4 first-year Carolina Panthers players who could be gone in 2024
By Luke Gray
Miles Sanders - Carolina Panthers RB
From a player who performed admirably on the offensive side of the ball, we move on to someone who can look back on his 2023 season with zero pride. Big things were expected of Miles Sanders when he made the free agency switch to the Carolina Panthers To say they failed to materialize would be an understatement.
Almost 1,300 yards and 11 touchdowns saw Sanders play a key part in leading the Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl. This career season from the former Penn State man tempted the Panthers to hand him a four-year, $25.4 million deal.
What is that adage, never pay running backs? Well, Sanders was the poster boy for this.
Sanders would finish the season with career lows in carries, yards, and yards per carry. The former second-round pick was quickly surpassed by Chuba Hubbard as the Panthers' lead back.
Hubbard continues to develop into a solid NFL running back, finishing the 2023 season with 238 carries for 902 rushing yards and five scores, completely dwarfing the production of the Panthers' marquee offensive free-agent signing. With all this taken into consideration, the Panthers must do all they can to shift Sanders this offseason.
Similarly to Thielen, if they can trade Sanders with a post-June 1 designation, they would save $6.2 million against the salary cap. After his abysmal year in 2023, any deal the Panthers could strike with that quantity of cap savings would be a no-brainer.