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Top 50 Carolina Panthers

Added as an Expansion team in 1995, the Carolina Panthers took little time to become good as they would make the NFC Conference Finals in their second season of existence.  Competing in the NFC South, the Panthers have not yet won the Super Bowl, but they have won the NFC twice (2003 & 2015) so it is not like there has not been success for the Charlotte based franchise.


Note: Football lists are based on an amalgamation of tenure, traditional statistics, advanced statistics, playoff statistics and post-season accolades.

This list is active up until the end of the 2022 Season.
Sam Mills signed with the expansion Carolina Panthers after spending his first nine seasons with the New Orleans Saints.  Mills was one of the best defensive players ever for the Saints, but his reputation has been appropriated by Carolina, where he was instantly their defensive leader.  He played for the Panthers for three seasons where he started all 48 of…
Kevin Greene was only a Carolina Panther for three seasons, but one could argue it was the accomplishments that he accumulated there that would put him over the tipping point to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.
As of this writing, Mike Rucker is only one of three Carolina Panthers to record over 50 Quarterback Sacks for the team, which he accomplished over an eight-year career, which was all with the Panthers.  The Defensive End was a 1999 2nd Round Pick from the University of Nebraska and would become a starter in his third season.  Rucker would…
Kawann Short played eight seasons with the Carolina Panthers after being drafted in the 2nd Round from Purdue in 2013.  The former Boilermaker would become one of Carolina's top pass rushers, and in 2015 the starting Right Defensive Tackle would go to his first Pro Bowl where he reached the Quarterback and took him down 11 times.  Short, who also…
Mike Minter would play his entire professional football career with the Carolina Panthers where he was a 1997 2nd Round Pick from the University of Nebraska, and the Cornhusker would quickly become the starting Free Safety and later Strong Safety, a position he would patrol from 1999 to 2006.  Minter would record 17 Interceptions for a franchise-high 421 Interception Return…
Charles Johnson played his entire 11-year career with the Carolina Panthers with the last eight of them as a starting Defensive End.  Johnson would exceed the 10 Sack mark three times accumulating a total of 67.5.  Johnson was a member of the team that competed in Super Bowl 50, but while he was on the losing side, he had five…
Chris Gamble was with the Carolina Panthers for all 123 Games of his nine-season career and the Cornerback would start 117 of them.  A late 1st Round Pick from Ohio State, the former Buckeye would pick 27 Interceptions from the air, which makes him the all-time franchise leader and he was in the top ten in picks twice over his…
Shaq Thompson has played eight years to date for the Carolina Panthers and the former First Rounder from Washington would become a starter during his rookie season. Playing at Left Linebacker, Thompson became a tackling monster in 2019, where he had his first three-digit tackling year.  Thompson hit that mark again in 2020 (114) Combined Tackles.  "Big NIckel" produced his third…
Lamar Lathon played for the Houston Oilers for the first five seasons of his career and signed with the Panthers for their inaugural season.  The Linebacker would have the best year of his career in 1996 where he was a Pro Bowl and a Second Team All-Pro and helped the upstart Panthers reach the 1996 NFC Conference Final.  Overall, Lathon…
Eric Davis was a First Team All-Pro in 1995 as a San Francisco 49er, and he would sign with the Carolina Panthers the following season where he would again go to the Pro Bowl and would help them reach the NFC Championship that year.  Davis would have 5 Interceptions that year and consistently have the exact same mark in all…
A 3rd Round Pick in 2004 from South Carolina, Travelle Wharton would start 111 of his 115 games for the Carolina Panthers, the only team he would play for in the National Football League, although he was a Cincinnati Bengal for one season however due to injury could not compete.  Wharton was never a Pro Bowl Selection, but there were…
The Panthers grabbed D.J. Moore with their 2018 First Round Pick (24th Overall) and the former Maryland Terrapin would have a nice half-decade run in Carolina.  The Wide Receiverhad 788 Yards as a rookie, and from 2019 to 2021, accumulated more than 1,100 Yards annually.  In his last season with Carolina, Moore did not break 1,000 Yards (888), but had…
Frank Garcia was a Fourth Rounder from Washington and the Offensive Lineman would play for the Panthers for the first six seasons of his career.  Garcia was versatile as he would play Center, Left Guard and Right Guard over his Carolina stint where he played 91 games and started 84 of them.  His work in the trenches was a factor…
An All-American and Butkus Award winner in 2000, Dan Morgan was drafted 11th Overall where the former Miami Hurricane would play 58 games in a career covered in injuries.  Morgan started all of his games, but the Middle Linebacker never competed in more than 13 games in a season and was only in 4 Games in his last two seasons…
Andrew Norwell went undrafted in the 2014 Season, but the product of Ohio State would sign with the Panthers where he landed the starting Left Guard job as a rookie.  He played four seasons for Carolina, with his best year being his last in 2017.  Although he was never chosen for the Pro Bowl, he was named a First Team…
Brentson Buckner played his last five seasons of his 11 years in the National Football League with the Carolina Panthers where he started at Left Defensive Tackle.  Buckner recorded 14.5 Quarterback Sacks with 168 Tackles with 25 Tackles for Loss.  His most productive time in the NFL was as a Panther.
From the island of Tonga, Star Lotulelei was a 1st Round Pick in 2013, and he would assume the starting Right Defensive Tackle job as a rookie.  His play was good enough to earn First Team All-Rookie honors, and in his third season, he switched over to the left side.  He would play five years in Carolina recording 11.5 Sacks.
A 3rd Round Pick from the University of Georgia where as a rookie he would take over as the starting Middle Linebacker as a rookie (2002).  Witherspoon would remain at that position for the Panthers for the next three seasons and would record 8.0 Quarterback Sacks with 354 Combined Tackles, and he was part of the stellar 2003 Defense that…
Already a Super Bowl Champion with the Baltimore Ravens, Jeff Mitchell would play five seasons with the Panthers where he started all 78 games he played at Center.  Mitchell was the anchor of a Carolina O-Line that in 2003 only allowed 23 Sacks and rush for over 2,000 Yards, and his presence was undoubtedly critical to that group.