The Carolina Panthers may be working with deep pockets while assembling a new coaching staff, but that’s not exactly how it works when it comes to building a roster.
As the salary cap situation currently sits, the Panthers are approximately $9.5 million in the red—accounting for the 12th-lowest amount in the NFL. And while they will get some help from a massive league-wide cap increase and about $10.7 million in unused 2022 space, they’ll still have to move some numbers around to improve their on-field personnel.
That, of course, could result in some releases—a topic Pro Football Focus salary cap analyst Brad Spielberger touched on this week. In naming one cut candidate for each team, Spielberger went with a linebacker for Carolina—but probably not the one you’re thinking of.
Sorry, Damien Wilson.
“Wilson was on his third team in three years after signing a two-year, $6.9 million deal with the Carolina Panthers this offseason, but he logged just 204 snaps on defense and earned sub-60.0 grades as a run defender and in coverage,” he writes. “The Panthers have a brand new coaching staff, including rising star defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, meaning there isn’t an allegiance to any player on this roster going forward.”
In addition to that lack of allegiance, Evero’s defenses don’t place much of a premium on inside linebackers. So if the Panthers were to part ways with Wilson, they’d eat about $1 million in dead space while saving $3.6 million.
Fellow inside backer Shaq Thompson, who is on the final season of a lucrative four-year, $54.4 million deal, may be a candidate as well. His departure would save Carolina $13.1 million.
But, uh, don’t tell him that . . .
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