Tag: Panthers Salary Cap

Panthers salary cap update: How much space is left after cutting Cam Newton?

Let’s take a look at the team’s current salary cap situation two weeks into free agency.

The Carolina Panthers have been about as busy as any NFL team this offseason, pulling off two trades and signing a high number of mostly low-cost free agents. They also released their former MVP quarterback and saw their best defensive player retire. In other words? It’s a totally different roster than it was just a few months ago.

Let’s take a look at the team’s current salary cap situation two weeks into free agency.

With Cam Newton’s contract off the books, the highest cap hit for Carolina this year will be defensive tackle Kawann Short, who will count for $19,464,000 against the cap. Short’s number is followed by former middle linebacker Luke Kuechly, whose $15,510,059 hit is about as brutal as they come for someone who won’t be playing.

Teddy Bridgewater’s new deal counts for $14 million against the cap this year, which is a very reasonable price for a respectable starter. He will get much more expensive in 2021, when Bridgewater’s cap hit rises to $23 million.

Left tackle Russell Okung is the next most expensive player on the roster. He will cost the team $13,187,500.

That’s also roughly about how much salary cap space the team has left to spend in 2020. According to Over the Cap, that number is $13,076,796.

$13 million to play with isn’t a ton of money in this era. However, it should be enough to make at least one more splash signing before the draft next month. In our opinion, the team’s top target should be former South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, who is the best remaining talent on the market who doesn’t play quarterback.

There’s a reason why Clowney hasn’t been re-signed by the Seahawks or landed anywhere else yet, though. While his stats don’t always show it, he is one of the league’s most disruptive defenders and whoever signs him will probably have to pay through the nose. The Panthers can save $3 million by cutting running back Mike Davis, which would help but might not be enough to bridge the gap.

Other less expensive options include slot cornerback Logan Ryan, defensive tackle Mike Daniels and tight end Delanie Walker.

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How does the Trai Turner trade impact the Panthers’ salary cap?

The cap implications don’t make the deal any better, either.

Trading your best offensive lineman for one who’s five years older doesn’t make much sense on the surface for a team that’s supposedly rebuilding. For the Panthers, dealing Trai Turner to the Chargers for Russell Okung is difficult to justify from a football perspective.

While Turner isn’t the player he was when he signed his big contract extension, he’s still one of the top guards in the league and has at least several good years left in him. On the other hand, Okung has been a solid left tackle most of his career but he’s nearing the end of his time in the NFL. He also missed 10 games last year and not just due to any ordinary injury. Okung suffered a Pulmonary Embolism in June caused by two blood clots.

The cap implications don’t make the deal any better, either.

By trading Turner, the Panthers only saved about $3.3 million in salary cap space for the 2020 season. Meanwhile, the move is going to cost them another massive dead money penalty: $9.6 million. That brings their total to $37.56 million for the year, over three times as much as the team with the second most – Jacksonville is currently at $12.46 million.

The only benefit here is that Okung has just one year left on his contract, so he will be coming off the books in 2021, opening up more room for year two of the Matt Rhule era.

Meanwhile, Turner has two years left on his deal, but the Chargers should be giddy about getting a guard of his caliber who is still in his prime, especially with a deep draft class at offensive tackle coming up. This was a fleecing.

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Panthers lead the NFL in most dead cap money for 2020

Rebuilding this team from its current state will certainly put Marty Hurney’s roster-building skills to the test.

The Panthers have had an eventful offseason to say the least. A new head coach has been hired, one future Hall of Fame linebacker retired, an All-Pro tight end was released and the team owner and starting quarterback don’t appear to be on the same page, at least not in public.

Rebuilding this team from its current state will certainly put Marty Hurney’s roster-building skills to the test. In addition to having relatively little salary cap room and a ton of position needs to fill, the Panthers lead the league in a dubious category: most dead cap money for 2020.

Here’s a look at how that $27.3 million is broken down, per Spotrac.

LB Luke Kuechly: $11,845,028
OT Matt Kalil: $9,800,000
TE Greg Olsen: $3,700,000
OLB Mario Addison: $1,500,000
S Rashaan Gaulden: $211,914
LB Jared Norris: $75,000
CB Corn Elder: $69,477
WR/KR Terry Godwin: $61,125
WR Damion Jeanpiere: $13,337
DB Corrion Ballard: $13,334
RB Elijah Holyfield: $13,334
G Brendan Mahon: $4,168

Not great, Bob.

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5 Panthers players who could be cut for salary cap savings in 2020

Here are five players that could be cap casualties this year. All salary info comes courtesy of Over the Cap.

The Panthers won’t have a ton of money to play around with this year unless they make some significant cuts. Even after losing Luke Kuechly to retirement and parting ways with Greg Olsen, they will only have between $33 million and $36 million in salary cap space.

Here are five players that could be cap casualties this year. All salary info comes courtesy of Over the Cap.

RB Mike Davis

Mike Davis
Daniel Bartel-USA TODAY Sports

Cap savings: $3,000,000

Dead money: $0

Signing Davis was always a bit of a head-scratching move. Christian McCaffrey rarely if ever comes off the field and they have two young, cheap backs already on the roster in Reggie Bonnafon and Jordan Scarlett. Davis can contribute for a run-heavy kind of team that needs depth, but the Panthers aren’t one of them. Consider him as good as cut.

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Panthers cap update: How much space is left after Greg Olsen, Luke Kuechly leaving?

Panthers cap update: How much space is left for the 2020 NFL season?

The Panthers are in the midst of perhaps the most dramatic offseason in their short history, having already hired a new coach and losing star veteran players such as Greg Olsen and Luke Kuechly. These losses have rapidly changed the team’s salary cap picture over the course of the past few weeks.

At the moment, the Panthers’ top 51 contracts account for approximately $176 million of the $210 million projected cap, according to Over The Cap. This leaves the team with roughly $33 million to work with the depleted roster this offseason. That figure does not include the recent one-year extensions for Joey Slye, Cole Luke and Reggie Bonnafon.

Carolina is expected to sign cornerback James Bradberry to an extension which will significantly eat into that space.

The team could free up an additional $9.5 million with the release of running back Mike Davis and defensive tackle Dontari Poe, although the release of the latter might leave the team extremely thin at the position.

The Panthers may be entering a rough period in the future, especially on the defensive side of the ball. The unit currently has 12 players set to hit free agency.

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NFL releases salary cap projections for 2020

NFL releases salary cap projections for 2020

According to Ian Rapoport at NFL Network, the league informed teams today that the 2020 salary cap will be in the range of $196.8-201.2 million, another significant jump from $188.2 million this year.

The increase should give the Panthers plenty of room to pay their most important pending free agents as well as make some splashes. According to Over the Cap, they should have around $44 million in space.

Carolina has already signed linebacker Shaq Thompson to a long-term deal. Next, they’ll have to pay to keep key defensive pieces like cornerback James Bradberry, outside linebacker Mario Addison and defensive tackle Gerald McCoy.  If there’s enough to go shopping after, some intriguing names include A.J. Green, Yannick Ngakoue and Hunter Henry.

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