Just 15 minutes before Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET, the Carolina Panthers made their final move to reach the 53-man roster limit. That casualty comes at the expense of running back Rodney Smith, who the team has now waived.
So, after a summer’s worth of evaluations and a few days’ worth of cuts, here were are. This is the Panthers’ initial 53-man roster heading into the 2021 regular season:
Quarterbacks (2): Sam Darnold, P.J. Walker
Running backs (3): Christian McCaffrey, Chuba Hubbard, Trenton Cannon
Fullback (1): Giovanni Ricci
Wide receivers (6) : DJ Moore, Robby Anderson, Terrace Marshall Jr., David Moore, Brandon Zylstra, Shi Smith
Tight ends (4): Dan Arnold, Ian Thomas, Tommy Tremble, Colin Thompson
Offensive line (9): Cameron Erving, Pat Elflein, Matt Paradis, John Miller, Taylor Moton, Trent Scott, Dennis Daley, Brady Christensen, Deonte Brown
Defensive line (10): Brian Burns, Derrick Brown, DaQuan Jones, Morgan Fox, Yetur Gross-Matos, Marquis Haynes, Darryl Johnson, Daviyon Nixon, Bravvion Roy, Phil Hoskins
Linebackers (6):Shaq Thompson, Jermaine Carter Jr., Haason Reddick, Frankie Luvu, Julian Stanford, Clay Johnston
Defensive backs (9): Donte Jackson, Jaycee Horn, Jeremy Chinn, Juston Burris, Keith Taylor, Myles Hartsfield, Stantley Thomas-Oliver III, Sam Franklin, Sean Chandler
Specialists (3): Ryan Santoso, Joseph Charlton, J.J. Jansen
Obviously, the roster is subject to change leading up to their Week 1 matchup with the New York Jets. There will be plenty of players who were let go elsewhere that may pique the braintrust’s interest.
But until then, these are your first 53, Carolina.
