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.
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