{"id":604965,"date":"2026-04-15T04:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T04:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/604965\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T04:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T04:51:08","slug":"2026-nfl-draft-panthers-gm-dan-morgan-addresses-defensive-line-adjustments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/604965\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 NFL Draft: Panthers GM Dan Morgan addresses defensive line adjustments"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Business is business and the Carolina Panthers<\/a> needed additional cap space for free-agent expenditures. The offseason result was the release of defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson.<\/p>\n

A two-year starter, Robinson added a reliable presence, which Morgan could no longer afford. By releasing the former Super Bowl champion March 10, the Panthers saved approximately $10.5 million<\/a>. Part of that infusion helped Morgan negotiate deals for three top free agents<\/a>, edge Jaelan Phillips, inside linebacker Devin Lloyd, and left tackle Rasheed Wallace.<\/p>\n

Morgan didn’t enjoy calling Robinson to inform the 10-year veteran of the cost-cutting, but necessary, maneuver. With the 2026 NFL Draft approaching April 23-25 in Pittsburgh, the Panthers could find Robinson’s replacement with a mid-to-late-round selection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“A’Shawn, great dude, great leader,” Morgan said during Tuesday’s pre-draft press conference<\/a> at Bank of America Stadium. “We’ll definitely miss him around here. It’s definitely just part of the business.”<\/p>\n

Panthers GM Dan Morgan seeks DL depth<\/p>\n

Seeking to replace Robinson’s 145 combined tackles and eight sacks in 2024 and ’25, Morgan likely will look to add to the team’s defensive line depth with a mid-to-late round draft pick and possibly an undrafted free agent or two.<\/p>\n

“In terms of the defensive tackle class, I feel pretty good about it,” Morgan said. “I think it’s a little top-heavy, but I do think there are guys we like that we pinpointed, so I think if the opportunity arises, we would definitely have competition and depth there.”<\/p>\n

While edge and offensive line prospects likely will receive a higher pre-draft grade, Morgan identified Clemson’s Peter Woods<\/a> as a potential first- or second-round prospect.<\/p>\n

The Panthers have never drafted a player from Clemson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Business is business and the Carolina Panthers needed additional cap space for free-agent expenditures. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-604965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}