5 free-agent interior offensive linemen Carolina Panthers could sign in 2024
By Ricky Raines
Carolina Panthers could sign Lloyd Cushenberry
Lloyd Cushenberry will be a name quite a few teams are likely to have circled on their vision board if they’re in pursuit of acquiring a center in free agency. He has been a steady presence for the Denver Broncos at the position and would be an upgrade for a lot of franchises.
He was a third-round draft selection out of LSU in 2020. The Broncos seem like they’re likely to procure some serious turnover of the roster, seeing how they traded Jerry Jeudy to the Cleveland Browns for essentially just the left side of a Twix candy bar.
Cushenberry put together a 2023 season that earned him the highest Pro Football Focus grades of his career in both run blocking and pass protection. He registered the third-highest pass-blocking grade of all eligible centers who played at least 500 snaps. In the 1,070 snaps that the veteran played last season, he allowed only one sack. That would likely be welcomed with open arms by the Carolina Panthers.
Speaking of the fact that Cushenberry played all 17 games of the campaign, that’s another selling point of his. In his four seasons as a professional, he’s only missed eight contests - all of which came in 2022 when he suffered a groin injury and found himself on injured reserve to fully recover.
The best ability is availability. Cushenberry certainly appears to bring that to the table.