Williams was entering the third season of a five-year, $43 million contract and was scheduled to earn $5 million in cash with an $8.2 million salary cap number for 2013. Williams will still receive $5 million in cash this year, but the deal has been restructured in a way that reduces his cap number to $5 million, a cap savings of $3.2 million that leaves the team $8.46 million under their adjusted 2013 salary cap number of $126.232 million.
Williams was scheduled to earn $4.75 million in non-guaranteed base salary with a $250,000 workout bonus this season. Under the renegotiated contract, Williams' base salary was lowered to $850,000 and his workout bonus reduced to $150,000. The remaining $4 million was converted to a signing bonus, which will be prorated against the Panthers' cap at $800,000 per season through 2017.
The real cash savings for the Panthers occurs in 2014 and 2015. Full Article

• Beason about his charity event that took place on Monday night. Gave out prizes and some vacations and a Panther's fan package for a great cause and a charitable donation (MLB Foundation). Involved people buying tickets and going to The Palm restaurant in Charlotte and Beason and some other Panther's players including Gross, Kalil, Luke, Olsen, CJ, Hardy, Godfrey, Stewart, Steve Smith, and Thomas Davis would serve as waiters for the evening. Beason said its tough asking people for money and the event was nearly sold out but he was happy the roll out the red carpet for people. Beason thought that himself, Gross, and Kalil would make the best waiters because they have previous experience. Said DeAngelo would be the worst tipper and that DeAngelo would appreciated being nominated by Beason as the "worst tipper."

• Asked how pumped he was about the Panthers drafting two defensive tackles in Star and Short. Beason was excited about the picks and said it directly benefits him and the rest of linebacking corps. Loves the rotation and potential of the defensive line unit. Says he will be in there hiding behind that front four and ready to make plays. Believes the defensive line didn't get enough credit for what they did last year by the national media. Says we are extremely excited on the second level of the defense.

• Beason said he realized and had total respect for Luke Kuechly when he was in college. Watched him play at BC as a fellow ACC alumni and talked about him prior to the draft. He said he knew he was special right away with the way he studied, prepared, and worked hard. Said he knew he was an immense talent right away at the Mike position and that Luke was glad to be back in the middle and he was totally comfortable there from the first snap. Said he has the "it" factor and is grounded enough to be as good as he wants to be and that he still wants to get much better.

• Beason said its tough as an athlete trying to recover from injury because you have to live in the moment and realize your time in this league is limited. He said he now wants to make the most of this opportunity and win championships. When the game was taken away from him, he found a new appreciation for the game and it isn't about the personal accolades but about wining championships. Beason said football is about right now. Said it hurt hearing people say that we should trade him and that he doesn't have it anymore and when he lays that first big hit on someone next season he will just be thinking "I told you so, I told you so." Says he pities the guy who will be on the receiving end of that hit and will try to take his head off. Says its nothing personal, but someone has to pay for him missing time due to injury.

• Asked about his various injuries in different places and if he ever had a doubt that he could get back to form and come back stronger. Beason said the achilles and shoulder injuries are soft tissue related and it is all about what he put into it and putting the effort into rehabbing as quickly as possible. However, the micro fracture on his knee is bone related and just needs to be healed in time. Mentioned it was frustrating just waiting around for the pain to cease and lately he has been able to run around and says the injury is out of his hands and he is basically just waiting to wake up and have the pain gone. Says he feels good and hasn't lost anything in terms of strength and stamina.

• Asked by the interviewer "what Jon Beason will be lined up against Seattle week 1?" Beason says he appreciates the doubters and they mean the world to him. Doubters have helped him turn into a man and the doubters have gotten him to where he is today. He always overcomes and always wins because of the doubters. He says he will be slightly upset, highly motivated, and eager to prove to the world who he is and who he can become. Believes he can still be the best player at his position. 52 will give everything he has got.

• Interviewer says he doubted Thomas Davis getting back to form after three injuries. Beason is highly motivated by Davis and they went through rehab together and that they competed against each other in rehabbing and getting back to where they were. Wanted to win each day. Thomas Davis set a benchmark by coming back from three ACL injuries on the same knee. Beason said Thomas Davis has just scratched the service of his potential and that he is driven by Thomas.

• Asked how good this 2013 Panthers can be. Said first and foremost we are healthy. Said offseason moves have helped both sides of the ball and we got deep at some positions where we were previously pretty shallow. Really loved our draft and said it undoubtedly made us better across the board.

• Ripped on Adam Schein and wants to buy him lunch because he woke up everybody in the locker room and motivated everyone in the building and Beason thanked him for doing so. Guys know what is being said about them and it is just fuel for the fire. No one will speak of it but it is in the back of everyone's mind and the team and staff know what was said. Mentions the last two years and setting team highs/records for the number of guys that went on IR.

• Jon and Thomas Davis have always competed and they sit around with Luke and joke about how no one can break tackling records this year because there aren't enough tackles to go around and they don't care about individual stat lines. They just want to be dominant as a unit. They want to be the best unit every Sunday and thats the level they plan to play at consistently and he is confident they will do so.

• Interviewer brings up how Beason has been on NFL.com talking about 89 and Luke on the top 100. Says Beason is a really classy guy and deserves a tip of the hat. Beason said he wouldn't say things about Steve Smith and Luke if he didn't mean it. It isn't just because they are teammates and he says he is very very critical of other guys in this league. Said its a shame that Luke didn't get voted into the Pro-Bowl because its clear people didn't watch this defense and Luke go to work. Aside from believing Luke is already the best MLB in the game, that there is nobody close to Luke right now in terms of the potential he has and what he can be as a player.

I love this time of year in the NFL, just after the draft. It's filled with hope, promise and the dawn of a new day as teams prepare for the coming season.
There's just this problem I can't get past when it comes to Cam Newton, Ron Rivera and this year's Carolina Panthers.


I don't think they have a chance.
They don't have a chance for anything.I think the Panthers enter the 2013 season as the worst team in the NFC South. They finished last season at 7-9, tied in the division standings with the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But both of those clubs made improvements. While I liked the Panthers' haul in the 2013 NFL Draft, where did Carolina get noticeably better? Honestly, the Panthers could be one of the four worst teams in the NFC. Consequently, I expect this season to be Rivera's last at the helm in Carolina

Joe Adams

Lamont Bryant

Armanti Edwards

David Gettis

Ted Ginn

Domenik Hixon

Brandon LaFell

Kealoha Pilares

James Shaw

Steve Smith

James Dockery

Drayton Florence

Nick Hixson

DJ Moore

Captain Munnerlyn

Josh Norman

Josh Thomas

___________________

DJ Campbell

Charles Godfrey

Colin Jones

Mike Mitchell

Haruki Nakamura

Anderson Russell

Geoff Hangartner

Hayworth Hicks

Edmund Kugbila

Amini Silatolu

Justin Wells

Zack Williams

Nate Chandler

Colin Cole

Dwan Edwards

Sione Fua

Frank Kearse

Star Lotulelei

Kawann Short

Jon Beason

Chase Blackburn

Thomas Davis

Doug Hogue

AJ Klein

Luke Kuechly

Jordan Senn

Jason Williams

Kenjon Barner

Tauren Poole

Armond Smith

Jonathan Stewart

DeAngelo Williams

• Good pass-rusher
• Fast, quick
• Capable of taking games over
• Can be dominant
• Plays with good pad level
• Good feet
• Quick get-off
• Good use of hands
• Repertoire of moves
• Able to use hands and feet at same time
• Has the ability to shed blocks
• Can beat double-teams
• Plays with good strength
• Athletic
• Can be extremely disruptive
• Splash plays
• Instinctive
• Capable run-defender

Read more: http://www.sfgate.co...p#ixzz2OGdEMh5Y

"They showed us how they detect them and it was incredible," Smith said. "These soldiers are so brave.

"It doesn't compare to what we do [NFL players]. It's not even in the same hemisphere with sports. Nothing we do as NFL players is brave compared to these guys."

Then Smith explained he wanted to say one last thing and what he said reminded me of the combative Smith. But this was the good combative Smith.

"One of the generals told us there are thousands and thousands of soldiers here fighting for our country and they need our support," Smith said. "No matter what people thought of the war or think of it now, these soldiers need our support. So the next time anyone is protesting, just remember, they have the right to protest because of soldiers like these."

Former Bears nickel back D.J. Moore told me he's about to sign a 1-year deal with the Carolina Panthers in a sec. Should be a good addition.