{"id":44958,"date":"2025-05-12T20:00:17","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T20:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/44958\/"},"modified":"2025-05-12T20:00:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T20:00:17","slug":"panthers-urged-to-sign-24-million-free-agent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/44958\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers Urged To Sign $24 Million Free Agent"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Carolina Panthers dramatically improved their defense in the offseason, but PFF believes veteran cornerback Mike Hilton could be the missing piece for this unit. Head coach Dave Canales<\/a> inherited a mess when he took over in 2024 and knew that he couldn\u2019t fix the team in one offseason. With that in mind, the coach focused on building an environment that could support 2023 first-round pick Bryce Young. This approach worked, as Young played well down the stretch, but it came at the expense of the defense.<\/p>\n

With the offense in a good place, Carolina spent 2024 focused on the defense. After re-signing Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson while adding Tre\u2019Von Moehrig, Tershawn Wharton, and Day 2 draft picks Nic Scourton<\/a> and Princely Umanmielen. However, slot cornerback is still a need, and PFF believes free agent Mike Hilton could be the perfect fit for this defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe coverage unit still needs immense work, particularly in the slot, where Chau Smith-Wade (49.6 PFF coverage grade) remains the team\u2019s only player to have clocked more than 100 coverage snaps,\u201d PFF\u2019s Mason Cameron writes<\/a>. \u201cAdding a veteran like Mike Hilton \u2013 who owns a 77.3 PFF grade over the past two seasons \u2013 would help stabilize this secondary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MikeCincinnati Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton (21) celebrates a stop in the fourth quarter of the NFL Week 18 game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. The Bengals won 19-17 to finish the regular season at 9-8.
\nPFF: Panthers Should Sign Cornerback Mike Hilton<\/p>\n

As mentioned above, the Carolina Panthers still need a reliable slot cornerback, and Mike Hilton is probably the best option available. While he won\u2019t make anyone forget about 2009 Darelle Revis<\/a>, he\u2019s an adequate starter who can give Carolina a well-rounded secondary with no glaring weaknesses. Jaycee Horn is an above-average starter, Mike Jackson played remarkably well last year, and Hilton can take the third spot. With Moehrig securing the strong safety position, Carolina should have a respectable defense heading into the upcoming season.<\/p>\n

Building a team from the ground up isn\u2019t easy, and nobody expects this team to compete for a Super Bowl in 2025. However, the NFC South is a disaster of a division, so could Carolina make a surprise push to the playoffs if they sign Mike Hilton?<\/p>\n

The Weak NFC South<\/p>\n

While anything can happen in the NFL, it\u2019s hard to envision a world where the New Orleans Saints are competitive in 2025. With Derek Carr retired, first-year head coach Kellen Moore will have to win games with a flawed, old roster led by quarterbacks Tyler Shough<\/a>, Spencer Rattler, and Jake Haener. Nobody could win with this roster, and they\u2019ll likely be in the running for the first-overall pick next year.<\/p>\n

The rest of the division, however, could pose a problem. Baker Mayfield\u2019s Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> remain the best team in the NFC South, as they have the most offensive firepower in the division. While Todd Bowles is one of the league\u2019s lesser head coaches, they\u2019ll remain the team to beat. The Falcons, meanwhile, have young talent on offense but are betting everything on first-round picks Jalon Walker<\/a> and James Pearce making an immediate contribution. If those two fix the defense and Michael Penix builds on his impressive three-game finish to 2025, Atlanta will probably be better than the Panthers.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Carolina still faces an uphill battle to make the playoffs. However, they should at least be competitive, which is the first time you could say that since the Cam Newton days.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: Sam Greene \u2013 Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Carolina Panthers dramatically improved their defense in the offseason, but PFF believes veteran cornerback Mike Hilton could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[235,260,2567,1561,7,10348,6,236,5405],"class_list":{"0":"post-44958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-carolina","9":"tag-carolina-panthers","10":"tag-carolinapanthers","11":"tag-cincinnati-bengals-news","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-mike-hilton","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-panthers","16":"tag-panthers-featured"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114496643247184090","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}