Ikem

[csx]

29 minutes ago, Dave Gettleman's Shorts said:

That's the current dilemma on both parties at the moment.

If Ickey comes back too soon, he won't be 100% and his play will suffer. Leading to a potential decrease in his contract. If Ickey is unable to play and sits the entire 2026 season, his contract will still take the same hit since it tells all 32 team that he is not fully recovered.

On the Panthers side, I'm sure they would want to keep Ickey if he is fully recovered but he is obviously in a contract year. They don't want to re-sign him to a massive deal since it be too risky and they know if Ickey is able to return to form. 

Best case scenario, the Panthers wants to offer Ickey a 1-2 year heavily incentive based prove it deal. However, Ickey would most likely decline the offer and test the market as  another team can come in and offer Ickey a better deal if they are desperate enough for O-line help.

In that case its in his best interest to fully recover.  We are in a much better situation to judge his condition. It would be more risky for another team to throw money at him.  Taking a reasonable deal from us seems the most likely outcome if he is on track to return.

Edited 19 hours ago by csx

[strato]

4 hours ago, csx said:

In that case its in his best interest to fully recover.  We are in a much better situation to judge his condition. It would be more risky for another team to throw money at him.  Taking a reasonable deal from us seems the most likely outcome if he is on track to return.

I think so too.  
The rub might come with a possible position switch where he balks - if he knows he can be a LT for another team.  
 

I don’t think you can have too many starting quality tackles. Especially if two are blind side.  
 

Freeling is young we can work him in anywhere for a year or two.  
 

plus the good rehab might all be smoke and he won’t be the same player he was 

Edited 15 hours ago by strato

[Aussie Tank]

On 6/17/2026 at 10:05 AM, tukafan21 said:

I'm more intrigued at him becoming our future LG.

There were some people who thought he was better suited to be a guard in the NFL to begin with.  Then if Freeling ends up being a legit LT, moving Ickey to LG could give us an incredibly strong left side of our OL for years to come.

Ickey has only played on the Left side his whole career, both in college and the NFL, so I just wonder if keeping him on the left side, even if shifting inside, would be better than putting him outside on the right side.

Just hoping him growing up a Panthers fan will make him want to stay here and move positions than enter FA so he can stay at LT somewhere else, particularly since LT is the big money position on the OL, so he likely can get paid more by someone else to play LT than play LG or RT here for us.

Why would he sign here to play guard when he could hit FA as a tackle? I feel he would probably bet on himself to prove thats hes healthy somewhere on a 1 year deal at tackle. 

[tukafan21]

1 hour ago, Aussie Tank said:

Why would he sign here to play guard when he could hit FA as a tackle? I feel he would probably bet on himself to prove thats hes healthy somewhere on a 1 year deal at tackle. 

Because he's from Charlotte, grew up a Panthers fan, and could still make amazing money as an elite LG for his hometown team.

And while I think he's a quality starting LT, he's not a Top 5 type of player either.  If he could prove to be a true elite LG, the money might not be that different than what he could make as a LT anyways.

I'm not saying he will, but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibilities.

Edited 13 hours ago by tukafan21

[The Third Reich]

22 hours ago, PleaseCutStewart said:

Not surprised - he definitely was raw technique wise and was dominant in college because of his freak athleticism for a tackle. That same advantage goes away against NFL edges without technique.

The plan was always Walker to play LT this year, gauge how well Icky comes back from his gruesome injury, and then figure out if Freeling will be ready to start by year 2.

Freeling got some reps at RT when they gave Moton a rest day--I sorta hope Freeling gets brought along slowly as you describe.  It would be better for him for reasons you provide.  We have a really good problem. 

[SmokinwithWilly]

11 hours ago, tukafan21 said:

Because he's from Charlotte, grew up a Panthers fan, and could still make amazing money as an elite LG for his hometown team.

And while I think he's a quality starting LT, he's not a Top 5 type of player either.  If he could prove to be a true elite LG, the money might not be that different than what he could make as a LT anyways.

I'm not saying he will, but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibilities.

Kind of where I'm at on this also. I think he has the potential to be an all pro caliber guard if he can come back 100%. He's more mauler than quick. Hunt is making 20m per, Moton is making 22m. Moton is a better RT than Icky is a LT so I think the pay comp would probably be about the same there. I don't see Icky as a 28m per season LT. He'll be low 20s and as an elite guard, i think he'd be within a couple mill of that.