis was not expected to play a major role right away, as he is currently a third-stringer on the team's depth chart ahead of the season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars. However, he was a promising young piece who could have emerged with the right coaching.
Unfortunately, his 2025 campaign is over before it even began. On Friday, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that Mathis tore his ACL during Wednesday's practice, and he will miss the entire season after undergoing surgery.
This is a devastating blow for Mathis, who was looking for a new lease on life in the NFL after being the odd man out in the Broncos' elite secondary. He was waived on August 25 by Denver, and the Panthers immediately swooped in to grab him.
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But now, Carolina may need to look elsewhere to add another viable depth corner before the season begins. Young players like Michael Reid or Kalen King could be immediate fixes as practice squad elevations in Week 1, but the team will need to reassess on Monday.
Mathis' best season came as a rookie in 2022, when he started 11 games in Denver. He recorded 65 tackles, including one for a loss, as well as seven passes defended. Unfortunately, he started just seven games over the next two years and dealt with numerous injuries.
All told, he has recorded 103 tackles and nine passes defended in his NFL career, so he could have been a solid depth piece. Now, the team will rely on a combination of Corey Thornton, Chau Smith-Wade and Akayleb Evans to hold it down, if need be.