Devin Lloyd is heading to Carolina. The former first-round pick is inking a three-year deal with the Panthers, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.
The three-year contract is worth $45MM and includes $25MM in guaranteed money. Lloyd may not have reached the very top of the linebacker market at $20MM per year as he was hoping (via Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer), but he will still come in with the fourth-highest annual pay at the position after receiving Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro recognition in 2025.
Lloyd, 27, was a highly-touted prospect out of Utah in 2022 who landed in Jacksonville via the No. 27 overall pick. He took over a starting job as a rookie, but struggled mightily in his transition to the NFL. Lloyd finished the 2022 season with a 48.1 grade from Pro Football Focus (subscription required), the ninth-worst among starting linebackers.
Two years of improvement followed. Then, in 2025, Lloyd emerged as a game-changer on the defensive side of the ball. Though his tackle production lagged relative to his first three seasons, he recorded a career-high five interceptions, allowed just a 57.1 passer rating when targeted, and added 28 pressures as a pass rusher, the third-most among off-ball linebackers.
The Panthers, who also inquired after Tremaine Edmunds before he signed with the Giants, will be banking on Lloyd to have a similar impact. He will slot in as Carolina’s starting linebacker next to Trevin Wallace, a 2024 third-rounder who has shown promise but missed nine games due to injury since being drafted.
Lloyd will likely take over the green dot role in a Panthers defense will also feature edge Jaelan Phillips in 2026. The two former first-rounders will hope to continue the unit’s ascension in Carolina’s third year under defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero.
Ben Levine contributed to this story.
That’s surprisingly affordable considering what other players got.
Carolina going all in on defense yet again.
Wow, Í can’t believe Lloyd got that little. Would rather Raiders signed Lloyd than Paye.
Jalen Phillips and now Lloyd, they paid a pretty penny for Phillips, but he and Lloyd are added to a defense that came on hot towards the end of the year and gave the rams offense a run for their money, twice
I was convinced someone was going to overpay Lloyd. I thought for sure he would get more than Baun got after only playing off-ball linebacker for one year. The contract he actually got is a much easier pill to swallow. Surprised he came in this low.
If Horn, Brown, and Phillips can stay healthy alongside Lloyd and Moehrig, and Nic Scourton takes another step, that’s a very nice core of talent on defense.
Excellent point ooof, I wonder if they pivot to offense in the 1st round now, Kenyon Sadiq would be Bryce young’s best friend if they can somehow grab him
I could see that or receiver. Could also see them looking for a CB2.
I just typed this intricate comment about how I’d love to see a TE drafted for the Panthers, and went into their potential needs at interior OL, edge, and possibly OT, and this amazing site ate it while loading an ad.
Again.
Oline help, whose going to play LT
The curse of the off-ball inside linebacker. I suppose that it makes sense, seeing as their offensive nemesis, the running back, suffers from the same issue.
As far as Carolina goes, I think that they’re happy enough with Mike Jackson to slide DB lower on their list of priorities. I’d love, love, love to see them take a TE, but that line and edge rush could definitely use some work. The Panthers lost Cade Mays to Detroit, and he even started his job filling in for Corbett, so center was probably an area of need beforehand. Scourton played pretty well to begin his career, posting five sacks to tie for the team lead with Brown inside, but there’s still not much proven production on the edge. Hopefully Scourton improves as he goes along and builds on that debut, but Carolina definitely could add to what is still a young edge group.
Finally, they might need help at OT, given Ekwonu’s injury. Moton is a good player on the other side, but picking a tackle this year might not be a bad idea to take over for the 31 year old Morton down the line, and Carolina will need a fill-in for Ekwonu (or insurance, given the type of injury) for at least the start of the year.
The Panthers are making a lot of improvement at key positions under Morgan. It’s too bad that he wasn’t in charge when the Rams tried to give away their franchise for Burns, but he’s done a lot so far to put Carolina on a positive progression. I think that his biggest priority now is at TE, interior OL, and edge, but there are a few lower priority places where they could add and still get good value (like S or HB).
Carolina definitely needs a big back to replace Dowdle and complement Chuba.
I agree with your other points, and I think I’m higher on Scourton than most.
I think Carolina needs OL most right now given their strengths at other positions. They’d be smart to draft at least one OL in the first or second rounds.
I agree with all of that. If I came off as being down on Scourton, that’s poor wording on my part. I think that he showed a lot of promise. Princely hasn’t shown enough in my eyes to not want another proven option on the edge, even if it’s certainly not too late to expect him to develop.
Oh na I was just agreeing with you on Scourton. He has room for improvement but he flashed majorly as a rookie.
He actually reminds me a lot of Phillips with his ability to both rush the passer and set the edge against the run.
He’s a solid backer
Not sure if I like this one, couldn’t they have addressed this in the draft? I get they need defensive players but seems like misused association of funds with this signing. They have an extra pick (5th from Vikings). Could have addressed this at that pick.
You seriously think you can add an impact MLB like Lloyd with a fifth round pick?
Lloyd is good but to say he’s an impact MLB is funny. Scheme matters I guess.
It’s definitely not funny. He is an impact MLB. So much so that people thought he would be extremely pricey as a free agent.
LB’s are a dime a dozen. I would have used that cap space and see if they would have been able to sign a safety or sure up the OL for BY.