Here at Cat Scratch Reader we have counted down the final 100 days leading up to the Carolina Panthers season opener by for at least the past ten years. We’ve always done this by highlighting the current player on the roster whose jersey number matches the day on the countdown. This year, we decided to change that up a bit by counting down our own list of the Top 100 Panthers of all time. This does not correspond to jersey number, does not need to be somebody who wore a jersey, and will in no way be controversial.
#66. Sean Gilbert
Sean Gilbert has a lot of negative feelings surrounding him, mostly unfairly so. Gilbert entered the league as the third overall pick by the then Los Angeles Rams in the 1992 NFL Draft and hit the ground running. After a very good rookie season, he exploded his sophomore season, earning a Pro Bowl nod and securing 10.5 sacks as a defensive tackle. While still a productive player, he never quite got back to that level of disruption. Knowing that Gilbert would want a massive contract, the Rams traded him to Washington for the sixth overall pick in 1996. The Rams turned out to be correct about Gilbert’s intentions, as he sat out the 1997 season after a good first season with Washington. The reason for Gilbert’s absence was his contract: Washington had franchise tagged him and lowballed the long term contract offers, at least in his mind.
After sitting out the 1997 season, Gilbert was tagged again. The Panthers stepped in and offered Gilbert a massive (for the time) seven year, $46.5 million contract. Washington did not match, so the Panthers also had to give up their first round picks in the 1999 and 2000 drafts. Washington would trade the 1999 pick to New Orleans, who ended up taking Ricky Williams. The 2000 pick eventually made its way to the New York Jets, who took Shaun Ellis. Gilbert had three very good seasons in Carolina, including both his only career interceptions and 12.5 sacks. While that production didn’t live up to the contract dolled out, he was still a good player. In 2001, the wheels started falling off physically for Gilbert, and he managed only 17 games between the 2001 and 2002 seasons due to various injuries. The Panthers released Gilbert in March of 2003, saving a whopping $7.5 million against the cap (about 10% of the total cap that season).
Gilbert’s cap space was used to bring in key pieces to the Panthers 2003 Super Bowl team, including Stephen Davis and Ricky Proehl. While Gilbert’s run with the team did not live up to the cost of acquiring him, none of that was Gilbert’s fault. When stripping away the draft picks and money tied up in this single player, Gilbert had a very good and productive tenure with the team before injuries caught up to him. This impact has earned him the 66th spot on our countdown.
