Panthers news: Brian Burns, Jeremy Chinn, Donte Jackson and high demands
By Dean Jones
Carolina Panthers CB Donte Jackson's future
As previously stated, Brandt Tilis has some hard work ahead. He's the Carolina Panthers' new salary-cap guru and contract manager. He's also been left a huge mess by the previous regime that will take time to clean up.
Finding ways to create more salary-cap space this offseason is the first challenge. A couple of restructures will probably come to light. There's also the prospect of some surprise cuts to playing personnel if the new decision-makers think it can benefit them long-term.
This was a topic discussed by Joe Person of The Athletic recently. Among the beat writer's candidates for early release was Donte Jackson. Although the cornerback had a decent year and stayed relatively healthy, he could be on the chopping block considering the savings involved with a post-June 1 designation.
"Jackson didn’t get his hands on many passes, failing to come down with an interception for the first time in his career and finishing with only five pass breakups. But he was effective in run support and his 59 tackles ranked fifth on the team. If they’re going to move on from Jackson, the Panthers obviously need to have a couple of cornerbacks in mind beyond veteran Troy Hill, who has a background with Ejiro Evero and is a pending free agent after playing in 16 games for the Panthers in 2023. Releasing Jackson with a post-June 1 designation would create $10.5 million in cap space but the Panthers would have to carry the dead money into 2025. That’s not a deal-breaker, given the gobs of cap space they currently have in ’25 ($129.5 million)."
- Joe Person, The Athletic
The Panthers don't have many capable cornerbacks. C.J. Henderson is also out of contract along with Troy Hill. Jackson would be missed on the field and in the locker room, but it's a situation worth monitoring at the very least.