{"id":851961,"date":"2026-04-03T21:04:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T21:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/851961\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T21:04:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T21:04:17","slug":"devin-lloyd-hype-is-real-and-panthers-coach-dave-canales-couldnt-hide-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/851961\/","title":{"rendered":"Devin Lloyd hype is real and Panthers coach Dave Canales couldn\u2019t hide why"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Carolina Panthers kicked off free agency with a bang. General manager Dan Morgan secured edge rusher Jaelan Phillips on a bumper contract that sent shockwaves<\/a> through the league. However, the addition of linebacker Devin Lloyd could be equally significant.<\/p>\n

This sentiment was given further weight by head coach Dave Canales, who outlined precisely why Lloyd was such a high-priority target for the Panthers when the NFL’s legal tampering window opened.<\/p>\n

Lloyd was considered among the best available free agents, regardless of position. The Jacksonville Jaguars offered him a deal to stick around, but the Panthers’ project was too tempting to ignore. And the three-year, $42 million contract with $25 million guaranteed was well below his original market value<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dave Canales reaffirms Carolina Panthers’ confidence in Devin Lloyd splash<\/p>\n

After doing his due diligence on Lloyd, Canales was convinced<\/a>. The references were glowing. Not just for his performances on the field, but also for his exceptional character and growing leadership behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

“Just heard a lot about his character. First of all, really productive on the ball. He had a fantastic year. intercepting it, play-style wise, high energy, good range. He’s huge, by the way, he’s 6-3 and change. But a really heady player.<\/p>\n

“And then on top of all that, just the stuff I heard about him as a man, the leader that he is, the respect he had from his teammates, all those different things. It was just a great opportunity for us to bring him in there at a position that we really wanted a challenge.”<\/p>\n

As Canales not-so-subtly pointed out, the Panthers needed more in their linebacker room. Lloyd’s arrival shouldn’t prevent Morgan from adding another dynamic option during the 2026 NFL Draft<\/a>, but it gets them a lot closer.<\/p>\n

Phillips’ ability to disrupt from the edge will be enormously helpful. Even so, Carolina’s success throughout franchise history has always been predicated on tone-setting enforcers at the defensive second level.<\/p>\n

If Lloyd meets expectations, which are pretty high after a second-team All-Pro campaign with the Jaguars last season, he’ll instantly become the most prolific Panthers linebacker since Luke Kuechly<\/a>. His energy and well-rounded traits make him a legitimate three-level force. If last year’s breakout represents the start of things to come, the former Utah star will be a tremendous addition to the ranks.<\/p>\n

Canales is bullish about Lloyd’s outlook. Morgan is, too. He’ll be taking on massive responsibilities, but there is nothing to suggest he cannot excel within defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero’s 3-4 base concepts.<\/p>\n

And for a defense desperately crying out for linebacker consistency, this could end up being the missing piece of the puzzle in Carolina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Carolina Panthers kicked off free agency with a bang. General manager Dan Morgan secured edge rusher Jaelan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":851962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[235,260,2567,7,6,236],"class_list":{"0":"post-851961","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-football","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116342808177306521","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851961","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=851961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}