The Carolina Panthers are now embarking on what promises to be a pivotal offseason for the franchise. It was a rousing playoff effort before falling late, so the onus is on general manager Dan Morgan to make the necessary adjustments to get much closer next time around.
There is another complicated issue the Panthers now face. And for Ikem Ekwonu, it's also caused significant unrest about his short- and long-term aspirations.
Ekwonu has been playing through a knee injury for several weeks. This came back to haunt him against the Los Angeles Rams, and he was quickly ruled out after being carted back to the locker room.