K’Lavon Chaisson‘s time with the Panthers is set to come to an end without any regular season game time. The former first-round edge rusher was released on Tuesday, per a team announcement. 
Chaisson played out his rookie contract with the Jaguars, unsuccessfully attempting to carve out a regular role on defense. The 25-year-old logged 11 starts across his first two seasons in Jacksonville, but his playing time notably dropped after that point. With only five sacks to his name, Chaisson understandably did not have a strong free agent market in the spring.
Carolina added him on a one-year deal including $500K guaranteed. The team will see that amount become a dead money charge as a result of this move, but it will generate $2MM in savings. The Panthers are thin along the edge as things stand, with D.J. Wonnum and Amare Barno being placed on the reserve/PUP list last week. They will miss at least the first four weeks of the season.
The Panthers were tight against the cap heading into Tuesday, and this move will help in that regard. Carolina was already known to be on the lookout for an edge rush addition before cutting Chaisson, so a move for a healthy contributor should be expected in the coming days. At the moment, the team has Jadeveon Clowney, DJ Johnson, Eku Leota and Jamie Sheriff in place.
Chaisson could remain in the Panthers’ organization via a practice squad deal. Otherwise, he will seek out a new team in advance of Week 1 as he looks to find the opportunity for a long-term NFL gig. Given the LSU product’s rotational usage on special teams, he could land an end-of-the-roster role somewhere in relatively short order.
Rare to see a guy stick around his drafting team for the full four seasons and be played so, so little. Chaisson only played 263 more defensive snaps over the course of his four years in Jacksonville than Maxx Crosby played last season. What a disaster of a pick.
Yeah, Chaisson has always had physical talent, but I regarded his selection as rather high for what he was. I remember thinking that it was a bit high by my estimation.
I’d love to see him put on 10-15 more pounds and play a hybrid 3-4 Edge/Off ball LB early downs and a pass rush specialist on late downs. Arden Key came out of LSU with a similar frame and play strength issues, but put on weight later in his career, and now can play every down and is jacked.