Overpaid Panther Robbed the Team Blind With 2024 Performance

The Carolina Panthers took major steps forward in 2024, more than doubling their win total from a season before. The future looks brighter in Carolina, but general manager Dan Morgan and head coach Dave Canales still have a ton of work to do.

One of the biggest reasons is the hole the previous management dug themselves. Former general manager Scott Fitterer and the front office made dubious draft, trade, and free agency decisions that have set the franchise up poorly. Now Canales and Morgan have to clean up the mess that was left for them.

One of those dubious decisions that didn't work out for the Panthers at all was the signing of Shy Tuttle. The veteran defender signed a three-year, $19.5 million contract with Carolina in the 2023 offseason. He has started in 32 games for the Panthers since then but has consistently been one of the most disappointing players on the roster.

After finishing as the fourth-worst defensive unit in the NFL in 2023, the Panthers were dead last defensively, both in terms of points and yards allowed. The interior defensive line played a huge part in those struggles.

Out of 132 qualified interior defenders on Pro Football Focus, the Panthers had three players ranked 104 or below. Tuttle was 119th in his position with a disastrous, career-low 42.7 grade.

Tuttle was a solid defensive lineman with the Saints in his first four seasons in the league. Since joining the Panthers, he has been nowhere near that level. He is going to turn 30 during the 2025 season, making it hard to expect that he will have a bounce-back year.

The disappointing nose tackle's $9.3 million cap number for next season is the eighth-highest on the team. The Panthers could save up to $6.5 million by cutting him in the offseason, a probable scenario considering how poorly this season went for the veteran defender.

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