Panthers To Sign WR John Metchie
After playing out his rookie contract with three different teams, John Metchie has lined up another new arrangement. The wideout has agreed to terms on a one-year deal with the Panthers, per his agent (h/t ESPN’s Adam Schefter).
The former second-round pick is coming off a 2025 campaign that he split between the Jets and Eagles. Now, he’ll be joining a Panthers offense that’s led by Bryce Young, who was Metchie’s QB when the two were at Alabama.
It was Metchie’s performance with the Crimson Tide that convinced the Texans to use the 44th-overall pick on the WR in the 2022 draft. Unfortunately, the receiver failed to click in Houston. He sat out his rookie campaign after being diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia, but he returned in time for the 2023 season. In two healthy years with the organization, Metchie was limited to a combined 40 catches for 412 yards and one touchdown.
He was dealt to the Eagles last August for a late-round pick swap and got into seven games with his new squad, hauling in four catches for 18 yards. He was included in the Michael Carter swap in October and proceeded to appear in nine games (seven starts) for the Jets, where he finished with 29 catches for 256 yards and two scores.
Now, he’ll be reuniting with Young in Carolina. He’ll have an opportunity to carve out a minor role with his new team, although it’s worth noting that the Panthers are set to return all of their top-four WRs (in terms of snap count) from 2025: Tetairoa McMillan, Xavier Legette, Jalen Coker, and Brycen Tremayne.
Ben Levine contributed to this post.
Panthers To Sign OL Stone Forsythe
Stone Forsythe is heading to Carolina. The free agent offensive lineman has agreed to a deal with the Panthers, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. It’s a one-year deal for Forsythe, according to Joe Person of The Athletic.
The former sixth-round pick out of Florida ended up playing out his rookie contract in Seattle. He eventually emerged as a key depth piece on the Seahawks offensive line, starting half of his 26 appearances between 2023 and 2024.
He joined the Giants during last year’s free agency but didn’t make it to the regular season with his new squad, as he was among the team’s final preseason cuts. He quickly caught on with the Raiders and played a significant role in Las Vegas, starting a career-high 13 games. Unfortunately, Pro Football Focus wasn’t all that bullish on his performance, ranking him 72nd among 84 qualifying offensive tackles.
He’ll likely revert to a depth piece in Carolina behind Ikem Ekwonu and Taylor Moton. Brady Christensen and Yosh Nijman are both free agents, so Forsythe will be penciled for the swing tackle role heading into the 2026 campaign.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/10/26
Today’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
- Re-signed: WR Dayton Wade
Carolina Panthers
- Re-signed: WR David Moore, DE LaBryan Ray
- Waived: DT Popo Aumavae
Green Bay Packers
- Re-signed: OL Darian Kinnard
Houston Texans
- Signed: LB Jake Hummel
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Released: TE Johnny Mundt
Kansas City Chiefs
- Re-signed: WR Nikko Remigio
Los Angeles Chargers
- Re-signed: CB Deane Leonard
New York Giants
- Re-signed: CB Art Green
- Signed: LB Caleb Murphy
- Waived: S Anthony Johnson
San Francisco 49ers
- Re-signed: LB Garret Wallow
Panthers To Sign C Luke Fortner
The Panthers may have found their replacement for Cade Mays. The team is set to sign veteran center Luke Fortner, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
It’s a one-year deal for Fortner, per Pelissero. The contract will pay the lineman up to $4.75MM.
The 2022 third-round pick spent the first three seasons of his career in Jacksonville. He was a full-time starter through his first two years, but he was limited to only 13 offensive snaps in 17 games in 2024. Predictably, the Jaguars moved on from him following that campaign, trading him to the Saints for defensive tackle Khalen Saunders.
Fortner returned to the starting lineup during his lone season in New Orleans, starting 10 of his 17 appearances. Pro Football Focus believed this was the best showing of the lineman’s career, ranking him 17th among 37 qualifying centers. The site ultimately credited him with three sacks allowed and 11 pressures allowed.
Mays joined the Lions yesterday on a three-year deal, and with center/guard Austin Corbett also unsigned, the Panthers had a major hole on their offensive line. Fortner will surely be penciled in for the starting gig entering training camp, but he could face some competition from special teamer Nick Samac or any other offseason acquisition.
Panthers To Re-Sign LB Isaiah Simmons
Isaiah Simmons will remain in place with the Panthers in 2026. The veteran linebacker has agreed to a new Carolina deal, Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network report.
As a Swiss Army knife at Clemson, the 6-foot-4, 238-pound Simmons logged at least 100 snaps at five positions: inside linebacker, slot corner, free safety, outside linebacker and strong safety. In 2019, his last college season, Simmons took home the Butkus Award for the nation’s best linebacker and earned ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Simmons’ success at Clemson convinced the Cardinals to draft him eighth overall in 2020. The Panthers considered Simmons at No. 7, but they wisely chose defensive tackle Derrick Brown instead. Brown remains a cornerstone defender in Carolina, while Simmons has not made the type of impact most expected when he entered the league.
Simmons did not find a home at either safety or linebacker in Arizona, though he mostly served as a starter there from 2020-22. The Cardinals sent Simmons to the Giants for a seventh-round pick before the 2023 campaign. The Giants shifted Simmons back to linebacker, where he played in 34 straight games over two seasons, but did not re-sign him in free agency last year.
Simmons joined the Packers last April, but he was unable to earn a roster spot. Three months after the Packers cut him in late August, the 27-year-old signed with the Panthers’ practice squad at the end of November. Simmons appeared in five regular-season games, though just one of his 88 snaps came on defense. In the Panthers’ lone playoff game, a wild-card round matchup against the Rams, Simmons came up with a well-timed blocked punt late in the fourth quarter. It nearly helped the Panthers to an upset, but they dropped a 34-31 nail-biter.
Connor Byrne contributed to this post.
Panthers Release DT A’Shawn Robinson
As expected, A’Shawn Robinson‘s tenure with the Panthers has come to an end. The veteran defensive tackle was released on Tuesday, per a team announcement. 
Robinson’s time in Carolina was in doubt leading up to the new league year. The Panthers granted him permission to seek a trade, a typical sign a release will be coming. No suitors were willing to take on the remaining year of Robinson’s contract. As such, he will now hit the open market.
This cut will free up $10.5MM in cap space for Carolina. The team will take on just $2.06MM in dead money charges along the way. Robinson, 31 later this month, lasted through two seasons after arriving on a three-year free agent deal. The former Lion, Giant and Ram served as a full-time starter during that time.
Robinson set a new career high with 5.5 sacks in 2024; he also reached a new personal mark with 80 tackles that season. In 2025, the Super Bowl winner’s snap share remained steady but his production dipped. Derrick Brown returning to health played a role in that, along with the arrival of free agent signing Bobby Brown. Those two, plus 2025 fifth-rounder Cam Jackson, will remain in place while Robinson heads elsewhere.
Teams in need of help against the run will likely be interested in this case. Robinson has topped two sacks in a season only twice, but he is a consistent producer on early downs. The Alabama product is not in competition with a particularly long list of free agents at the D-tackle spot, and the coming draft is not held in the same regard as last year’s at that position.
Carolina has already lined up a pair of major front seven additions (edge rusher Jaelan Phillips, linebacker Devin Lloyd). With this Robinson release freeing up additional space, it will be interesting to see if the Panthers pursue another big-ticket signing in free agency.
TE Hayden Hurst Retires
Hayden Hurst will not be among the players lining up free agent deals this week. The veteran tight end will instead begin his post-playing career. 
Hurst announced his retirement on Tuesday. He did not see any game time in 2025, and instead of spending another offseason in search of a new contract the former first-rounder will hang up his cleats. Today’s news brings an end to a seven-year NFL career.
“It is a blessing how far sports have taken me in this life,” Hurst’s retirement message reads in part. “I was determined to make football work after baseball failed me, and I never let anyone tell me I couldn’t do anything… I fought daily to be the best version of myself that I could, and I hope it showed on the field with the passion 1 played with every snap and every game. To all the fans in the cities I played in, thank you for supporting me along the way, and I hope I represented your hometown well.”
Hurst certainly had an unorthodox path to professional football. A 2012 draftee of the Pittsburgh Pirates, he wound up making only one start as pitcher in the minor leagues. With his baseball journey coming to an abrupt end, Hurst turned his attention to football and enjoyed a productive three-year tenure at South Carolina.
Hurst was selected with the 25th overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft, and he spent his first two seasons with the Ravens. Baltimore added Mark Andrews in the same draft, however, and the team committed to him as its top option at the tight end position. Hurst was traded to the Falcons, although he also dealt with the problem of being buried on the depth chart behind Kyle Pitts in Atlanta for one year.
During his first trip to free agency, Hurst signed a one-year deal with the Bengals. He was able to deliver strong production as a secondary option in Cincinnati’s passing game, something which resulted in a three-year Panthers contract. Hurst was limited to nine games in 2023, however, and his Carolina tenure was cut short after only one season. He spent 2024 with the Chargers, playing sparingly.
Hurst’s retirement announcement noted this news is probably one year too late, but in any case he can now turn his attention elsewhere at the age of 32. In all, Hurst played 93 combined regular and postseason games and amassed roughly $28.5MM in career earnings.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/9/26
Here are the minor move from a frenzied free agency first day:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: CB Natrone Brooks, LB Christian Harris, DE Cameron Thomas
Buffalo Bills
- Re-signed: P Mitch Wishnowsky
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: CB Akayleb Evans, CB Robert Rochell
Houston Texans
- Signed: DE Dominique Robinson
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Re-signed: OLB Dennis Gardeck
- Released: TE Johnny Mundt
Las Vegas Raiders
- Signed to two-year deal: K Matt Gay
Los Angeles Rams
- Signed: LS Joe Cardona
Miami Dolphins
- Signed: TE Greg Dulcich
New York Giants
- Signed: TE Chris Manhertz
New York Jets
- Signed: FB Andrew Beck
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: DL Esezi Otomewo
Panthers To Sign LB Devin Lloyd
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.
Panthers To Sign QB Kenny Pickett
Kenny Pickett is once again on the move. The quarterback is joining the Panthers via a one-year contract, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The pact is worth up to $7.5MM, per Schefter. The deal also includes $4MM in guaranteed money.
Pickett was the 20th overall pick in the 2022 draft, but he is already joining his fifth team four years later. The former Pitt Panther began his career as the Steelers’ primary starter from 2022-23. Across 24 starts, Pickett mustered an underwhelming 13 touchdowns against 13 interceptions.
After Pickett failed to establish himself as the Steelers’ solution under center, they brought in Russell Wilson as a replacement in the spring of 2024. The Steelers then traded Pickett and the 120th pick in that year’s draft to the Eagles for the 98th selection and a seventh-round choice in 2025. With Jalen Hurts entrenched as the Eagles’ starter, Pickett unsurprisingly saw little action during a Super Bowl-winning season for the club.
Pickett wound up on the move twice more before the start of the 2025 campaign. The Eagles traded Pickett to the Browns for fellow signal-caller Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a fifth-rounder last March. Expectations were that Pickett would compete for the Browns’ starting gig, but a training camp hamstring injury took a sledgehammer to his chances. Joe Flacco won the job, while rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders rounded out the depth chart behind him.
When Cleveland settled on its Flacco-Gabriel-Sanders depth chart last August, it dealt Pickett to Las Vegas for a fifth-rounder. Although Geno Smith struggled during a dreadful season for the Raiders, he still started 15 games. Pickett filled in for an injured Smith twice and finished the year 28 of 45 for 188 yards, a touchdown and two picks.
Coming off an NFC South-winning season in 2025, the Panthers are sticking with Bryce Young as their starting QB. But it appears Pickett will have a chance to steal the No. 2 role away from 38-year-old Andy Dalton. General manager Dan Morgan said last month that the Panthers “want to get a little younger and a little more athletic at that backup quarterback spot.” Pickett, 27, may be their answer.
Ben Levine contributed to this post.