The Carolina Panthers put together a surprisingly good 2025 NFL draft. The core of it was a big upgrade at wide receiver in the first round and doubling down on a strong class on the edge with their next two picks. After splurging on the interior defensive ine in free agency, edge was arguably the team's biggest defensive need going into the draft, so it made sense to take two.
With Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen in the fold, it appeared Carolia had scored two quality backup edge rushers with an eye on eventually replacing Jadeveon Clowney and DJ Wonnum in the starting lineup. However, Carolina hit the accelerator on that idea a couple days go when they cut Clowney, opening up a fairly sizable hole at the top of their outside linebacker rotation.
There were some arguments to make the move, including freeing up around $7.8 million in salary cap room for 2025, but the transaction didn't go over well with most fans - and for good reason.
Here's head coach Dave Canales talking to the media about why the Panthers decided to move on from Clowney.
Dave Canales: Jadeveon Clowney release about cap and giving the two drafted edge rushers lots of reps. pic.twitter.com/RCnAlL2pdO
— Joe Person (@josephperson) May 9, 2025
There is a quality argument to make for getting Scourton and Umanmielen as many game reps as possible - that's the only way that good prospects turn into good players, after all. However, this felt like jumping the gun a bit, especially because getting less than $8 million in salary cap relief in exchange for a healthy, high-end pass rusher isn't the best deal in any context - and definitely not for a team that had the worst pressure rate in the league last season.
Critics may point to Clowney's relatively low sack total (5.5) last season, but this paints the wrong kind of picture about the former No. 1 overall pick. For those of us who paid attention in the first half of the season, you may recall that Clowney was literally the team's only pass rush threat on the field after Derrick Brown went down in Week 1 and Wonnum didn't make his first start until Week 10.
That made Clowney an easy target for opposing offensive lines, who were able to neutralize him. Clowney only had one sack entering late November but when Wonnum finally joined the lineup Clowney was free and turned his game up several notches, finishing hot with 4.5 sacks over the team's last six games. If he'd kept on that pace for an entire season he'd have finished with 13.5 sacks, which would have been a career high mark.
The advanced stats also indicate that Clowney played well, with strong pass rush and run stop win rates from ESPN and respectable grades from PFF in run defense (63.4) and pass rushing (73.2).
Like it or not, Clowney was this team's best edge defender - and it generally takes some time for rookies to find their footing. Make no mistake - Carolina's defensive front seven took a step back with Clowney out of the picture.
