Carolina Panthers release pass rusher who was expected to help Jadeveon Clowney

The Carolina Panthers still have plenty of questions that pertain to their pass rusher group — and one potential answer was released on Tuesday.

The team cut veteran pass rusher K’Lavon Chaisson , the former LSU Tiger who was once a first-round draft pick for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Chaisson was picked up by the Panthers this offseason and was expected to provide pass rushing prowess alongside All Pro EDGE rusher Jadeveon Clowney — but a lack of production in the offseason program, in training camp and in the preseason appeared to force the Panthers’ hand.

Questions still abound across this outside linebacker unit. Outside of Clowney — who signed a two-year deal in March to lead the pass rushers after the departures of Frankie Luvu, Brian Burns and Yetur Gross-Matos — the defense will enter Week 1 bereft of an obvious No. 2 option rusher.

DJ Wonnum, a former South Carolina Gamecock and Minnesota Viking who the Panthers picked up this offseason, hasn’t practiced all offseason with a quad injury. Amare Barno, similarly, is still dealing with a knee injury. Both are on the physically unable to perform list , which dictates that they’ll miss at least the first four games of the season.

That leaves the group on the active squad with Eku Leota, DJ Johnson and recent waiver acquisition Jamie Sheriff.

Each of the options have causes for optimism and concern.

Johnson is a recent Oregon grad who has gotten the bulk of the reps with the ones this offseason. He was listed as No. 2 on the team’s first depth chart and played all three games in the preseason. This comes less than a year after the third-round draft pick was a healthy scratch for weeks at a time .

That leaves Leota and Sheriff, two undrafted free agents who have impressed in flashes this preseason. Sheriff, specifically, is a guy the team is excited about : The defensive end, listed at 6-foot-2 and 265 pounds, went undrafted in April but was picked up by Seattle and then produced seven tackles and three sacks over three preseason games.

The move to release Chaisson saves the Panthers $2 million in cap space, according to Over The Cap , and saddles them with $500,000 in dead money. If he was on the team’s 53-man roster during Week 1 weekend, his base salary of $1.12 million would have been fully guaranteed because he’s accrued more than four years in the NFL and is thus a vested veteran .

Another Panthers transaction: Tight end help on the way

The Panthers plan to sign former Packers tight end Messiah Swinson to the team’s 53-man roster pending a physical, according to a league source. Swinson (6-foot-3, 259 pounds) had his practice-squad contract with Green Bay terminated by the player today, per the league transaction report. The move is made possible by Chaisson’s release and helps the Panthers’ tight end room — which was getting pretty thin because of injuries .

Mike Kaye contributed to this report.