The Panthers have released linebacker Josey Jewell, the team announced.
Jewell, 30, remains in concussion protocol seven months after a head injury in Week 16 against the Cardinals. He intends to prioritize his health with hopes of returning at some point in the future if his symptoms clear.
Jewell signed a three-year contract with the team during the 2024 offseason, and he started 12 games last year. He was second on the team with 97 tackles, while also contributing 3.5 sacks, two fumble recoveries and an interception.
The Panthers signed former Rams starter Christian Rozeboom on the first day of free agency and have 2024 third-rounder Trevin Wallace returning at the position.
Others on the roster at that position are Claudin Cherelus, Jacoby Windmon, Jon Rhattigan and Bam Martin-Scott and Tuasivi Nomura.
In seven seasons, Jewell has totaled 550 tackles, three interceptions, 12.5 sacks, five forced fumbles and 22 passes defensed in 90 games.
Panthers tight end Tommy Tremble will open training camp on the physically unable to perform list.
The team announced the move on Monday. They also placed wide receiver Dan Chisena on the PUP list and punter Sam Martin was placed on the non-football injury list.
Tremble signed a two-year deal with the team early in the offseason and had back surgery in May. He had 23 catches for 234 yards and two touchdowns in 12 games last season.
Chisena has mainly played on special teams since entering the league in 2020, but had his first three NFL catches last season. Martin signed with the Panthers this offseason after playing in Buffalo the last three years.
In 2001, the Panthers drafted Steve Smith in the third round, played him mostly on special teams as a rookie, and then saw him develop into the best wide receiver in franchise history. This year, the Panthers drafted wide receiver Jimmy Horn in the sixth round, and Horn would love to see his career take a similar trajectory.
Horn talked to former Panther Thomas Davis on the team’s YouTube channel and said he’s eager to contribute any way he can, just as Smith did as a rookie, when he caught only 10 passes but was an All-Pro kick returner.
“My rookie year, I just want to go out there and impact any way I can,” Horn said. “That could be from special teams, offense, taking five-yard catches to a 90-yard touchdown. I’m just trying to do anything I can do to help the team win. And then I feel like if I play that way, whatever accolades I’m looking for, it’ll fall on to me.”
Horn said he has watched the way Smith played the game and would like to emulate him.
“The main thing I took from his game was like the physicality,” Horn said. “He played tough and like he really on the field, he wasn’t going for nothing. So like that’s just something natural as a player that you got to have too. And I see that in me a lot too though. I ain’t really going for nothing on the field.”
Horn might only be the fourth or fifth receiver on the offense but is likely to return punts and kickoffs as a rookie. That’s how Smith got started, and it worked out well for him.
The Panthers have agreed to terms with second-round edge rusher Nic Scourton, the team announced Saturday night.
That means they will have their entire eight-player rookie class under contract when workouts begin Wednesday.
The Panthers traded up to select Scourton with the 51st overall pick as they had on first-round grade on the Texas A&M product.
Scourton, 20, spent his first two collegiate seasons at Purdue before transferring in 2024. He was a second-team All-Big Ten selection in 2023 when he led the conference with 10 sacks.
In 2024, he totaled five sacks and 14 tackles for loss, earning first-team All-SEC honors for the Aggies.
Scourton has lost some 28 pounds since this time a year ago.
Stats don’t always tell the whole story, but they do a pretty good job of telling the story of the 2024 Panthers defense.
The Panthers allowed the most points and second-most yards of any team in league history, which explains why the team made a point of overhauling that side of the ball this offseason. They opened free agency by signing five defensive players and then picked up four more in the draft, but cornerback Jaycee Horn doesn’t think the changes completely turn the page from last year’s performance.
Horn said that the memory of what happened on the field should be used as inspiration rather than wiped from the memory banks.
“We don’t need to be anything close to that,” Horn said, via the team’s website. “You kind of want to throw it out of your mind because it’s a new season, but at the same time, it’s on the back of your mind too, because that should be really all the motivation you need to come back to camp. You don’t want nothing like that to happen again. It was a lot of injuries and a lot of stuff of that nature, but at the same time, the stat book is what it is. Like, we weren’t a good defense last year, so this year we just have to go even harder than we did last year. It’s out there, yeah. I mean you know it is what it is. You’ve just got to go about handling it the right way, bouncing back.”
Quarterback Bryce Young’s improvement in the second half of last season gave the Panthers something to build on offensively. Getting something similar on defense would be a step in the right direction in Carolina this season.
