The Panthers’ roster went down to three quarterbacks when Will Grier retired earlier this month. The plan is now to hold that number at the position through training camp. In his Wednesday press conference, General Manager Dan Morgan told reporters that Carolina has “no plans” right now to bring in a fourth QB. “Obviously, wish Will and his family the best,” Morgan said. “In terms of his career, just playing as long as he did — just wish him the best moving forward.” So, Carolina will go through training camp with Kenny Pickett and Haynes King behind starter Bryce Young at quarterback. Grier, 31, had rejoined Carolina as a free agent in April. The Panthers had brought him into the league as a third-round pick back in 2019. But after participating in the club’s offseason program, Grier decided to hang up his cleats. Grier started just two games in his career, both of which came as a rookie for the Panthers. He also spent time with the Cowboys, Bengals, Patriots, Chargers, and Eagles
Panthers quarterback Will Grier has chosen to retire, the team announced on Wednesday. Grier, 31, had rejoined Carolina as a free agent in April. The Panthers had brought him into the league as a third-round pick back in 2019. But after participating in the club’s offseason program, Grier has elected to hang up his cleats. Grier started just two games in his career, both of which came as a rookie for the Panthers. He also spent time with the Cowboys, Bengals, Patriots, Chargers, and Eagles throughout his career. Carolina now has Bryce Young, Kenny Pickett, and undrafted rookie Haynes King on its roster at QB
Last week we asked y’all how the second quarterback spot would shake out during training camp. The Carolina Panthers have three guys vying to back up Bryce Young between Will Grier , Haynes King , and Kenny Pickett. All of them have stories to root for and all of them have reasons to doubt why they’ll make a career in the NFL. Grier, unsurprisingly, has fans the least excited this season. The Charlotte-area native began his career with the Panthers in 2019, before being cut after the 2021 Sam Darnold trade. That was the end of the Ron Rivera era and the start of the Matt Rhule fiasco. He has since spent time with five other NFL teams. He clearly has shown something in practice that teams are willing to keep taking a chance on, but most fans are not ready to revisit the memories stirred up by Grier’s return. The hopes of most fans rest either in pedigree or potential. This seems about right for this portion of the off season. Pickett was the 20th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. He spent two seasons struggling to put it all together with the Pittsburgh Steelers . After the Steelers signed Russell Wilson in 2024, Pickett requested what became the first of many trades. He was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles , who traded him to the Cleveland Browns , who traded him to the Las Vegas Raiders. That took him through 2025 and the end of his rookie contract and up to his signing this off season with the Panthers. Long story short, he seems a serviceable back up, but folks should pump the breaks if they think he’s going to compete for anything beyond the number two spot. For all that Pickett is a known quantity at this point, King is nothing but unheralded potential. He was an electric, dual-threat quarterback for Georgia Tech (a school that is no longer synonymous with the triple-option), but he wasn’t quite successful enough to garner much draft attention. For all that he was a fun college quarterback, the fact that he went undrafted should give anyone pause in forecasting his future in an already quarterback hungry league. That said, some folks are excited about his potential as a Taysom Hill-type role for the Panthers. Anything can happen in training camp and the preseason, but my expectation would be for the Pickett to win the back up job and King to make a home for himself on the practice squad. With fierce competition at wide receiver and cornerback, it seems unlikely that Dave Canales and Dan Morgan are going to find room on the 53-man roster for a third quarterback. Checkout FanDuel , the official sportsbook partner of SB Nation
Now that minicamps have concluded, we finally have an official record of all of the contracts that undrafted free agents have signed this draft cycle. Yes, it does take this long for all of the official numbers to be reported in. We’ve touched on some of the numbers that the Green Bay Packers’ undrafted free agents signed for , but now we can compare apples to apples, seeing where they end up on the curve of other players signed at their positions this offseason. Wonder where the Packers’ undrafted players rank at their positions in terms of guaranteed money? You’ve come to the right place. Let’s dive in. $5,000 guaranteed 10th of 12 UDFA quarterbacks In the quarterback market, there were really six players who received big guaranteed money (north of $200,000). Everyone else received $15,000 or less, to put into perspective of how big the dropoff was between that group of six and the second half of the class. The quarterbacks who got significant guarantees were Jalon Daniels , Jack Strand, Luke Altmyer, Joey Aguilar, Miller Moss and Haynes King . Kyron Drones wasn’t given big guarantees, but the Packers have clearly had their eyes on him. He was a pre-draft visitor for the squad. $15,000 guaranteed 18th of 29 running backs 12 running backs made at least $90,000 this class, then there was a pretty significant dropoff after that. Jaden Nixon is roughly in the middle of the pack among running back guarantees, but it’s worth noting that Damon Bankston, an undrafted signee for the New York Giants who took a pre-draft visit with the Packers this offseason, signed for $115,000. Nixon is making just 13 percent of Bankston’s guarantees, so don’t be surprised if Bankston ends up back on Green Bay ’s radar after roster cutdowns. We’ve seen pre-draft visitors start their careers with other franchises and find their way back to the Packers before. $215,000 guaranteed 12 of 66 receivers This was a big spender for the Packers. For perspective, the highest-paid free agent (in terms of guarantees) for Green Bay in 2025 was defensive tackle Nazir Stackhouse , who had $165,000 guaranteed on his rookie deal . Receiver J. Michael Sturdivant, who was projected to be a draft choice by many, got a bit more than that. He’s technically the 12th highest-paid UDFA receiver (in guarantees), but he’s closer to making as much as the second-highest guaranteed receiver ($277,500) than the 15th ($135,000). It was pretty tight at the top of the UDFA receiver market, and Sturdivant was among the top players in the group. $15,000 guaranteed 17 of 30 tight ends R.J. Maryland, son of former Packer Russell Maryland, is making middle-of-the-pack money for a UDFA tight end. Maryland looked like a borderline top-100 pick at one point in 2024 before suffering an ACL tear that required him to wear a long knee brace for the 2025 season. He did not look like the same athlete on film in 2025, but he tested well pre-draft, so Green Bay is probably rolling the dice on a return to form from him. Worth noting here is that the Packers were willing to pay UDFA tight end Eni Falayi at least $125,000 guaranteed , more than eight times what Maryland received, but Falayi failed his physical upon reporting to Green Bay. Since being let go with an injury designation, Falayi has yet to sign with another NFL team. $215,000 guaranteed t-21st of 64 offensive linemen Let’s talk about these two together, since they are making the same money and roughly play the same position. Both Josh Gesky and Dillon Wade project best to guard at the NFL level, but Wade has been a player who has actually been very versatile at the college level, while Gesky was exclusively a guard. For whatever it’s worth, I’ve heard that Illinois’ staff was very high on Gesky (who visited the Packers pre-draft) and were telling scouts that he was a better player than J.C. Davis, who ended up being an NFL draft pick. Early in camp, though, it was Wade who got the nod with the second-team offensive line [... truncated ...]
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