(Photo courtesy of Tennessee Athletics Communications)
This past season, former Tennessee football offensive lineman Cade Mays broke out as the starting center for the Carolina Panthers in the NFL. After a strong year, he’s now an unrestricted free agent and has the chance to test the open market.
Ahead of free agency, CBS predicted the next home for the top 50 pending free agents this year. This included Mays, ranked at No. 30. The publication doesn’t think Mays is going anywhere, though. Instead, it projects him to stick with the Panthers.
“Carolina keeps Mays, who has developed nicely since being a sixth-round pick in 2022,” CBS’s Zachary Pereless wrote.
Along with the Panthers, he listed the Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions and Houston Texans as potential landing spots.
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In 2025, Mays appeared in 14 games, starting in all except the first. This included the wildcard loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs. On the year, Mays produced a strong PFF grade of 61.0. This included a 67.6 mark in pass protection and 58.3 as a run blocker.
Mays began his college career at Georgia, playing for the Bulldogs from 2018-19. Then, he transferred to Tennessee, where he played from 2020-21. This featured one year under Jeremy Pruitt and one under Josh Heupel.
In Mays’ final season of college, he was named a Second-Team All-SEC member. As a result, the Panthers selected him in the sixth round with the 199th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. He played for Carolina from 2022-23, before being released and signed to the New York Giants’ practice squad in 2024. Just a month later, the Panthers signed him back off the Giants’ practice squad, though.
Mays is from Knoxville, starring for Knoxville Catholic in high school. His younger brother, Cooper Mays, also played for Tennessee and proved to be one of the better centers in the country by the end of his career.