PFF names free agent Panthers can least afford to lose in 2023

Final 12 months’s value in all probability gained’t be this 12 months’s value for Bradley Bozeman—and the Carolina Panthers comprehend it.

This previous week, Professional Soccer Focus wage cap analyst Brad Spielberger highlighted one indispensable free agent from each NFL group. He settled on Bozeman for the Panthers, who acquired the rock-solid middle on a steal of a deal final spring.

However now, they’ll’t afford to lose him. Spielberger writes:

The Panthers had the fewest snaps in 2022 performed by pending free brokers, resembling one constructive the group can construct on heading into 2023. A very good chunk of these snaps got here from Bozeman as soon as he grew to become the full-time starter in Week 7. Bozeman’s return can be significantly useful as a result of the lack of proper guard Austin Corbett to a torn ACL in Week 18 will probably knock him out for a portion of the 2023 season.

Bozeman’s 53.3 pass-blocking grade in 2022 was a profession low since his rookie season, however he snapped the ball to a few completely different beginning quarterbacks over 11 weeks and earned his fourth straight general grade above 63.0, buoyed by a 67.3 run-blocking mark. Even when Bozeman returns as a depth possibility at middle, he’s proven he’s a dependable backup who might maybe settle in if he does earn the beginning job and works primarily with one sign caller.

Bozeman stepped up instead of an injured Pat Elflein starting in Week 7, when the Panthers ran wild for a 21-3 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. From there, the fifth-year hog molly performed in each single offensive snap to shut out his spectacular marketing campaign.

So if Carolina hopes to maintain him, he’ll probably be valued for greater than the $2.8 million he acquired in 2022.