Both Bradley Bozeman and the Panthers wanted the sides’ one-year partnership to extend beyond 2022; they reached an agreement to make this happen Monday.
The Panthers are re-signing Bozeman, David Newton of ESPN.com tweets. The Panthers’ starting O-line from 2022 is now entirely locked in for the ’23 season. The Panthers have announced the move.
After only scoring a one-year deal during the 2022 free agency period, Bozeman will receive a midlevel accord to stay in Charlotte. It is a three-year, $18MM contract, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. This year featured a few comparable centers on the market, with Bozeman joining Garrett Bradbury, Ethan Pocic, 49ers resurgent starter Jake Brendel and the recently released Ben Jones. Although the Panthers have a new coaching staff in place, they ended up prioritizing continuity up front.
Bozeman, 28, will stay in place alongside Ikem Ekwonu, Brady Christensen, Austin Corbett and Taylor Moton in Carolina. The Panthers had gone through some issues up front, save for Moton, leading up to 2022. But the Scott Fitterer-Matt Rhule tandem did well to patch up the unit. Frank Reich will inherit a much better O-line — one Pro Football Focus ranked 15th last season — and Bozeman’s re-up ensures Carolina will be the rare team to keep its five O-line starters.
ESPN slotted Bozeman sixth in its pass block win rate metric, and Bozeman played a significant role in the Panthers still managing to deploy a quality run game — largely on the legs of D’Onta Foreman — after trading Christian McCaffrey. Bozeman has been a starter for the past four seasons, lining up as a Ravens guard in 2019 and ’20. The Ravens produced historic rushing totals in those seasons, with Lamar Jackson breaking the quarterback rushing record in 2019. Bozeman moved to center in 2021 but could not generate much interest on the market. After outlasting Pat Elflein in the pivot with the Panthers, Bozeman finally scored his coveted payday.