{"id":644504,"date":"2026-01-01T02:32:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T02:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/644504\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T02:32:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T02:32:40","slug":"panthers-2023-draft-bust-signs-with-commanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/644504\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers 2023 draft bust signs with Commanders"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Carolina Panthers<\/a> draft pick has finally found a second NFL home.<\/p>\n

As announced on Wednesday, outside linebacker DJ Johnson has signed to the Washington Commanders<\/a>‘ practice squad. Johnson, Carolina’s third-round pick from two years ago, had been a free agent since early October.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The Panthers traded up<\/a> to select Johnson with the 80th overall pick of the 2023 draft. Their jump saw them send their third-rounder (93rd overall) and a fourth-rounder (132nd overall) to the Pittsburgh Steelers.<\/p>\n

Johnson went on to struggle in Carolina, totaling just five starts and half a sack over three seasons. Before being waived<\/a> on Sept. 30, following their Week 4 loss to the New England Patriots, he recorded two tackles over four games in 2025.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old now rejoins the man who drafted him, former Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer. Fitterer currently serves as a personnel executive for the Commanders.<\/p>\n

Only two of the Panthers’ five draftees from their 2023 class (quarterback Bryce Young and guard Chandler Zavala) remain with the team.<\/p>\n

Follow\u00a0@ThePanthersWire<\/a>\u00a0on Twitter\/X for more Panthers content.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: NFL roster moves: Former Panthers OLB DJ Johnson signs with Commanders<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Carolina Panthers draft pick has finally found a second NFL home. As announced on Wednesday, outside…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[1476,235,260,2567,22658,22667,7,249,6,236,57,93820,1470,111],"class_list":["post-644504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-carolina-panthers","tag-bryce-young","tag-carolina","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-carolinapanthers","tag-chandler-zavala","tag-dj-johnson","tag-football","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl","tag-panthers","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-scott-fitterer","tag-the-panthers","tag-washington-commanders"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115817502937826540","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644504","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=644504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}