Looming as a player the Panthers were not planning on having to open the year, Jonathon Brooks will indeed remain out of the picture for the rebuilding team in September. He is shifting to the reserve/NFI list, per ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter.
Brooks went down with an ACL tear in November. Seeing as the Panthers have the second-round pick signed through 2027, they were long expected to play it safe with this draft’s first running back chosen. This leaves Chuba Hubbard and Miles Sanders as the Panthers’ lead backs to open the season, but Brooks is expected to be heard from later in the year.
Additionally, Carolina is sliding free agency addition D.J. Wonnum — who suffered a torn quad on the same day ex-Vikings teammate T.J. Hockenson went down — to the reserve/PUP list, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets. Both designations will sideline these Panthers for at least four games. Hockenson is also out for at least four games, with Minnesota transferring him to the reserve/PUP list Tuesday morning.
The Panthers traded up for Brooks in Round 2, choosing him 20 spots before any other running back went off the board. With Hubbard in a contract year and Sanders part of a disappointing Carolina 2023 free agency contingent, Brooks profiles as the clear-cut long-term option in Carolina. For now, however, the former Bijan Robinson Texas backup will continue his rehab effort.
Wonnum joined the Panthers on a two-year, $12.5MM deal but received only $1.25MM guaranteed. He will need to move onto the Panthers’ active roster to collect part of his 2024 compensation, with $2.13MM of that sum coming via per-game roster bonuses. A former Danielle Hunter sidekick in Minnesota, Wonnum still enjoyed a decent market despite the quad setback. Wonnum has two eight-sack seasons (2021, ’23) on his resume, capitalizing on Hunter’s 2021 pec tear and 2023 starter Marcus Davenport‘s recent ankle injury to produce as a quality fill-in option.
Carolina is also moving third-year pass rusher Amare Barno to the reserve/PUP list, per The Athletic’s Joe Person. The team will enter the season shorthanded on the edge, placing more pressure on the injury-prone (but frequently productive) Jadeveon Clowney to justify the two-year, $20MM deal he signed. The Panthers also added former Jaguars first-rounder K’Lavon Chaisson, but the 2020 draftee has not come especially close to justifying that investment.
It would not surprise to see GM Dan Morgan active on the waiver wire — particularly at edge rusher — as the Panthers’ 2-15 2023 showing gives them the No. 1 waiver priority. Waiver claims process at 11am CT on Wednesday.