About a week ago, it became clear that the Carolina Panthers weren’t yet ready to start the 2026 NFL season. They still had to clear some room against the salary cap.
While the need appeared to be about $6 million, the Panthers took care of that and then some on Thursday with a contract restructuring that clears nearly $10 million in cap space.
The move was reported by Spotrac on X:
The Panthers converted $12.2 million of Tershawn Wharton’s salary into a signing bonus.
The move creates three void years on Wharton’s contract.
But most importantly, it opens up $9.7 million against the 2026 salary cap for the Panthers.
Tershawn Wharton Contract
Wharton is entering the second year of a three-year, $45 million contract with the Panthers.
He’s owed about $28 million over the 2026 and 2027 seasons, according to Spotrac.
Wharton does have a potential opt-out with a $14 million dead cap hit after this season if the Panthers decide to move on.
“Bro is just stealing money from us,” one reply to the Spotrac news wrote on X.
In essence this makes the cap charge more palatable this season with him being sidelined.
This is still his last year with guaranteed money, so the bonus basically just gives it to him mostly in a “bonus.”
$12.2m spread over three years isn’t damning with the cap rising, but… https://t.co/wJvGOvc7f9
— Mike Kaye (@mike_e_kaye) September 10, 2026
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Tershawn Wharton Stats
Wharton is currently on the Physically Unable to Perform list as Week 1 arrives.
The 28-year old defensive lineman is a two-time Super Bowl champion from his time with the Kansas City Chiefs. His first season in Carolina after five years in Kansas City wasn’t his best, though.
Wharton got onto the field for just nine games. He did make an interesting impact — he had a career-high 36 tackles despite missing eight games with injury.
He finished the 2025 season with just 2.0 sacks, although he generally isn’t playing a position on the Panthers’ defensive line designed to rack up sacks.
Heading into this season, the Panthers will have to first figure out their defensive line rotation without Wharton before hopefully welcoming him back at some point.
Along their 3-4 front, they’ll of course start Derrick Brown, and they’ll probably also have 2026 second-round pick Lee Hunter out there at nose tackle. The likes of Bobby Brown, TeRah Edwards and Aaron Hall can also play the end spots in the 3-4.
The pass rush will come first and foremost from big money signing Jaelen Phillips, who will be an outside linebacker in this scheme.
The Panthers’ contract move with Wharton may be unpopular among Carolina fans on the surface, but the reality is that they were going to be paying him the money they owed him either way. This maneuver simply gets their salary cap in a better position to move forward into the 2026 season. It isn’t creating a bunch of new money owed. It’s just moving dollars around.
Still, it’ll feel a lot better if Wharton can get back onto the field sooner rather than later to try and make an impact.
Panthers Roster Move Makes $9.7 Million in Cap Space