When the Carolina Panthers let D.J. Wonnum walk in free agency, I didn't think much of it.

Wonnum was coming off a season with only three sacks, and the Panthers had plenty of other things to worry about. He eventually signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Detroit Lions, and at the time, I could understand Carolina deciding to move on.

Seven weeks into the season, I'm not so sure about that anymore.

Wonnum already has five sacks in six games for Detroit, which is two more than he had in 16 games for Carolina last season. He even got one against his former team when the Panthers played the Lions earlier this season.

Carolina could really use Wonnum right now

This isn't me saying the Panthers made some terrible decision by letting Wonnum leave. If I didn't think it was a big deal at the time, I'm not going to sit here seven months later and pretend Dan Morgan should've known exactly how this would play out.

But look at Carolina's edge room right now. Jaelan Phillips has been dealing with a hamstring injury, Thomas Incoom is on injured reserve with a calf injury and the Panthers have already had to elevate Nick Hampton from the practice squad.

That's where the $3 million starts to bother me a little bit.

Wonnum wouldn't have come back as someone Carolina needed to build its defense around. He would've been another veteran pass rusher who could give them snaps, get after the quarterback and keep the Panthers from having to dig so deep into their depth when injuries hit.

And it's not like his production in Detroit came completely out of nowhere. Wonnum had eight sacks during his final season with Minnesota and then had four in only eight games during his first year with Carolina. Last season wasn't particularly good, but we've seen him produce when he's healthy.

Maybe things would've played out differently if he had stayed in Carolina. Maybe he doesn't have five sacks right now. There's no way to know that, and that's why I'm not going to call letting him leave some massive offseason mistake.

I just know the Panthers could use another healthy edge rusher right now, and a guy they let walk for $3 million is sitting in Detroit with five sacks.

Yeah, I bet they'd like to have that one back.