The new league year is still on schedule for this week (March 18) at least for now. That means we can expect a flurry of free agency-related news in the next few days heading into the legal tampering period.
As for the Panthers, we probably shouldn’t expect them to be major players in free agency this year. While they have a lot of holes to fill, there’s not much cap space to go around. This move will help, at least. It was recently reported by the Athletic that the team would not pick up the 2020 option for defensive tackle Dontari Poe.
According to Joe Person that’s now official, so Poe is about to become a free agent.
Panthers had until Sunday to exercise the club option on Dontari Poe. As they did w/ WR Jarius Wright, they declined.
— Joe Person (@josephperson) March 14, 2020
By not bringing Poe back, the Panthers will save around $9.8 million in salary cap space for 2020. It will add another $3.33 million to the team’s league-high dead cap total. At this point, it’s just another drop in the bucket.
Poe has served as the team’s nose tackle for the last two seasons and he did a good job in general. Replacing him won’t necessarily be easy.
In free agency, the top options are Baltimore’s Michael Pierce and Houston’s D.J. Reader. For what it’s worth, Javon Kinlaw and Derrick Brown are two of the most popular mock draft picks for Carolina.
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