Former Penn State running back Miles Sanders is a free agent for the second time in his NFL career. On Tuesday, Sanders was released by the Carolina Panthers. His release comes after two seasons with the organization after originally signing a four-year, $25.4 million contract with the Panthers in 2023.
Sanders, in his two years with Carolina, was unable to find the success that he enjoyed with the Philadelphia Eagles throughout the first four years of his career. A second-round draft pick of Philadelphia in the 2019 NFL Draft, Sanders totaled 3,708 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns in his tenure with the Eagles.
In 2022, Sanders had a career season with 259 carries for 1,269 yards and 11 touchdowns as the Eagles' feature back en route to an NFC Championship and Super Bowl appearance. Following that career season, the Eagles opted not to have Sanders return to the organization while choosing to trade for Chicago Bears running back D'Andre Swift.
In his two seasons with Carolina, Sanders totaled 187 carries for 879 yards, an average of just 3.5 yards per carry, a full yard and a half below his average with Philadelphia. In 27 games with the Panthers, Sanders started just seven as former Oklahoma State star Chubba Hubbard took over the starting role. This season, Sanders was kept to just 11 games due to injury.
Carolina is saving $5.225 million in cap space by releasing Sanders.
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Prior to his time in the NFL, Sanders was one of the top prospects in the nation, ranked No. 39 overall, and was considered the No. 1 running back in the 2016 recruiting class out of Woodland Hills High School outside of Pittsburgh.
In three seasons with the Nittany Lions, Sanders totaled 276 carries for 1,649 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also had 32 career receptions for 139 yards. Notably, Sanders would back up star running back Saquon Barkley in the 2016 and 2017 seasons, leading to lower total outputs, totaling just 429 yards from scrimmage and four touchdowns in his first two seasons.
Once Barkley moved on to the NFL following the 2017 season, Sanders became the Nittany Lions' lead back and flourished in the role.
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