Here’s the least surprising headline you’re likely to read all week. According to a report by Jourdan Rodrigue at the Athletic, the Panthers are expected to decline the 2020 option for defensive tackle Dontari Poe.
Poe was always going to be a strong candidate to be let go this year based on the structure of his contract. The team will save around $9.8 million in salary cap space by not bringing him back. They will incur another dead money penalty: about $3.33 million, per Over the Cap. Carolina already leads the league in dead money for 2020 by a massive margin though, so that’s just another drop in the bucket.
Poe has been a solid defender up front for the Panthers. However, he’ll be 30 years old by the time next season starts and he’s coming off a torn quad which required surgery. It just doesn’t make sense to invest another year in him given the way the rest of the roster looks right now.
This decision reinforces the team’s need to take an interior defensive line prospect early in this year’s draft. In our latest seven-round mock, we have them trading down from the No. 7 spot and selecting South Carolina’s Javon Kinlaw at No. 13.
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