Explaining the Carolina Panthers' Salary Cap Situation After Mandatory Minicamp

A look at the Carolina Panthers' cap space situation ahead of the start of training camp next month.

Carolina Panthers general manager Dan Morgan. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

With mandatory minicamp in the books, it's a good time to take a dive into the Carolina Panthers' finances to see what they can do ahead of training camp when it comes to adding more help.

According to Over The Cap, the Panthers are sitting with $8.5 million in cap space ahead of training camp. That ranks as the seventh-lowest total in the NFL.

That amount does give the Panthers some wiggle room to make a move if they want to add at linebacker, for example, but not all of that $8.5 million is available to spend.

That's because the Panthers need some money to get through the regular season because of the inevitability of signings during the year. Teams usually set aside around $5 million or more for that purpose.

A big chunk of dead money

Former Carolina Panthers quarterback Andy Dalton. | Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

A whopping $22.1 million of Carolina's salary cap is taken up by dead money, with six of the eight players on the list being responsible for $2 million or more each.

Here's a look at the eight players who account for the $22 million in dead money Carolina has on its books.

QB Andy Dalton: $5.6 million
OL Austin Corbett: $4.4 million
WR Adam Thielen: $3.3 million
DL Shy Tuttle: $3.2 million
LB Josey Jewell: $2.3 million
DL A'Shawn Robinson: $2.05 million
EDGE D.J. Wonnum: $600,000
EDGE D.J. Johnson: $250,543

Which players have the biggest cap hits?

Carolina Panthers guard Robert Hunt. | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

The Panthers have three players sporting cap hits north of $20 million, including guard Robert Hunt, safety Tre'von Moehrig and right tackle Taylor Moton.

Seven other players are responsible for cap hits of $10 million or more. Here's a gander at the full top 10:

1. G Robert Hunt: $24.3 million
2. S Tre'Von Moehrig: $21.2 million
3. RT Taylor Moton: $21.1 million
4. DL Tershawn Wharton: $18.6 million
5. LT Ikem Ekwonu: $17.5 million
6. G Damien Lewis: $16.7 million
7. QB Bryce Young: $12.07 million
8. DL Derrick Brown: $10.9 million
9. CB Jaycee Horn: $10.8 million
10. EDGE Patrick Jones: $10.1 million

Enjoy those reasonable cap hits for Brown and Horn now, as both will see them balloon big time in 2027. Brown's will rise to $31.3 million and Horn's will go up to $25.9 million.