Former Alabama defensive lineman LaBryan Ray won’t become an NFL free agent next week.

The Carolina Panthers have tendered a contract to Ray, the NFL team announced on Friday, which keeps him on the roster as the 2025 squad is assembled.

Ray was an exclusive-rights free agent. An ERFA is a player with fewer than three NFL seasons and an expiring contract. If his original team offers the ERFA a contract, he cannot negotiate with other teams.

Terms of Carolina’s contract for Ray were not disclosed.

Although he sustained a broken hand in 2024, Ray played in 16 of the Panthers’ 17 games, with nine starts. His 637 defensive snaps ranked second among Carolina’s linemen to the 762 played by A’Shawn Robinson, another Alabama alumnus.

Ray recorded 41 tackles, his first NFL sack and two tackles for loss during the 2024 season.

At James Clemens High School in Madison, Ray won the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Class 7A Lineman of the Year Award in 2015 and 2016.

An undrafted rookie from Alabama in 2022, Ray stuck with the New England Patriots as a practice-squad member after playing 102 defensive snaps in three preseason games in August. On Oct. 26, 2022, the Patriots placed Ray on injured reserve with an undisclosed ailment, and he finished the season there.

Ray re-signed with New England on Jan. 10, 2023. The Patriots waived him five weeks later, but Ray still had a long year of football in 2023.

Ray joined the Philadelphia Stars on May 3, 2023, three games into the USFL season. He recorded three sacks in Philadelphia’s remaining seven games.

Ray originally signed with the Panthers two practices into training camp on July 29, 2023, emerging from a workout of defensive linemen held by Carolina.

Ray made his NFL debut in the Panthers’ season-opener on Sept. 10 and went on to play in every game during the 2023 campaign, including one starting assignment. While playing 355 defensive snaps (34 percent of Carolina’s total), Ray made 19 tackles.

After the 2023 season, the Panthers signed Ray to a one-year contract for 2024.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.