How Much Cap Space Can GM Dan Morgan Conjure Up for Panthers?

The Carolina Panthers have the most important offseason of the Bryce Young era in front of them, and they have the potential to free up a massive amount of cap space to attack this offseason while being “patient and aggressive,” as GM Dan Morgan has said when talking about this offseason.

As of now, the Panthers are projected to have around $28 million in cap space. This is around the middle of the league, but this number can rise quickly if the right moves are made, such as restructuring players’ contracts.

Contracts expert and founder of OvertheCap.com, Jason OTC, put together a graph of which teams in the NFL can create the most cap space in the NFL after completing basic restructures to open up space, and the Panthers landed in great territory, next to some of the premier teams in the NFL.

How much cap space could each NFL team free up with simple restructures?

1. DAL $131M
2. DET $128M
3. KC $109M
...
32. PHI $0.2M 😅

Data: @Jason_OTC (02/11/2026)
A simple restructure converts payments into prorated signing bonuses spread over the remaining years of the… pic.twitter.com/knNG9kAbzB
— SFdata9ers🏈📊 (@sfdata9ers) February 11, 2026

Carolina ranked 13th on the graph with an estimated total of $70 Million in restructuring potential for the 2026 offseason, right behind some of the best teams in the NFL, such as the Denver Broncos and Buffalo Bills.

If the Panthers were to pull this off, it would require some restructuring of key pieces of the team, including Derrick Brown, Jaycee Horn, Robert Hunt, and more. A restructure of Brown and Horns’ contracts alone could free up roughly $18 million in cap space for the Panthers, according to Spotrac.

Along with restructuring other contracts with multiple years remaining, extensions will be just as important, especially for players Carolina needs to keep, such as Mike Jackson, who broke out this season and helped create one of the best corner duos in the NFL alongside Jaycee Horn.

Mike Jackson’s on an expiring deal right now. Carolina locking him up long-term would most likely be done by giving him a three-year extension for the ballpark number of $40 million, and Jackson’s earned every penny of it.

Mike Jackson’s final 7 games of 2025:

34 tackles
1 forced fumble
4 interceptions
1 pick-six
1 forced fumble
12 passes defensed pic.twitter.com/NUE7hChUM2
— John Ellis (@1PantherPlace) January 11, 2026

The Panthers rank eighth in the NFL in potential cap space if every team did a maximum restructure, but it never works that way, and that’s okay. The Panthers are in a good spot already to use both the draft and free agency to build a complementary football team going into 2026.

Getting restructures done isn’t as flashy as far as free agency goes, but the Panthers have an opportunity to clear up a ton of space and become one of the biggest winners in the entire offseason.

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