Well, that was unexpected.
Former BYU All-American offensive lineman Brady Christensen has agreed to return to the Carolina Panthers for a fifth season on a 1-year, $2.8 million deal.
I live in North Carolina and write about both BYU and the Carolina Panthers. I have watched nearly every snap Christensen has played in a Panthers uniform. Based on how the Panthers have treated him I thought he would hightail it out of Charlotte as soon as he could sign with a new team.
Clearly, I was wrong.
Turmoil in Carolina
Christensen has endured four seasons of turmoil with the Panthers after they selected him in the third round of the 2021 draft. The Panthers are on their second general manager and third head coach in Christensen’s four years with the team, and that inconsistency in the front office has led to inconsistency on the field.
As coaches have come and gone in Carolina, they have moved Brady from tackle to guard and then to center last year. He has literally started at every position across the offensive line over his 51 career games and 30 starts. While this versatility and flexibility gives him value as a mobile chess piece, it has also prevented him from finding a consistent role where he can hone his craft.
Last year Panthers starting center Austin Corbett was lost to a season-ending injury in Week 5 and Christensen took his place. Brady played very well at his new position as evidenced by his 63.6 PFF grade, which ranked 27th of 64 centers. After a few games under center it looked like Brady Christensen had finally found his long-term home in the dysfunction that is the Carolina Panthers.
Despite playing well at center for five straight games, Brady was then unceremoniously supplanted by Cade Mays, a third-year fringe player the Panthers had cut and re-signed earlier in the season. It was a decision that was both puzzling and frustrating.
Benching Brady Christensen for Cade Mays over the final seven games of last season appeared to be the final straw in the coaching staff signaling it was time for Brady to move on.
Apparently not.
Can Brady Christensen win the starting center job?
With Christensen’s ability to play all five positions, I anticipated he would be signing with another team for something like 2-years and $6.5 million with a clear path to a starting role. There are at least a half dozen teams that need solid, experienced, and pretty affordable interior offensive linemen. It seemed like Christensen could find a far more favorable destination than Carolina to continue his career.
Instead, he’s returning to the Panthers where he might be relegated to another year as a “break glass in case of emergency” backup.
Brady won’t be starting at either tackle spot as those roles are held by entrenched starters Ikem Ekwonu and Taylor Moton.
He won’t be starting at guard, either, after the Panthers signed two big-time free agents last season in Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis, and both played very well.
The only real path to a starting role in 2025 is at center, but that also seems unlikely. The Panthers are bringing back both Austin Corbett and Cade Mays in 2025 and both of them beat Christensen out for the starting center gig last year. He was the third wheel on a unicycle.
Brady Christensen is obviously betting on himself to emerge as the starter in the three-man race for center, but he’ll need to show more this year than he did last year if that’s going to happen.
In the end, it’s a head scratcher to see Brady Christensen returning to the Panthers, especially on a one-year deal worth less than $3 million. It seems like he should have been able to find more years, more money, and a clearer path to a starting gig with several other team teams. But those deals either didn’t materialize, or Christensen is happy enough in Carolina that his preference was to stay put even if that means potentially spending most of the 2025 season watching from the sidelines.
I’m hoping this upcoming year isn’t another frustrating season of watching Brady Christensen only play a few snaps per game in jumbo packages while others start ahead of him.
I’m happy Brady got a second contract.
I just hope it was the right one.