The Chicago Bears are sending the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft to Carolina for receiver D.J. Moore and multiple draft picks, according to sources. Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolina Panthers are on the clock.
The Panthers have traded up to acquire the No. 1 overall pick in the draft from the Chicago Bears in exchange for Carolina’s No. 9 and No. 61 overall picks in 2023, a first-round pick in 2024, a second-round pick in 2025 and star wide receiver D.J. Moore, two people familiar with the deal said Friday.
The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the trade had not been announced.
The move allows the Panthers to acquire a potential franchise quarterback – the sort of player the team has coveted for years – although it remains unclear which QB Carolina prefers. The Bears are committed to Justin Fields at quarterback and that gave them leverage to trade down.
Carolina has its choice of Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s CJ Stroud, Kentucky’s Will Levis or Florida’s Anthony Richardson.
The Panthers may not have gotten the QB they wanted if they had stayed at No. 9.
“You go get the guy that you want, you know,” Panthers General Manager Scott Fitterer said last week at the scouting combine about potentially trading up for a quarterback. “If you have a conviction on a guy, you go get him. It’s pretty simple that way. If you don’t know and you’re going to give all these resources to go up and get it, you’re hurting your team in the long run. You better be right. You better have conviction if you do move up. When you do that, you’re all in.”
The Panthers have been seeking stability at quarterback since David Tepper bought the team in 2018.
They have tried several starters – including Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Teddy Bridgewater and even bringing back Cam Newton for a second stint. But none of those options has worked out and Carolina hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2017.
VIKINGS: Minnesota released wide receiver Adam Thielen for salary cap relief, ending a remarkable 10-year run with his home-state team as an undrafted underdog.
Thielen was carrying the second-largest cap hit on the club behind quarterback Kirk Cousins. The move will stick the Vikings with more than $13.5 million in dead money for 2023, but they created $6.4 million in additional space.
The native of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, had his best season in 2018 with 113 receptions for 1,373 yards and nine touchdowns. He has 55 touchdowns in 135 games.
EAGLES: Philadelphia signed veteran defensive end Brandon Graham to a one-year contract.
Graham, who was eligible to become a free agent next week, enters next season on the brink of setting Philadelphia’s career record for games played. Graham has played in 178 games with the Eagles and is behind only kicker David Akers (188 games), safety Brian Dawkins (183), and wide receiver Harold Carmichael (180) for the record.
Graham, a first-round pick in the 2010 draft, is responsible for one of the greatest plays in team history when his strip-sack of Tom Brady with 2:21 left in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 52 helped the Eagles hang on to win 41-33.
RAMS: Los Angeles, in another major move to cut costs, plan to release edge rusher Leonard Floyd, people with knowledge of the situation said.
The salary cap for the 2023 season is $224.8 million. The Rams currently are about $16 million over the cap, according to overthecap.com. Floyd, 30, is scheduled to carry a salary-cap number of $22 million in the upcoming season, according to the website.
DOLPHINS: Miami is picking up the fifth-year option on quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s contract, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.
Tagovailoa, drafted fifth overall in 2020, will enter the fourth year of his rookie deal this upcoming season and will be guaranteed $23.2 million.
49ERS: San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy had surgery on his injured throwing elbow that should allow him to return to play possibly as early as the start of next season.
CHIEFS: Otis Taylor, the longtime Kansas City wide receiver who along with quarterback Len Dawson formed one of the NFL’s dynamic duos, died Thursday after more than a decade of health problems. He was 80.
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