Over Charge(r)ed: How an LA cap fiasco could help the Panthers

The Chargers are in a hell of their own making. That means good players could hit the market early.

The Los Angeles Chargers are the only team in the NFL in a true cap quandary as the league year is set to begin at 4 PM EST today. By that time, all teams have to be in compliance with the NFL salary cap. The Chargers are currently set to be about $25 million over that cap while carrying four of the top twelve cap hits in the NFL. They are also carrying four of the only five players on that list who are not quarterbacks.

Linebacker/edge Joey Bosa, linebacker/edge Khalil Mack, wide receiver Keenan Allen, and wide receiver Mike Williams are each players near or at the top of their respective position groups and also near or at the top of the Carolina Panthers list of needs.

The Chargers are unlikely to cut all of them. Probably only two will become free agents while the other two work out some longer term deals for cap relief. Any one of these guys is likely to command a top dollar salary and could well be outside of the Panthers price range.

The beauty is that it doesn’t really matter who gets released or what they ultimately get paid (unless it is the Panthers doing the paying). These guys are going to increase the supply at their positions, making, at the very least, other talent more available to the Panthers. They either get their man from the Chargers misfortune or have increased options due to the same. It’s a win-win for the Panthers.

Now, that said, there is one target on this list that Panthers fans should be paying attention to should he be released. That’s wide receiver Mike Williams.

Williams is a legit #1 wide receiver. He would possibly be the best to wear the black and blue since Steve Smith, all due respect to D.J. Moore. He’s been in the NFL for seven season and has recorded 309 receptions on 612 targets for 4806 yards and 31 touchdowns. He’s big, he’s fast, and he’d be the perfect complement to Diontae Johnson’s technical abilities.

He also has an injury history.

Williams has only played a full season once since entering the NFL, his second. He has a history of back, neck, shoulder, and ankle injuries and he only played three games in 2023 before tearing his ACL.

There is a chance that could scare teams off of committing large sums of guaranteed money to him even if he were to hit the open market. Maybe he’s in the market for a prove-it type deal where the “it” is that he can be healthy. Maybe the Panthers are prepared to pay him a king’s ransom to try to save Bryce Young.

Any which way, Williams is the potential Chargers castoff to keep your eye on for the Panthers. Bosa and/or Mack would be fantastic, but they would likely break the bank. We can at least hope that they push some other talent downhill into the Panthers waiting, frugal laps.