March 1, 2026, 10:04 a.m. ET
A hog molly could be in for a hog of a payday in the coming weeks.
ESPN national reporters Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano emptied out their news and notes from the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine in a new column on Sunday morning. Mentioned amongst their “top sleeper free agents” is Carolina Panthers starting center Cade Mays—who, per their digging, is anticipated by some teams to land a deal worth $8 million per season.
If that is indeed the number for Mays, who will 27 years old in late April, he’d become the seventh-highest paid center in the NFL on an annual basis. Such a pact would put him behind only Kansas City’s Creed Humphrey ($18 million), Philadelphia’s Cam Jurgens ($17 million), Chicago’s Drew Dalman ($14 million), Denver’s Luke Wattenberg ($12 million), New Orleans’ Erik McCoy ($12 million) and Minnesota’s Ryan Kelly ($9 million).
Mays is not the only notable Panthers offensive lineman ticketed for free agency later this month—as backup guard Brady Christensen and swing tackle Yosh Nijman are set to hit the open market as well. There is also some uncertainty surrounding starting left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, who ruptured his patellar tendon in the team’s wild-card round loss to the Los Angeles Rams in January.
President of football operations and general manager Dan Morgan commented on his desire to add to the trench during his media availability on Tuesday.
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“In terms of it impacting the draft and free agency, offensive line is a position we’re always gonna be looking at,” Morgan said of Ekwonu’s injury. “Always trying to upgrade and have as much depth as possible there. So we’re just gonna attack that like we usually do.”
That plan of attack is likely to include an attempt to retain Mays, who has made 20 starts over 25 games for Carolina in the past two seasons.
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