CHARLOTTE — The opening hours of free agency on March 10 were busy ones for the Carolina Panthers, and that was after finalizing a $100 million extension with cornerback Jaycee Horn that morning.

But for all the moving parts — and within the first six hours of the negotiating window, they had reportedly agreed to four new defensive pieces and brought back cornerback Mike Jackson to keep him with Horn — the Panthers had a plan.

They're clearly excited about the players they added, but they also had to be detailed in advance of that time, knowing how busy they intended it to be.

"We do take the emotion out of the free agency room when we're making the decisions because we're able to have a very good collaborative and honest dialogue as an entire organization beforehand," executive vice president of football operations Brandt Tilis said Wednesday. "What you see with what we execute takes a lot of work, a lot of discussion, and by the time it comes, it comes time to make the actual decision we can do it unemotionally."

So yes, for example, they were interested in defensive tackle Milton Williams. But not at any price.

The former Eagles lineman, one of the stars of their Super Bowl win over the Chiefs, was one of the hot commodities in the early moments of free agency, and the Panthers were reportedly interested and working on a deal. But after news of their interest hit social media, other teams got involved, and he ended up signing with the Patriots.

His reported four-year, $104 million deal with New England meant an annual average of $26 million (or 8.5 percent more than the Panthers gave Pro Bowler Derrick Brown a year ago). The Patriots also entered free agency with a reported $120 million in cap space, or at least four times the Panthers' space at the time (a function of not having a lot of players like Derrick Brown on their roster).

In an interview on NFL Network's The Insiders last Friday, Williams detailed his interaction during the negotiation process.

"My agent was on the phone, and I was kind of in the room," he said. "They were on the phone talking to teams, and teams were coming in with new deals. There was a lot going on, and it happened really fast. They talked about Carolina then, and I was like, 'All right, it sounds like the best offer we are going to get, so we were going to go there.' Then, a split second later, New England hopped on and was like, 'Nah, this is what we got for you.' Carolina felt like they went too high on their number, so they stayed where they were at. New England came in, and it was [over] after that. They wanted me the most and made me a priority. So, I made them a priority."

While it stinks to not get the player you want, it's also important to have a budget and a plan and stick to it, even in an emotionally charged atmosphere like the first day of free agency. That kind of boundary-setting and calculated approach might leave the kids disappointed they don't get to go to Disneyland for spring break, but it does bode well for their college educations years down the line.

"Yeah, of course, it's hard to walk away from a deal," Tilis acknowledged. "But at the same time, when we have a clear vision of what we want, and we have standards as far as value and things like that, it's easier to walk away. And also it's easy to make those decisions when we have the support of leadership, which is what we've got here."

Specifically to Williams, Tilis said there was never an agreement, but they were obviously talking about him at a certain price point.

"So in free agency, things tend to move fast," Tilis said. "And so we have scenarios planned out ahead of time as far as acquiring this group of players, this group of players, that group of players.

"When the Milton thing didn't go our way, we were just following a plan. And even during the, if you want to call it a frenzy or whatever it was. We're just operating our plan, and we were going through our process and talking to all the different players and just trying to take the resources that we had and put them in and put them to the most optimal use."

And they didn't stop when that part of the plan went in another direction.

Shortly after Williams agreed to join the Patriots, the Panthers reached a deal for safety Tre'von Moehrig, then pass-rusher Patrick Jones II, and then defensive linemen Tershawn Wharton and Bobby Brown III.

The first two addressed position needs, and the linemen shored up an area general manager Dan Morgan identified as a priority well before free agency.

Wharton and Brown gave them them a pair of former Super Bowl champions with complementary skills to add to the line including Derrick Brown and A'Shawn Robinson. Wharton had 8.5 sacks with the Chiefs last year, including the playoffs. Brown, coming from the Rams, brings immediate ballast to the run defense.

It might not have been the initial plan, but Morgan said the weeks of prep for free agency leading up to it made it a seamless transition. So it's a matter of calculating needs, and putting a value on things, and then being ready to adapt.

"I think when myself, Brandt, and (Dave) Canales get together, we're obviously talking about who we think can help our team, and then money always comes into play, right?" Morgan said. "So, we're going to put a number on it. I just think it comes down to us three communicating. You know, just being detailed with the plan, being disciplined with the plan, setting the number that we're comfortable at. And then, if it gets to that number, we can choose to go over, or we can choose to stay.

"So, I think we come in with a plan, and then I think we stay disciplined with that plan, and I think that's key and is going to be key to our success moving forward, is just having that discipline."