The Carolina Panthers made an addition that was named by The Athletic as one of the top 10 best fits on Day 1 of NFL free agency
The Carolina Panthers made a couple of big time additions on the first day of NFL free agency.
The Carolina Panthers made a couple of big-time moves on Day 1 of NFL free agency.
ESPN’s Field Yates, in fact, pointed out that two of the deals the Panthers agreed to were with two of his top-rated free agents — pass rusher Jaelen Phillips and linebacker Devin Lloyd.
Carolina’s deal with Phillips, specifically, was named by The Athletic as one of the top 10 best fits on Day 1 of free agency.
The Athletic loves how Jaelen Phillips fits with the Panthers
The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen included the Panthers’ signing of Phillips among his top 10 player-team fits from Day 1.
Nguyen pointed out that Phillips’ transition to Carolina should be “seamless” because of the time he spent playing under defensive coordinator Vic Fangio with the Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins (Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero coached under Fangio earlier in his career).
“After playing multiple years in coordinator Vic Fangio’s defenses with the Dolphins and Eagles, Phillips will play for Ejiro Evero, who was Fangio’s assistant in 2014 and coached under one of his disciples, Brandon Staley,” wrote Nguyen. “There is plenty of crossover between Fangio’s and Evero’s systems with what they ask from their edge rushers — defending the run from light boxes — so the transition will be seamless. Phillips is a two-way player who will bolster the Panthers’ ability to stop the run with two-deep safeties and give some juice to a pass rush that ranked 24th in pass rush win rate.”
The biggest concern with Phillips is health — he missed 22 games in 2023 and 2024 with various injuries.
Last season, though, Phillips played in all 17 regular season games.
If Phillips’ injury woes are behind him, this could easily end up being one of the top signings of the offseason.
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