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The Carolina Panthers will have not one, but two decisions to make on fifth-year options this offseason—and neither should be particularly difficult.

Pro Football Focus salary cap analyst Brad Spielberger recently predicted each impending yay or nay for the 2020 draft class. So, where does he see the Panthers going with theirs?

Well, he gives a yay to defensive tackle Derrick Brown—the seventh overall selection from that spring.

Spielberger writes:

Brown took a major step forward in 2022, finishing the season as one of just six interior defenders with 75.0-plus grades as a run defender and pass rusher, and joining elite company in that club: Dexter Lawrence, Chris Jones, Aaron Donald, Quinnen Williams and Cameron Heyward.

Brown’s 31 defensive stops and 10 tackles for loss or no gain were both top-15 marks at the position in 2022. This will be an easy decision for Carolina, much like it was last offseason with edge defender Brian Burns.

The 6-foot-5, 320-pounder had a career campaign—posting highs in combined tackles (67), quarterback hits (12) and passes defensed (seven). Those 67 tackles, in fact, now stand as a single-season franchise record for a defensive tackle.

Carolina will also have to address the option for cornerback CJ Henderson, who likely won’t meet the same fate as Brown.

The Jacksonville Jaguars traded Henderson just a year after using a top-10 pick to draft him, and it’s not hard to see why. Henderson logged a career-high 765 snaps in 2022 but earned a second consecutive sub-50.0 coverage grade.

With Donte Jackson extended last offseason and 2021 No. 8 overall pick Jaycee Horn starting to look like a potential star, it’s hard to envision the team exercising Henderson’s option.

Henderson, who was drafted ninth overall by Jacksonville, has played in 27 games for the Panthers between 2021 and 2022. He, however, has yet to live up to that billing—even with the opportunity he got after Jackson was lost for the season.

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Given his under-the-radar persona, it’s no surprise that Joe Burrow and the Bengals have mutually agreed to keep their contract talks close to the vest. The Bengals and Burrow’s reps have agreed on a “vow of silence” as the two sides work toward a long-term deal for Cincinnati’s Pro Bowl quarterback. 

Given their pact, don’t expect any leaks to come out regarding Burrow’s contract. Furthermore, don’t be surprised if an extension for Burrow is announced without much of a heads-up. 

“I don’t know the pace but we hope that there’s something that can get done,” Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn said from the NFL Annual League Meeting, via the team’s website. “We sort of said we won’t talk about it much until there’s something to talk about.”

Blackburn added that the two sides have had preliminary talks on an extension. Burrow has one year remaining on his rookie contract that will carry an $11.5M cap hit in 2023. He’s set to become a free agent in 2025, but is expected to receive a long-term extension before the start of the 2023 season. 

The 2022 season was a highly successful one for Burrow, who was selected to his first Pro Bowl after helping the Bengals match the franchise record of 12 regular-season wins. He helped the Bengals win eight consecutive games after the team slogged to a 4-4 start. Burrow was one of five finalists for the 2022 MVP award. 

“Fortunately, I don’t have to put that on paper, in terms of what that is,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said of Burrow earlier this offseason when asked about the quarterback’s value, via Pro Football Talk. “That’s just the business we’re in right now. He’s everything we want to be about. He’s a hard worker. He cares about his teammates. He cares about where he’s from — Ohio. This fanbase, I think he represents us the right way.

“And so, we take a lot of pride in having Joe Burrow as our quarterback.”

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The Jacksonville Jaguars almost made a splash in free agency, tossing their hat in the ring for Calais Campbell. That reunion didn’t come to fruition, though, as the 36-year-old defensive lineman instead chose to sign with the Atlanta Falcons.

Where that leaves the Jaguars is still in need of help when it comes to the task of applying pressure to opposing quarterbacks.

Only six teams recorded fewer sacks than Jacksonville last season, and losing Arden Key in free agency will only exacerbate the issue.

Adding a veteran pass rusher on a short-term deal to give the team a boost seems like a no-brainer given the lack of depth behind Travon Walker and Josh Allen. Current options on the market that’d instantly upgrade the Jacksonville defensive front include Jadeveon Clowney, Bud Dupree, and Leonard Floyd, among others.

So why haven’t the Jaguars snatched one up yet? Compensatory draft picks may be part of the reason.

For the first time in over a decade, the Jaguars are likely to get additional draft picks for lost free agents. Jawaan Taylor’s massive contract with the Kansas City Chiefs will probably net the Jaguars a third-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and Key’s deal with the Titans is projected to yield a sixth-rounder.

The only way those picks don’t land in Jacksonville is if the team made a big addition that cancelled out one of its losses. While the third-rounder for Taylor is probably safe, a deal with a veteran pass rusher would likely erase the sixth-round compensation for losing Key.

Unless … the Jaguars wait another month.

As of the Monday after the 2023 NFL Draft (May 1), free agent signings no longer factor into the compensatory formula. No matter how much money the Jaguars spend in May, June, July, and August, their compensation for Taylor and Key will be locked in.

While there are more than a few veteran edge rushers on the market who could help the Jaguars right away, those aging players aren’t exactly flying off the shelf. There isn’t…

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USATSI

When the Broncos acquired Sean Payton as their new head coach this offseason, everyone wondered how the move would affect quarterback Russell Wilson in 2023. But some of Payton’s most notable comments at NFL owners meetings Monday regarded another QB on his roster. Weeks after signing former Patriots and Raiders backup Jarrett Stidham in free agency, the coach called Stidham an “important” piece of Denver’s offseason, adding that Wilson’s new No. 2 could soon become an NFL starter.

“I think he’s young, but I think he’s someone that we had a good grade on coming out,” Payton said of Stidham. “We like the player. I think he played well in the two starts he had (last season) — if you study closely the San Francisco game, he’s smart at the line of scrimmage. There were a couple directions, really, with that position. There were a handful of No. 2s that either I had worked with or we felt comfortable with, but in this case, I think it’s a No. 2 (where) his arrow’s moving in a direction where we feel like he can become an NFL starter in our league.

“So the evaluation was pretty crystal clear for all of us,” Payton continued. “I think he’s someone that’s gonna be great in the room. He’s smart. And so, quietly, that was an important (signing) for us.”

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The Cowboys made an enormous upgrade to their roster by adding cornerback Stephon Gilmore this offseason. Acquired in a trade with Indianapolis, Gilmore is expected to cleanly slide into the starting role opposite Trevon Diggs.

The addition takes the pressure of the draft to find a ready-now solution and gives Dallas a little more flexibility as they navigate the treacherous waters of “best player available.”

Yet looking at the big picture, how much should Gilmore really impact the Cowboys draft strategy?

A case can be made they don’t need to find an immediate starter anymore but they still need to find an eventual starter. The need has remained.

Playing on the last year of his deal, Stephon Gilmore is a band-aid. He’s an excellent one, but a band-aid nonetheless. His presence means the Cowboys aren’t forced to find a plug-and-play cornerback this year, but finding a cornerback capable of taking the reins in 2024 should still be high priority.

With so many quality prospects expected in the early rounds, Dallas would be wise to use some foresight to take advantage.

Even this year the Cowboys could use some help at cornerback. As things currently stand, Diggs, Gilmore and DaRon Bland are Dallas’ top-3 cornerbacks. Behind them, things get uncertain.

Jourdan Lewis, Israel Mukuamu, Nahshon Wright, Kelvin Joseph and Isaac Taylor-Stuart currently populate the depth chart.  Coming off a Lisfrac injury and on the books for $5,872,550 against the cap, Lewis’ future with the Cowboys is somewhat in doubt. And after re-signing special teams standout C.J. Goodwin to a new deal, Joseph’s future on the team is in question as well. The talent pool in September may not be as deep as it looks today.

Aside from Mukuamu, who looked promising in his limited reps last postseason, there aren’t many truly ascending players behind Bland and Diggs. It’s plain to see, after the 2023 season things get sparse at cornerback for Dallas.

As they learned last season, teams can never…

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