March 5, 2026, 9:36 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
The Carolina Panthers<\/a> have been linked to a former first-round pick and Super Bowl champion.<\/p>\n Greg Auman of FOX Sports has recently named<\/a> who he believes to be the “ideal” free-agent signing for the Panthers. With Carolina struggling<\/a> to get to opposing quarterbacks\u2014as evidenced by their 31st-ranked pressure rate (16.5 percent) in 2025\u2014he connects them to veteran outside linebacker Leonard Floyd.<\/p>\n Auman writes:<\/p>\n This is ideal, as in “ideal and reasonably within their budget.” They\u2019re not all $20 million signings, and Carolina is barely under the cap entering free agency. Edge rusher is arguably the biggest positional need, and Floyd played well with the Rams<\/a> in 2020-21 when Evero Eijro was there. Last season was a down year, but he\u2019d gotten at least eight sacks in five straight years before that, and could bounce back as a solid value impact for an improved Panthers defense. Only two\u00a0NFL\u00a0teams had fewer sacks than Carolina\u2019s 30 last year, with no Panthers player getting more than five.<\/p>\n Floyd, the ninth overall pick from the 2016 NFL Draft, teamed up with Evero in what would be his two most productive NFL campaigns. He recorded a career-high 10.5 sacks in 2020, then followed that up with 9.5 sacks and a career-high 70 tackles in the Rams’ Super Bowl-winning season in 2021.<\/p>\n