Panthers Tackle Shuffle: Monroe Freeling and Your Survivor Pick

The setup: two starting tackles gone

Offensive line stability is one of the quieter things a survivor player should track, because it shapes whether a team can protect its quarterback and win the games it's supposed to win. Right now, that stability is exactly what the Carolina Panthers are missing.

Carolina is set to open the 2026 season without either of the tackles who started for them in 2025. That's not a minor tweak — the two bookends of an offensive line are among the most important protective jobs on the field, and losing both at once means rebuilding the edges of the front from scratch.

What changed

The headline is Monroe Freeling, Carolina's first-round pick, who is now in line to play right tackle. During a Wednesday press conference, General Manager Dan Morgan projected confidence — the Panthers, in his words, "feel good" about Freeling stepping into that role.

That's the front office doing its job: backing a high draft investment and setting expectations. But confidence in July and proven pass protection in the regular season are two different things. A first-round rookie can absolutely develop into a reliable starter. He can also go through the growing pains that most rookie linemen do, especially when the guy across the line is a veteran edge rusher.

Stack that against the reality that the other tackle spot is also unsettled compared to last season, and you're looking at a Carolina line breaking in new pieces on both ends.

Survivor implications for the early weeks

Here's the practical read. When a team is starting a rookie tackle and reworking both edges of its offensive line, the range of outcomes widens. Games you'd expect them to win comfortably can get closer if the quarterback is under pressure. That variance is the enemy of a survivor player, who needs one thing above all: a clean, predictable outcome.

A few takeaways as you build your card:

Don't lean on the Panthers as a safe pick yet

Until Freeling shows he can hold up and the line settles, Carolina belongs in the "wait and see" bucket rather than the safe-pick pile. The upside may come — but survivor is about avoiding downside, not chasing upside.

Watch how the line looks in the preseason

The useful signal will be whether the coaching staff's July confidence holds through actual game reps. If Freeling looks steady and the pass protection is clean, the Panthers could become a viable pick in favorable matchups later. If the line struggles, keep them off your card even when the spread looks tempting.

Save your strongest teams for the weeks you trust them

The whole point of managing a survivor entry is spending your best picks where you have the most certainty. An offensive line with two new tackles is the opposite of certainty. If you're new to weighing this kind of risk, the survivor pool FAQ walks through how matchup uncertainty should factor into your decision, and you can find more survivor analysis as camp reports keep coming.

Bottom line

Dan Morgan feeling good about Monroe Freeling is a reasonable stance for a GM to take about his first-round pick. For survivor purposes, though, a rookie right tackle and two rebuilt tackle spots add up to a team you monitor, not one you bank on early. Let Carolina prove the line before you trust it — and if you haven't locked in your entry yet, start a free survivor pool and keep your best picks in reserve for the weeks that actually deserve them.