CHARLOTTE — Panthers executive vice president of football operations Brandt Tilis was standing steps away from right tackle Taylor Moton on Wednesday afternoon, when Moton got emotional talking about playing what could be his final season with the team that drafted him.

When it's time to talk about Moton's future here, and whether that time will be extended beyond this season, Tilis will be the guy on the other end of the phone with his agent.

That's neither an easy position to be in, nor one that Tilis takes lightly.

The question about Moton's future wasn't one he was going into detail about, but the process that goes into it was admittedly difficult for him.

"So any conversations that we have with Taylor and his agents or any player and their agents will just keep between us. As far as Taylor himself goes, I did see him get, you know, a little emotional up here. That's hard," Tilis said. "That's a hard part of our business that somebody pours their whole life into this like Taylor has, and he's faced with potentially going to a new place next year.

"But at the same time, like we are going to make the best decision for the organization, and if that means keeping Taylor here, then that's great. If those two things align, we are open to it. I'm not going to sit here and say that, oh, we're definitely not going to do it or we definitely are. Whatever makes the best sense for the Panthers, we'll do."

That's a tough emotional line to walk, especially considering Moton's status around here. The 2017 second-rounder was choking up as he talked, reminiscing about the way former teammate Cam Newton called him "Sweat Pack," but perspiration was not what Moton's towel was for on Wednesday.

And Tilis had a ringside seat for it.

"That is not easy for me," Tilis said. "It's actually pretty hard, but these jobs aren't easy, right? Even the players out here, like the players, they just busted their tail out there for two hours in this heat, that's not easy either. So I think we all have a job to do.

"I rely on the people around me to help me out and keep me in my lane, so to speak. Like, hey, this is just business. I think it also helps the fact that players have agents, like the players have agents for a reason so that the emotions do stay out of it. And that cuts both ways. So, yeah, to answer your question, no, it's not easy."

As difficult as it is, Tilis has already walked that line a few times.

Whether it was extending players including Jaycee Horn, Derrick Brown, Chuba Hubbard, or signing free agents to help them set the culture like Robert Hunt, Damien Lewis, Tershawn Wharton, Tre'von Moehrig and others, Tilis has been busy helping general manager Dan Morgan build this roster.

And when you're negotiating with guys who are already here, the human beings are part of the equation.

While they did Hubbard's extension in the middle of last year, Tilis said he generally would prefer to avoid negotiating during the season.

"We want our players focused on football," Tilis said. "And so the more we can knock out the contract side before camp starts, the better off we're going to be. That doesn't mean that we're going to just shut things down at camp or when the season starts. Like I think you guys saw last year with Chuba, we did a deal in the middle of the season, so we'll always look for good business opportunities and good opportunities to improve and to have continuity on our roster. But for the most part, we want to knock all that stuff out early and have our players just focus on being the best versions of themselves."

The Panthers will have several pending contractual issues, including left tackle Ikem Ekwonu (they picked up his option for 2026, but that creates a timeline similar to former first-rounders Brown and Horn, who were kept to become part of the foundation).

And while Tilis didn't get into any of the pending business in detail, he acknowledged that having one starting tackle entering a contract year, and another with a potential large extension looming, wasn't the preference.

"I don't see Ickey as, as somebody who's up; Ickey's still got another year," he said. "It's not great from a, a planning standpoint to have a starter that is on the last year of his deal, and that's why our preference would be to have players under contract. But again, the deal is going to have to make sense for both sides."

As Tilis and Morgan have worked to improve the roster, they've worked methodically to improve the depth and overall talent of the team.

And that was as evident to him as Moton's emotions, and central to the job he was brought here to do.

"Oh yeah," he replied when asked if he thought the team was deeper. "And you can see it out there with how competitive the practices are. Dan and the scouting staff have done an amazing job of bringing in depth. Our coaches are really coaching them all up. So you're seeing the whole organization at play here."