The Carolina Panthers were ripped heading into the NFL Draft for one major reason.
The Carolina Panthers were one of the NFL's most pleasant surprises this past season, winning the NFC South division title and testing the Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs.
In spite of the Panthers' impressive turnaround, it was clear they still had plenty of areas that needed to be addressed. Most prominent of all was the pass rush.
Carolina totaled just 30 sacks in 2025, which was even worse than the 32 sacks it registered the campaign prior.
The Panthers definitely had a knee-jerk reaction to the issue in free agency, signing edge rusher Jaelan Phillips to a four-year, $120 million contract, a deal that featured $80 million in guaranteed money.
Bleacher Report's Gary Davenport is certainly not in love with the pact, going as far to call it one of the 10 worst signings of the offseason.
Jaelan Phillips. Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images."Thirty million a season is a lot to give a player whose career high in sacks (8.5) came as a rookie with the Miami Dolphins in 2021," Davenport wrote. "... His pass-rush win rate last year with the Philadelphia Eagles was under 10 percent, and he has a lengthy injury history—he ruptured his Achilles tendon in 2023 and tore his ACL the following year."
Phillips split the 2025 campaign between the Miami Dolphins and the Eagles, having been traded to Philadelphia at the deadline.
He registered 53 tackles, five sacks and 14 quarterback hits, rather tame numbers for someone who landed such a massive contract.
Phillips was originally selected by the Dolphins with the 18th overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft and showed plenty of promise early in his career, but as Davenport noted, he suffered a pair of devastating injuries that thwarted his progress.
The University of Miami product is still just 26 years old, so perhaps there is hope for a breakout in Carolina, but at this moment, it definitely looks like the Panthers overpaid for a player who has never logged double-digit sacks in any one season.
We'll see if Carolina adds another pass rusher in the NFL Draft later this month. It could certainly use one.
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