4 Carolina Panthers veteran players who could be traded in 2024
By Dean Jones
Carolina Panthers could trade Adam Thielen
Adam Thielen didn't sign up for this. The wide receiver came into the Carolina Panthers with bold ambitions of postseason contention, which fell by the wayside early on thanks to a suspect offensive scheme and almost no continuity along quarterback Bryce Young's protection.
Theilen became the only wide receiver to emerge with any semblance of credit before Frank Reich was fired. Young looked for him almost constantly considering he emerged as the one legitimate threat to create separation, which represented an indictment on others rather than relying on an aging veteran piece too much.
With the Panthers struggling to make any sort of progress this season, another rebuild is on the immediate horizon. And make no mistake, this time hitting the reset button with conviction rather than placing band-aid solutions on long-term complications is of critical importance.
"It's tough. I'm not going to lie to you, I'm not going to sugarcoat anything. It's tough. Plans have changed..."#Panthers WR Adam Thielen came to Carolina in part because he believed in Frank Reich's plan and vision.
— Nick Carboni (@NickCarboniWCNC) December 4, 2023
So what now after? I asked him about it today. pic.twitter.com/2j6Wr6xoDZ
The contract might be offputting to some teams if the Panthers did make Thielen available for trade. But the Pro Bowler has proved there is life in those legs for a couple more good years at least before hanging it up.
Trading Thielen with a post-June 1 designation comes with $8.25 million in cap savings and $1.66 million in dead money. That would be the preferred option for the Panthers in this scenario, but whether another franchise would be willing to take on that sort of financial commitment is another matter.