The 17th weekend of the 2025 season starts with a trio of Christmas games. It continues with a Saturday tripleheader, capped by an exclusive prime-time game on Peacock.
The three games for the Saturday slate will come from a group of five games.
The five games earmarked for the Saturday shift are Seahawks at Panthers, Cardinals at Bengals, Ravens at Packers, Texans at Chargers, and Giants at Raiders.
The best of the bunch, as of May 14, is Ravens at Packers. Texans at Chargers is close behind, since it’s a playoff rematch from 2024.
The other games could become more compelling as the season unfolds. And with five games in play to be dropped into prime time on Saturday night, chances are at least one will involve a pair of teams in playoff contention.
In four years at Notre Dame, tight end Mitchell Evans was not extremely productive, totaling 77 catches for 903 yards and five touchdowns. But the Panthers drafted him in the fifth round because they think he can do a lot in their offense, and after rookie minicamp they felt even more confident about that.
Canales said he and tight ends coach Pat McPherson saw Evans doing things at rookie minicamp that told them he’ll have a versatile role in their offense.
‘What carries over from the film is just a really versatile guy,” Canales said, via Panthers.com. “So whether it was the individual drills, going through blocking with Pat, the footwork stuff, you know, and then just being a reliable target, you know, he’s a really smooth mover in his routes, plays compact at the top. So I think just all those things—we just felt like a really well-rounded, clean football player, you know, and certainly fits into what we do.”
Evans says the offense he’s learning should be a good fit for his skills.
“I think we’re very versatile, you know, we do a lot in this offense,” Evans said. “We’re not just blocking, we’re not just pass catching, we’re doing it at all. There are a lot of different moving elements to this offense. It’s very complex in a good way, and I think we do it all, so this is a very good offense to be a tight end.”
In Carolina, Evans is teamed up with another former Notre Dame tight end, Tommy Tremble, who also wasn’t extremely productive in his college career but has emerged as a versatile player in the Panthers’ offense. Canales knows what kind of tight end he wants in his system, and he added another one on the third day of the draft.
The Panthers have signed another one of their draft picks.
Fourth-round running back Trevor Etienne agreed to his four-year rookie contract with the team. The Panthers signed six other picks ahead of their rookie minicamp and second-round edge rusher Nic Scourton is now the only unsigned member of the class.
Etienne, who is the younger brother of Jaguars running back Travis Etienne, played two years at Florida before transferring to Georgia for the 2024 season. He ran 122 times for 609 yards and nine touchdowns while also catching 32 passes in his lone season with the Buldogs.
Chuba Hubbard, Rico Dowdle, and Raheem Blackshear are also in the running back group for Carolina.
Panthers running back Jonathon Brooks saw his chances of playing in 2025 come to an end last week when the team placed him on the physically unable to perform list.
Making the move now means Brooks won’t be eligible to return to action until the 2026 season and head coach Dave Canales explained the timing during the team’s rookie minicamp. Brooks tore his ACL while at Texas in 2023 and then tore the same ligament again in Week 14 last season, which led the Panthers to choose an approach that allows Brooks to focus only on rehab without thinking about when he will play again.
“It really just allows him to focus on what he’s working on, which is full health, strength, best shape of his life to give him the best chance so when he comes back to us that he’s running on all cylinders, that he doesn’t have to think about it and think he could just play football and enjoy it again,” Canales said, via the team’s website. “And that’s really what this is about. It’s about him just being able to have a clear focus on what the goal is.”
Brooks had nine carries for 22 yards and three catches for 23 yards in three appearances as a rookie. Chuba Hubbard, Rico Dowdle, Raheem Blackshear, and fourth-round pick Trevor Etienne will handle the backfield work in Carolina.
The Panthers have moved on from one of their young defensive players.
Carolina announced on Friday that the club has waived outside linebacker Kenny Dyson.
Dyson, 23, signed with the Panthers as an undrafted free agent last year. He was on the practice squad in 2024, appearing in a pair of games. He finished the season with a pair of tackles after playing 10 defensive snaps and 21 special teams snaps.
He was then signed to a futures deal in January.
According to multiple reporters, Dyson’s exit stems from Carolina initially being told that running back Jonathon Brooks would not count against the 90-man roster after he’d been placed on the PUP list on Thursday. But then the league clarified that was not the case, and Brooks will count on the active roster, leading to Dyson’s departure.
Before the draft, Panthers G.M. Dan Morgan was vague when asked about the future of edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney. After the draft, a report emerged that the Panthers engaged in pre-draft conversations about possibly trading Clowney.
It was no shock, then, when the Panthers moved on from Clowney, on Thursday.
In eleven NFL seasons, Clowney (the first overall pick in 2014) has played for the Texans, Seahawks, Titans, Browns, Ravens, and Panthers.
He fully intends to keep going.
“I’m definitely gonna play well,” Clowney told Joseph Person of TheAthletic.com. “You can mark my word on that. I don’t care where I end up playing at, I’m gonna play extremely well.”
Clowney seemed to disagree with the Panthers’ decision to part ways.
“I think I played well for Carolina [last] year, considering the circumstances that . . . unfolded for me,” Clowney said. “I played with a bunch of guys that was hurt this past year. And I ended up playing extremely well for them. So it is what it is. I can play the game. I can play football. There are 31 other teams. I just hope another team gives me that opportunity so I can prove myself again. I feel like I can do that.”
He nevertheless had a feeling this was coming.
“I got a sense then they wanted me out of the building,” Clowney said. “I was just like, ‘Y’all could’ve told me this back when I was coming in here during the offseason.’ I kind of had a sense, though. I’ve been around the game long enough to know, so I was OK.”
He attributed last year’s struggles to injuries to other players and overall issues for the offense and the defense.
"[W]e was behind the 8-ball a lot, getting scored on and couldn’t score,” Clowney said. “It was like, you can’t rush, you can’t stop the run, you’re in a bad situation. That’s just football.”
The Panthers could have done this in March, allowing Clowney to hit the market when the other teams were looking for new players. The specific timing was viewed, we’re told, as less-than-ideal by his agent, Kennard McGuire. The announcement, which could have been made on Wednesday or today, came as McGuire was attending his daughter’s graduation from Howard University.
Clowney now lands on the open market relatively late in the process — but still with time to find his new opportunity.
“I got more in the tank than people think,” Clowney said. “I just keep bringing it, and they’re gonna keep counting me out.”
Clowney, 32, had 5.5 sacks in 14 games last season. He has played in 140 career games, with 127 starts. Beyond his 58 career sacks, Clowney has a history of high performance in one specific area that has yet to be recognized as an official statistic. It’s called “eff up the play” by Simms — who (to no surprise) often uses a word other than “eff” when citing it whenever the topic comes up on PFT Live.
The challenge will become finding the sweet spot between Clowney’s financial expectations and the potential offers to come from other teams. For now, other teams would be wise to take a close look at his 2024 film, and then to decide whether there’s a spot in the lineup for a player who has a history of creating havoc, even if that havoc doesn’t always manifest itself on the stat sheet.
Panthers first-round pick Tetairoa McMillan has signed his first NFL contract.
The Panthers announced that McMillan is one of six draft picks who have signed ahead of this weekend’s rookie minicamp. McMillan signed a four-year deal worth over $27.93 million and the team holds an option for a fifth season.
McMillan was the first wide receiver off the board in this year’s draft. He had 84 catches for 1,139 yards and eight touchdowns in his final season at Arizona.
The Panthers also announced that they have signed third-round linebacker Princely Umanmielen, fourth-round safety Lathan Ransom, fifth-round defensive tackle Cam Jackson, fifth-round tight end Mitchell Evans, and sixth-round wide receiver Jimmy Horn Jr. Two more picks remain unsigned.
Nineteen undrafted rookies have also signed with the team. TCU cornerback JaTravis Broughton, Florida State kicker Ryan Fitzgerald, UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers, Miami wide receiver Jacolby George, Nebraska safety Isaac Gifford, SMU defensive end Jared Hunte-Harrison, Minnesota safety Jack Henderson, UCF wide receiver Kobe Hudson, Cincinnati offensive lineman Luke Kandra, Vanderbile offensive lineman Steven Losoya, Michigan State running back Kayron Lynch-Adams, South Carolina linebacker Bam Martin-Scott, Texas A&M wide receiver Moose Muhammad III, Fresno State linebacker Tuasivi Nomura, UCLA tight end Bryce Pierre, South Dakota cornerback Michael Reid, Oklahoma offensive lineman Michael Tarquin, Arkansas State safety Trevian Thomas, and Louisville cornerback Corey Thornton make up that group.
Carolina running back Jonathon Brooks will not be on the field for the 2025 season.
As part of a bevy of moves on Thursday, the Panthers placed Brooks on the physically unable to perform list.
By making the move now, Brooks will not play in the coming season. After recovering from a torn ACL suffered in his last year with Texas, Brooks came back play three games before re-tearing the same ACL in December.
He had nine carries for 22 yards and three receptions for 23 yards in those three games last year.
Additionally, Carolina formally announced the previously reported release of edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney. The Panthers also announced tight end Colin Granger was waived with an injury settlement. The club waived/injured defensive tackle Popo Aumavae, waived receiver T.J. Luther, receiver Dax Milne, offensive lineman Andrew Raym, and defensive tackle Jerrod Clark. The team also released tight end Jordan Matthews.
The Panthers are moving on from one of their veteran defenders.
Carolina is releasing edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney, the team announced on Thursday.
The No. 1 overall pick of the 2014 draft, Clowney had signed a two-year deal with the Panthers last offseason. He recorded 5.5 sacks with nine tackles for loss and 11 quarterback hits in 14 games for the club in 2024.
By releasing Clowney, the Panthers will save $7.8 million against the cap in 2025.
In 140 career games for Houston, Seattle, Tennessee, Cleveland, Baltimore, and Carolina, Clowney has recorded 58.0 sacks with 108 tackles for loss and 138 quarterback hits.
The Panthers are continuing to trim their roster ahead of this weekend’s rookie minicamp.
Mike Kaye of the Charlotte Observer reports that they are waiving center Andrew Raym and wide receiver Dax Milne. Word that they are also parting ways with tight ends Jordan Matthews and Colin Granger came earlier in the day.
Raym signed with the Panthers after going undrafted out of Oklahoma last year and made the initial 53-man roster. He played in one game and finished out the season on the practice squad.
Milne was also on the practice squad at the end of the year. He did not appear in any games, but did play in 28 games for Washington in 2021 and 2022. He had 15 catches for 120 yards and a touchdown while also seeing time as a returner.
