The final moment for Miles Sanders in a Carolina Panthers uniform could’ve very well been the one in which he was carted off the field at Munich’s Allianz Arena in Week 10. But he doesn’t seem to think that was ever the case.
On Wednesday, the Panthers officially designated Sanders to return to practice. The sixth-year veteran, who has missed the last six games due to an ankle sprain, now has a chance of suiting up for the team’s regular-season finale against the Atlanta Falcons this weekend.
That prospect seemed to be an unlikely one for Sanders, who has continued to fade into the background since joining Carolina in 2023. Between the organization’s second-round selection of Jonathon Brooks in the spring and their long-term investment into Chuba Hubbard in November, Sanders has become a third wheel of sorts.
So, he was asked this afternoon if he thought that game in Germany was going to be his last as a Panther . . .
Miles Sanders on whether he thought he had played his last game with the Panthers when he was injured in November: pic.twitter.com/xPkRsGRKMh
— Joe Person (@josephperson) January 1, 2025
Sanders joined the Panthers on a four-year, $25.4 million agreement in March of 2023. He’d then go on to have the worst season of his NFL career—recording lows in starts (five), attempts (129) and rushing yards (432) while averaging 3.3 yards per carry.
Before his ankle injury, Sanders appeared in 10 games as the change-of-pace option to Hubbard. He rushed for 139 yards and a touchdown on 38 carries.
The Panthers, even with Brooks’ second ACL tear casting considerable doubt on his sophomore campaign, could still move on from Sanders before next season.
If Carolina releases or trades Sanders before the start of the new league year in March, they can accumulate approximately $5.22 million in cap savings for 2025 while taking on $2.95 million in dead cap. If they were to designate him with a post-July 1 release or trade, they can save $6.7 million and absorb dead-cap hits of $1.47 million in both 2025 and 2026.
