The Carolina Panthers have the week off. It seems like a good time to catch up around the office on some long-term projects that need to be addressed. The most important item on the team’s to-do list remains unchecked, though. In fact, the Panthers haven’t even gotten started.
According to a report by Joe Person at the Athletic, there have still been no contract extension talks between Carolina and right tackle Taylor Moton.
No contract talks yet between Panthers and Taylor Moton, who may be playing himself into a franchise tag … or a big payday elsewhere.
More on Moton, Curtis Samuel and other key free agents/players in this roster analysis:https://t.co/P520fcibKO— Joe Person (@josephperson) December 3, 2020
Since he became a full-time starter in 2018, Moton has been blocking at a very high level. If he had been signed to an extension at any point over the last year and a half it would likely have saved Carolina a lot of money down the road. Now, the team runs the risk of either having to hit Moton with the franchise tag, or possibly see him cash in with another team in free agency in March.
Every week they wait the pricetag goes up. According to Pro Football Focus, Moton has only allowed 12 pressures all season. That’s tied for the second-lowest number among qualified offensive tackles.
Marty Hurney has made some brilliant picks in the first round of the draft during his two tenures as GM. However, the way he’s gone about extensions has rightly drawn a fair amount of criticism. During his first run, he handed out several ill-advised, player-friendly contracts that decimated the team’s salary cap situation. Now, he’s been prioritizing the wrong positions.
Last offseason, the Panthers paid big money to Christian McCaffrey (four years, $64 million) and Shaq Thompson (four years, $54 million). Meanwhile, the team’s top cornerback James Bradberry was allowed to leave in free agency. He signed a bargain of a three-year, $43.5 million contract with Dave Gettleman’s Giants and has had a breakout year, becoming one of the league’s best shutdown corners.
Allowing Moton to walk would qualify as an even worse decision than letting Bradberry leave.
The Panthers have an analytics department, so they should know better than to pay running backs and off-ball linebackers over corners, tackles and wide receivers like Curtis Samuel, who is also due for an extension. For whatever reason, there’s a major disconnect between how contenders are built in the modern NFL and how Carolina continues to do business under Hurney.
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