Presenting the Panthers initial final 53 man roster

[Carolina Panthers]

Presenting the Panthers initial final 53 man roster

Cuts are over and NFL dreams have been made or broken this week. The Carolina Panthers are officially down to a 53-man roster for the 2025 regular season. This roster may still move a little bit as the team sifts through other team’s cuts and makes waiver claims and even surprise trades. For now, here is your favorite team. Names in bold are names we did not originally predict to make the roster, while names struck through where players we did not expect to see cut.

Offense​

Quarterbacks​

Bryce Young, Andy Dalton

Everything here is as expected. This is Young’s year to step up.

Running backs​

Chuba Hubbard, Rico Dowdle, Trevor Etienne

Etienne showed up in the preseason. Despite only having three players, this is one of the Panthers deepest skill groups.

Wide receivers​

Tetairoa McMillan, Adam Thielen, Xavier Legette, Jalen Coker, Brycen Tremayne, David Moore, Jimmy Horn Jr., Hunter Renfrow

Moore over Renfrow was not a look that many were expecting and is sure to leave more than a few commenters irate. Meanwhile, the order the Panthers listed these guys in looks like a de facto depth chart, which makes Tremayne’s position fascinating compared to the “uncoverable” Horn.

Tight Ends​

Ja’Tavion Sanders, Tommy Tremble, Mitchell Evans, James Mitchell

Nailed it. This is a solid, if uninspiring group. Sanders has all the room in the world to grow into a consistent threat/safety blanket for Young. We’ll see if he takes it.

Offensive line​

Ikem Ekwonu, Damien Lewis, Austin Corbett, Robert Hunt, Taylor Moton, Brady Christensen, Cade Mays, Yosh Nijman, Chandler Zavala

Nothing has changed here. This is the most consistency at offensive line that the Panthers may have ever had, bringing back all nine linemen they had last season with zero changes to the projected starting five. Now to keep them all healthy for 18 weeks.

Defense​

Defensive line​

Derrick Brown, Tershawn Wharton, Bobby Brown III, A’Shawn Robinson, Cam Jackson, Jaden Crumedy, Shy Tuttle

The biggest change here is that the 2024 draft pick Crumedy gets the nod over veteran Tuttle. That should please more than a few arm chair GMs. Tuttle has been whatever the opposite of a fan favorite is since he signed, Crumedy is a relatively new player who gets to play behind outrageously improved depth as compared to 2024.

Edge linebackers​

Patrick Jones, DJ Wonnum, Nic Scourton, Princely Umanmielen, Thomas Incoom, DJ Johnson

This is an incontrovertibly better group than last season’s, not to mention it is starting the season healthier. The only thing anybody could object over is the retention of 2023 3rd round pick DJ Johnson. He has yet to show much on the field, in spite of being a player that defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero apparently pounded the table for in a seemingly ill advised trade up during that draft. I really hope we’re all proven wrong about him in 2025.

Inside linebackers​

Christian Rozeboom, Trevin Wallace, Claudin Cherelus, Bam Martin-Scott, Krys Barnes, Jacoby Windmon

Swing and a miss on this projection on our part. Only keeping three linebackers at a position that often has two on the field at once implies that this might be somewhere you see the team target the waiver wire for reinforcements. Keep an eye out.

And congrats to Martin-Scott. With one of the most linebacker names ever, he clearly made an impact as an undrafted free agent this season. Here’s to hoping he survives the next couple of days on the roster.

Cornerbacks​

Jaycee Horn, Mike Jackson, Chau Smith-Wade, Corey Thornton, Akayleb Evans, Shemar Bartholomew

No change at the top here, but let’s take a moment to acknowledge Thornton’s rise from undrafted free agent to CB4. He’s going to see a lot of playing time this season and that is something the coaching staff is apparently more than comfortable with. Let’s go.

Safeties​

Tre’von Moehrig, Nick Scott, Demani Richardson, Lathan Ransom

After an entire offseason being connected to safeties from free agency to the first round of the 2025 NFL draft, the Panthers are set to role out four guys widely considered as strong safeties. One is a big name FA addition from this season, one is an undrafted free agent from last year, one is the Panthers second fourth round pick from this year, and the last is Nick Scott. We’ll see.

Specialists​

Kicker: Ryan Fitzgerald
Punter: Sam Martin
Long snapper: JJ Jansen

Another year, another kicker. Let’s see what you’ve got, Fitzgerald.

Injuries​

Active/Physically Unable to Perform​

Jonathan Brooks, running back

Reserve/Injured​

Popo Aumavae, defensive tackle
Ja’Tyre Carter, guard
LaBryan Ray, defensive end – Designated to Return

Source: https://www.catscratchreader.com/ca...ting-the-panthers-initial-final-53-man-roster