It wasn't all bad news for the Panthers on Monday.
Carolina was widely mocked on the first day of the NFL's "legal tampering period" for only receiving a 2024 second-round pick and 2025 fifth-round pick for edge-rusher Brian Burns in a trade with the Giants a year-and-a-half after the Rams offered two firsts for him.
Even multi-platinum country recording artist Luke Combs had enough, blasting the organization for putting its fans through "slow torture."
.@Panthers WHAT ARE WE DOING?!?!? No first round pick for McCaffrey a few years back and now none for Burns?!?! Are we just fire bombing the whole team here or what? I usually don’t comment on these kinds of things but it’s just becoming slow torture at this point.
— Luke Combs (@lukecombs) March 12, 2024
However, look beyond the Burns fiasco and Carolina had a decent day. The team agreed to terms with interior offensive linemen Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis, investing heavily into an offensive line that desperately needed it.
The Panthers are expected to give former Dolphins right guard Hunt $100 million over five years while former Seahawks left guard Lewis is due to receive a four-year, $53 million contract.
Both are upgrades for a unit that bears responsibility for quarterback Bryce Young's ugly rookie season.
The Panthers lacked stability up front last year. 2023 fourth-rounder (114th overall) Chandler Zavala started the year at left guard but was a disaster, credited with allowing six sacks and 33 total pressures in seven games.
The smorgasbord of Calvin Throckmorton, Cade Mays, Austin Corbett, Nash Jensen and Gabe Jackson at the guard positions was marginally better but did little to protect Young, who finished the year being sacked 62 times.
He struggled throwing the ball when pressured, completing only 39.1 percent of his attempts with one touchdown and four interceptions, per Pro Football Focus.
Data from PFF shows Hunt and Lewis combined to allow four sacks on 926 pass-rush opportunities last season.
Young wasn't given much of a chance to show what he's capable of behind his offensive line. First-year head coach Dave Canales and general manager Dan Morgan aren't interested in repeating the same mistake.
Once the disappointment of the Burns saga subsides, that should be celebrated.
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