Panthers to exercise LT Ikem Ekwonu's 5th-year option
Panthers to exercise LT Ikem Ekwonu's 5th-year option
The Carolina Panthers closed up their 2025 NFL draft by dropping some news on one of their picks from the 2022 NFL draft.
After making their final selection in the sixth round of Saturday's proceedings, president of football operations and general manager Dan Morgan announced that the team plans on exercising the fifth-year option on starting left tackle Ikem Ekwonu. Ekwonu was Carolina's first-round pick, and sixth overall, from 2022.
"We are gonna pick up Ickey's fifth-year option, just to kinda get that out of the way," Morgan stated. "I just notified him and figured I'd get it out of the way before I talk to you guys."
Ekwonu has started each of his 49 career games on Carolina's blindside. 2024 marked the 24-year-old's best pro campaign, at least according to Pro Football Focus—as he earned career-highs in overall offensive grade (71.7) and run-blocking grade (80.5) while posting a 95.9-percent efficiency rate in pass protection.
Follow @ThePanthersWire on Twitter/X for more Panthers content.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
DK Metcalf looks forward to catching passes from ‘cerebral' Aaron Rodgers
This article originally appeared on Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf weighed in on the Aaron Rodgers' signing during his media availability on Tuesday. The All-Pro wide receiver is chomping at the bit to learn from the four-time NFL MVP quarterback. Advertisement 'Just how cerebral he is and how he views the game,' Metcalf said. 'I like the way he views the game from a receiver's standpoint, but also from a quarterback's standpoint. I think I can gain a lot of knowledge just from being around him because he's seen a lot of football. Just trying to soak up as much information as I can.' DK Metcalf believes Rodgers' skillset fits his game perfectly. 'How quickly he releases the ball and me getting off the line of scrimmage fast is one thing that stands out first,' he said. Click here to read more from Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Advertisement Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Cowboys cap strategy must evolve to keep contending
Cowboys cap strategy must evolve to keep contending originally appeared on Athlon Sports. If you're serious about contending, it's time to start keeping up with the Joneses, so to speak. As highlighted by Blogging The Boys, Jerry Jones' Dallas Cowboys are drastically behind the league's elite in both total void-year spending and the number of high-salary players on their roster. The Eagles lead the NFL with a staggering $452 million in void-year allocations — a strategy that has allowed them to maintain one of the deepest rosters in football. Advertisement In contrast, the Cowboys rank 16th with just $44 million in future void years, most of it tied up in Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb. Philadelphia also has 10 players making at least $10 million annually, while Dallas has just five. The difference isn't necessarily about being "cheap''; it's about refusing to use every tool (or loophole) available to win now. The best teams in the league have figured it out. The salary cap isn't a hard ceiling; it's a strategy game. You can manipulate the cap through void years, restructures, and deferred money ... all with the understanding that the NFL dollar is ever inflating. The cap is fake today and real tomorrow ... but is not a team-building restriction. Advertisement Rather, it is simple accounting. And it's something we've been saying for years. The Cowboys have slowly shown signs of a 'changing of the guard' in how they approach cap management, but complacency or old-fashioned thinking or maybe frugality still looms to a degree. In a family-run front office, there's no pressure from ownership to push harder. ... because of course here, "the front office'' and "ownership'' are one in the same. That's exactly why fans must keep applying it. (For whatever good that does.) Micah Parsons, Tyler Smith, DaRon Bland, and George Pickens are next in line and the Cowboys could quickly shrink the "talent gap" in the NFC with those specific extensions. Advertisement Get ahead of the ever-increasing positional market that also parallels with the ever-ballooning cap. Push some money into future void years and trust the cap growth. Do it now. For years, the Cowboys have leaned on in-house superstar retention, cheap labor and compensatory picks as the foundation of their roster-building philosophy. And to a degree, it's worked — they draft well, they find value, and they stay under budget. But there's a ceiling to that approach. ... as exhibited by the fact that they win regular-season games ... and nothing more. You can't build a Super Bowl roster on rookie deals alone. At some point, you have to pay to keep your homegrown stars and you have to supplement that core with proven, high-priced talent. Advertisement Comp picks are nice — but banners aren't raised for mastering the comp pick formula. They're raised for winning in January and February. And that requires financial aggression, not financial caution. The league is evolving — and if the Cowboys truly want to stop spinning their wheels, they need to spend like contenders and exploit every modern cap tool available. Related: Cowboys Get Major News On New Cap Announcement Related: Cowboys George Pickens Must Move To 'Mojo' From 'Misfit' This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
Khalil Mack 'couldn't give up on that dream' of winning with the Chargers
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Khalil Mack mulled retirement early in the offseason. It didn't take long for him to decide to return to the Los Angeles Chargers. He agreed on a contract extension in March, never becoming an unrestricted free agent. 'Got tremendous leadership here, very familiar with guys already here,' he said Wednesday at minicamp. 'It was a no-brainer.'
