The Carolina Panthers have a whole lot of roster holes to fill over the next couple of months leading into the 2025 NFL draft. With less than $25 million in salary cap room at the moment, the front office probably won’t be making any splashy moves in free agency when the market opens. That means they will have to target some under-the-radar players to meet their needs.
One of the spots they may have to address is at center, where they have multiple options currently on the roster. However, all three of them (Austin Corbett, Brady Christensen and Cade Mays) are about to become free agents themselves. So, the Panthers might have to prepare to look for outside options to fill this particular hole in the middle of their offensive line.
On that front, Pro Football Network is predicting that they will sign Coleman Shelton.
PFN on Panthers – Coleman Shelton
“For Bryce Young to really settle down as a starter, he needs to have a combination with his center that he can grow with. Coleman Shelton has that potential. He has started 47 games over the past three years but is still only 30 years of age. Therefore, he could comfortably be the Panthers center for the next 4-5 years and help the development of Young.”
Shelton (6-foot-4, 299 pounds) isn’t exactly a household name, but that’s also true of practically every center in the league – even the best among them. Shelton played hs college football at the University of Washington and has spent most of his career with the Los Angeles Rams after going undrafted.
Last year, Shelton signed with the Chicago Bears, where he started all 17 games at center- putting in over 1,100 snaps. For what it’s worth, Pro Football Focus gave him solid grades in run blocking (66.7) and pass blocking (68.4), resulting in a 66.4 overall grade that ranked him 19th at his position.
Signing Shelton probably won’t have Panthers fans calling for a parade, but he would come relatively cheap and fill a hole at an important position – assuming Carolina doesn’t re-sign one of their own pending free agent centers.
