Dan Morgan spent the first hour of the NFL's legal tampering window solving the problem he said was "not acceptable."
The Carolina Panthers' general manager agreed to terms with edge rusher Jaelan Phillips on a four-year, $120 million contract — $80 million of it guaranteed, $35 million of it a signing bonus — before most front offices had finished their first phone call. Then he signed inside linebacker Devin Lloyd away from Jacksonville on a three-year, $45 million deal. Two defensive players. Two phone calls. $165 million committed before the negotiating period was 24 hours old.
The question is whether the math works.
What the Numbers Say About Last Year
The Panthers finished 2025 at 8-9, won the NFC South on a three-team tiebreaker, and lost to the Los Angeles Rams 34-31 in the wild card round. It was the franchise's first playoff appearance since 2017 and first division title since 2015. By several measures, the season was a step forward.
The defense, though, was the limiting factor. Carolina tied for 28th in the NFL in sacks with 30 — a number Morgan specifically called out in his end-of-season press conference. The unit ranked 15th in points allowed at 22.4 per game, respectable on the surface but propped up by a run defense that improved dramatically once Derrick Brown returned from the meniscus injury that cost him all but one game in 2024.
Without a credible pass rush, Ejiro Evero's scheme operated at a structural disadvantage. The Panthers could stop the run. They could not get to the quarterback. The Rams proved it in January.
The Phillips Bet
Jaelan Phillips recorded 73 quarterback pressures last season with the Philadelphia Eagles, ranking ninth league-wide. He is 26 years old and has 31.5 career sacks. He comes with an $80 million guarantee and a medical history that includes a torn Achilles in November 2023 that cost him the entire 2024 season.
The contract is a bet on two things: that Phillips is fully healthy, and that his pressure rate translates without the Eagles' defensive talent around him. The Panthers are paying him $30 million per year to be the pass rusher they have not had since they traded Brian Burns to the Giants after the 2023 season. If Phillips produces 10-plus sacks and Charlotte starts seeing coverage sacks open up for the secondary, the deal will look reasonable by 2027. If the Achilles flares or the pressures don't convert to sacks, it becomes the kind of contract that defines a GM's tenure.
The Lloyd Fit
Devin Lloyd's deal is quieter and arguably smarter. Three years, $45 million, $25 million guaranteed. Lloyd was second-team All-Pro in 2025, had five interceptions in his final season in Jacksonville, and at 27 fills the coverage linebacker role the Panthers have not adequately addressed since Luke Kuechly retired in January 2020.
The Panthers tied for 28th in sacks but ranked 15th in points allowed. Part of that gap comes from a secondary that created turnovers — Jaycee Horn made the Pro Bowl and had two interceptions in a single game against the Jets. Lloyd gives Evero another playmaker in the intermediate zones, someone who can match tight ends and running backs in space. If Phillips is the sledgehammer, Lloyd is the scalpel.
The Foundation They Already Had
The Panthers are not building from zero. They are adding to a core that showed real signs of life in 2025:
Derrick Brown returned from his 2024 meniscus injury and posted a career-high five sacks, 73 tackles, and seven pass defenses across 17 games. He is the anchor. The Panthers restructured his contract this offseason, converting $16.9 million of salary into signing bonus to clear $13.5 million in cap space — the move that made Phillips and Lloyd possible.
Nic Scourton, the 2025 second-round pick, had five sacks and 47 tackles as a rookie, grading near the top of his edge-rushing draft class. He is 22 and locked in at a rookie contract through 2028.
Horn's Pro Bowl season validated his talent when healthy — the qualifier that has followed him since Carolina drafted him eighth overall in 2021.
The re-signing list tells its own story: safety Nick Scott, defensive end LaBryan Ray, cornerback Robert Rochell, safety Isaiah Simmons, outside linebackers Trevis Gipson and Thomas Incoom, cornerback Akayleb Evans, linebacker Claudin Cherelus. None of those names sell jerseys. All of them fill roles.
The Question That Remains
The draft is next. Carolina picks 19th and Dave Canales has publicly said he's looking at safeties — "a couple of dynamic safeties that could free us up," in his words. The defensive line, between Brown, Phillips, Scourton, and potential draft pick Peter Woods at three-technique, could become one of the NFL's better front fours by September.
But the $165 million question isn't about talent. It's about whether this defense can close a game against a good quarterback in January. The Rams scored 34 points in the wild card round. Bryce Young threw for 264 yards in his first playoff start and kept the Panthers in it until the final minutes. The offense is young. The defense is supposed to be the reason they survive while Young develops.
Morgan has spent accordingly. Phillips and Lloyd are not developmental signings. They are win-now acquisitions for a team that finished 8-9 and needed a tiebreaker to make the playoffs. The Panthers are betting that a defense built around Brown, Phillips, Scourton, Horn, and Lloyd — coordinated by an Evero who interviewed for three head coaching jobs this offseason and chose to come back — is the difference between backing into the postseason and earning it.
That is a $165 million thesis. The regular season starts in five months. We will know by January whether it was enough.