Despite the steady criticism coming the NFC East’s way, Sunday’s Broncos-Panthers game is a matchup between two division leaders. Once again, the NFC South is lagging behind the other seven divisions. The NFC East could see its champion drop to the No. 4 seed in the NFC — where the NFC South champ has resided in three of the past four brackets — but mediocrity reigns among the Atlanta-Carolina-New Orleans-Tampa Bay contingent once again.
The Buccaneers pasted the Panthers 43-13 in Week 7, but Carolina’s 3-4 record places it in front entering Week 9. The defending division champs, however, have a litany of issues. Most notably, the Panthers fired fourth-year DC Ejiro Evero after back-to-back one-sided losses. The prospect of a division leader selling has entered the equation.
A Carolina loss to a Denver team on a historic streak of one-score wins would lead to a 3-5 mark at the deadline, and SI.com’s Albert Breer notes the team has entertain the prospect of trading Derrick Brown and/or Robert Hunt. Both players are on lucrative contracts that run beyond 2026.
Hunt looks to be the better bet to move — or at least be part of a Carolina trade effort — due to the cap savings that would come by the team unloading the guard’s contract.
The Panthers gave the ex-Dolphins second-rounder a five-year, $100MM contract in 2024 but saw him miss most of last season. Hunt earned Pro Bowl acclaim in 2024 but has not played as well between new linemen Luke Fortner and Monroe Freeling. Pro Football Focus ranks Hunt 59th among guard regulars this season. The Panthers would save around $19MM in cap space in 2027 if they moved on, per OverTheCap, but that is contingent on the team convincing a buyer to pick up nearly $10MM in 2026 base salary. The final two years of Hunt’s deal are nonguaranteed.
Few non-quarterbacks are truly untouchable in the NFL, and teams — including the Giants and Jaguars — are interested in a big-ticket D-tackle addition. That makes Brown a name worth monitoring, even as the Panthers find themselves in another uninspiring NFC South race, but The Athletic’s Joe Person reports teams calling about Brown are being told he is unavailable.
The Titans told teams Jeffery Simmons was off-limits, but the Bears managed to pry him from Nashville with two first-round picks. Aggressive Giants and Jaguars pushes are unlikely to yield that kind of return, though the Panthers could collect good value for Brown. The Matt Rhule-era first-round pick is tied to a four-year, $96MM extension that runs through 2028. No guarantees are left on the deal beyond 2026.
The Panthers are not looking to buy, Breer adds, despite their status atop the NFC South. Brown, 28, is a one-time Pro Bowler on a team reeling defensively (28th in points allowed). Taking the experienced DT out of the mix would certainly create more issues for the Panthers, though 2025 free agency addition Bobby Brown — who overlapped with Evero in Los Angeles — may be available.