Dan Morgan wasn’t handed an easy job when he was named the new president of football operations and general manager of the Carolina Panthers. In fact, he just had to make one of the most difficult decisions this franchise has faced in quite some time.
Two weeks ago, Morgan and the Panthers traded away star pass rusher Brian Burns to the New York Giants. The move effectively put an end to the year-long stalemate in contract talks and awarded the two-time Pro Bowler the massive big-money deal he was looking for.
On Thursday, through a Zoom call from the NFL’s Annual League Meeting, Morgan explained why the team pulled the trigger on what he described as a “tough decision.”
“You know, those are always difficult conversations and, and decisions that you have to make from the seat that I’m in,” he said, via Darin Gantt of Panthers.com. “We love Brian. The player he is, the person he is, but sometimes you’ve got to make tough decisions, and the salary cap along with draft capital that we got, we felt like it was, you know, time to pull the trigger and make a move.
“We felt like the timing was right. And yeah, those are always tough decisions, but we had to make it, and we feel OK about it.”
In return for Burns, the Panthers received the 39th overall pick of the upcoming draft, a pick swap of the 141st and 166th selections and a 2025 fifth-rounder.
The trade also opened up approximately $24 million in salary cap space for Carolina, who had placed the franchise tag on Burns the week prior to the swap.
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