Some may see Carolina Panthers outside linebacker D.J. Wonnum as a potential breakout candidate for the 2024 season. But others may view him as quite the opposite.
The latter party includes Bleacher Report’s David Kenyon, who recently predicted each NFL team’s biggest bust for the upcoming campaign. He tabs Wonnum for Carolina:
Twice in four seasons with Minnesota, DJ Wonnum notched eight sacks. That upside looks good, but it also happened opposite Danielle Hunter. Wonnum doesn’t have that luxury in Carolina, which generated the NFL’s fewest pressures in 2023 and traded Brian Burns this offseason.
In addition to Burns, the Panthers also said their goodbyes to fellow outside linebackers Frankie Luvu and Yetur Gross-Matos. The departed trio ended up as the defense’s three-leading sack getters of 2023.
Wonnum, who signed a two-year, $12.5 million deal this spring, will also have to overcome a setback of his own. The 26-year-old sustained a torn quadricep in the Minnesota Vikings’ Week 16 matchup against the Detroit Lions back in December.
Head coach Dave Canales told reporters in early June that Wonnum was still working through his road to recovery.
“Just working through some different things,” Canales said. “He had some complications . . . he had a quadricep tendon rupture there. And so he had a repair and there was some different things they had to clean out. So it’s kinda just like this back-and-forth trying to get him as healthy as we can so we can get him on the field and get him back to full speed. So he’s still kinda working through some of those things.”
Wonnum did not participate in the team’s spring workouts.
