Christian Rozeboom enjoyed a breakout season in 2024, and he has landed a new contract early in free agency. The veteran linebacker has agreed to a one-year deal with the Panthers, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports.
Rozeboom, 28, signed with the Rams as a UDFA in 2020. He was waived during final cutdowns that year and ultimately spent the entire season on Los Angeles’ practice squad, though the club saw enough potential to keep him in the fold via a reserve/futures deal once the 2020 campaign ended. A similar fate awaited him in 2021, as he was waived before the start of the regular season and joined the Chiefs’ taxi squad shortly thereafter.
The South Dakota State product would go on to appear in one game for Kansas City in 2021 before the Rams poached him back by signing him to their active roster. He saw action in nine games for LA that year, with all of his snaps coming on special teams. He continued operating almost exclusively in the third phase in 2022 before getting his first real chance on defense in 2023.
That season, Rozeboom appeared in 17 games (five starts), and he enjoyed a 49% snap share. In 2024, he appeared in 17 games (11 starts), converting a 74% snap share into 135 total tackles — a top-20 figure — five tackles for loss, an interception, and a sack. Despite the high tackle totals, the advanced metrics were not high on his work, as Pro Football Focus considered him the 72nd-best LB out of 84 qualifiers and assigned him a roughly average grade against the run with subpar marks in the passing game.
There is some familiarity here, as Panthers DC Ejiro Evero was on the Rams’ defensive staff during Rozeboom’s first two years in the league. He will presumably compete for reps at the middle linebacker spot with incumbents Josey Jewell and Trevin Wallace, and he represents another part of the club’s plan to fortify its defense in free agency.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
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