The Panthers and 2025 No. 8 pick Tetairoa McMillan agreed to a rookie contract, the team announced on Thursday. According to Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk, McMillan's deal is worth $27.9 million over four years. McMillan will now join 2024 first-rounder Xavier Legette as a top target for Carolina quarterback Bryce Young.

The Panthers released Clowney early Thursday morning, according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. The former All-Pro tied veteran A'Shawn Robinson for the team lead in sacks in 2024. However, in its first season without star pass-rusher Brian Burns since 2018, Carolina managed just 32 sacks as a team, the third-fewest in the league.

The Carolina Panthers might've been ready to pull off one of the biggest shockers of the 2025 NFL draft. On Wednesday, ESPN senior NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler cleaned out his notebook of the final bits of intel from this year's selection process. Included in his coverage of the Panthers was this interesting little nugget . . .