Carolina Panthers release Geoff Hangartner

The Carolina Panthers have released guard/center Geoff Hangartner in a move I’m sure wasn’t expected.

He was owed a salary of $1.575 this season, but must have been struggling through the week at training camp.

Hangartner started all 28 games he played for the Panthers over the last 2 seasons, being moved to center last season after Ryan Kalil was injured. The veteran offensive lineman was set to compete against 4th round draft pick Edmund Kugbila and Garry Williams for a position.

Rookie Edmund Kugbila hasn’t even practiced yet due to a leg injury, so now that Hangartner is gone, it looks as if Williams will have the right guard position right now. The right side of the offensive line is a major concern for the Carolina Panthers, so this is a bit of a head scratching move by the organization.

But they are the ones who have the power to make moves like this, so they must have something up their sleeves. It could come back to bite them, if nobody is able to step up and fill in that position and do as good as a job as Hangartner would have been able to do.