The Carolina Panthers are 2-2 now, but the upcoming schedule doesn’t look as daunting as before. If general manager Dan Morgan wants to cement their claims as a playoff hopeful, they must be aggressive before the trade deadline.
Carolina plays the Philadelphia Eagles this week, but they could again be without running back Saquon Barkley and wide receiver DeVonta Smith. The following week, the Panthers will be back home against a division rival in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who will be starting a rookie backup before traveling to the Green Bay Packers for a Thursday Night Football showdown.
If Carolina can go on a mini run, I could see Morgan getting aggressive in the trade market as the deadline approaches.
Carolina Panthers should explore Will McDonald IV trade before the deadline
Teams who expect to make the playoffs often look to the trade market to find players that could push them over the edge. Think of the Jacksonville Jaguars trading for wide receiver Jakobi Myers last season or the eventual Super Bowl champion Seahawks trading for wide receiver/kick returner Rasheed Shaheed.
If I'm looking at one side of the ball for Carolina, the defense seems primed for an extra piece, and New York Jets edge rusher Will McDonald IV fits the bill.
At 6-foot-4 and 245 pounds, McDonald barely meets the threshold for what Carolina wants at edge. Yet the Panthers desperately need his juice and playmaking ability with Nic Scourton out for the season.
McDonald has two years remaining on his rookie deal and boasts eye-catching explosiveness off the snap. This season he’s up to two sacks with 12 pressures, both tied for second on the team. He also has a 16.3 percent pressure rate, which would be second among Carolina's defensive linemen.
So if he’s so good, why would the Jets trade him?
McDonald will be in the final year of his deal next season, and New York just made a major investment at his position with rookie David Bailey.
Will McDonald IV would add juice to an improving Carolina Panthers pass-rush
Bailey is off to an amazing start, sitting toward the top of the league in both pressures and sacks through five weeks with 18 and five, respectively. That investment in the rookie from a regime that didn’t select McDonald is already showing in his snap counts.
Through five weeks, McDonald has four games with 27 snaps or fewer and multiple games with only 10 pass-rush snaps. Not ideal for a primary pass rusher looking to get paid.
Carolina's investment in Jaelan Phillips was huge, but he cannot do it alone. When Carolina wants to send only four rushers, there are no consistent winners outside of the big-money signing. Scourton's injury has essentially sent Carolina’s front four back to 2025, reliant on one and a half guys and blitzes.
McDonald fixes that issue now but also in the future.
Carolina loves to rotate its guys. Trevis Gipson averages 13 pass-rush snaps a game through four weeks; Thomas Incoom, 7; 10 for Jeremiah Moon; and on his own team, McDonald averages only 16 a game.
The snaps are there now and in the future for McDonald in Carolina, with Patrick Jones II's deal expiring this offseason. Scourton coming back as your OLB2 would leave Princely Umanmielen and McDonald as your pass-rush mercenaries.
That sounds like a recipe for success.
However, the Panthers have to handle business these next couple of weeks for this to be a reality.
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