According to Jeff Risdon of the Detroit Lions Podcast, Panthers’ impending free agent C Cade Mays is drawing interest from the Lions if he reaches the open market.
Risdon mentions that Detroit has liked Mays since he was a prospect ahead of the 2022 NFL Draft, when he became a sixth-round pick by Carolina.
Mays, 26, was a freshman All-American and All-SEC at Georgia but ended up transferring to Tennessee, where he was second-team All-SEC as a senior in 2021. The Panthers drafted him in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
He was entering the third year of a four-year deal worth $3,833,075 that also included a signing bonus of $173,075 when the Panthers waived him coming out of the preseason. He caught on with the Giants practice squad but was later re-signed to the Panthers’ active roster in 2024.
Carolina re-signed him as a restricted free agent last offseason.
In 2025, Mays appeared in 14 games for the Panthers and started 12 times at center.
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