Breaking Down Steve Smith's Deal

What I see in this deal is there's not way he can finish this contract. The first three years are manageable but when his base salary jumps to $9m and he's 36-37 years old it get's hairy. If there was no salary cap I'd pay him $15m a year until he was 50 but we do have to keep his number low for the rest of the team.

Yes, let's be real... He's easily a top 5 WR in this League, and didn't take top 5 $$... I mean look at the relative no names that just racked up in this offseason alone.

"He's not awesome totally awesome to the rest of the League" ??? Are u fuggin serious!? He's highly regarded in the game as a "nightmare" for any opposing defense.

Be glad that our FO got him to sign this deal, if he had hit the FA wire we would not have been able to even come close to matching his offer. Anybody that thinks otherwise is a fool.

Top 5, top 10, top 15....it changes up year to year. I have no need to debate that. He is a stud. That is all that matters.

And no....Smitty isn't totally awesome to everyone outside of Carolina. We value him more....and will pay him more than most teams.

Don't forget he punched out a reported 3 teammates, has kicked opponents in the head, cussed everyone out.....and when things don't go his way he is just a dick (see his behavior as recently as 2010). We take the bad bc we have experienced the good.....harder for other teams to overlook that stuff

Love the deal. Pays the best Panther ever IMO and frees up space. Simple as that.

Pretty amazing that he's still one of the best vertical receivers in the league at his age. He hasn't lost a step.

What I see in this deal is there's not way he can finish this contract. The first three years are manageable but when his base salary jumps to $9m and he's 36-37 years old it get's hairy. If there was no salary cap I'd pay him $15m a year until he was 50 but we do have to keep his number low for the rest of the team.

I completely agree with you.

I also know with absolute certainty that an effort will be made to restructure this deal when it gets to the pivotal year. This is what Hurney does people. And quite frankly I think it's what he's best at.

If Smitty elects not to re-structure that's when it can turn into an ugly ending for him and the organization.

On another note... And I've said this before, I also expect Hurney to restructure DeAngelo's deal after the season to make room for Stewarts deal. I think this will get done as well.

In saying that I don't expect DeAngelo to get an overwhelmingly amt of touches this year, if only for the fact that Hurney can use it as leverage in making #34 restructure. He could easily say something along these lines.... We're going to split you guys' carries evenly to pro long both of your careers here. In saying that I'd like you to re-structure... As long as the players but into it, then everything is peachy. It's when they don't that it causes problems.

I have faith that this organization is going in the right direction and with players like Smitty saying " Playing for this staff and coach Rivera makes it easy to sign anything at this point" it just proves that this ship is sailing for the promised lands and a Lonbardi trophy.

Sorry for going a little off topic.

CRA I see all of your points and I understand why you feel the way you do. Your logic is on point, but I disagree that other teams would view #89 as a locker room distraction. He has proven the last few years that he has matured as a player and person. He's become as unselfish as they come. He even payed for all the WR's and their families to fly out to the Pro Bowl with him last year. Doesn't get much classier than that imo. Again, no disrespect to u whatsoever, I just disagree on that point.

Can we still be friends!? Lol

CRA is on something. If Steve Smith went on the open market, he would get a TON of interest and get paid more than the deal we just gave him..period.

Carry on now Mr.Negator

Hurney magic.

CRA- he is a dick when things dont go his way? See 2010?

- yeah they were called passes...Clausen could not get them to him and he was pissing Cactus Cooler outta his eyes.

The combo of Jeff Davidson-Clausen would have Tony Dungy blinside punching guys in camp.


Im in the minority but Striking the opponent when they are not expecting it is very Ninja.. He knew Ken Lucas was going to suck as a cb...he did it for all of us. Thank you smitty..


Smitty has been a top 10 guy when healthy..but with Delhomme and the cast of clowns we had,until recently, were hot garbage tossing him the ball.

Does anyone else see that 5 mil going to Shockey?

Top 5, top 10, top 15....it changes up year to year. I have no need to debate that. He is a stud. That is all that matters.

And no....Smitty isn't totally awesome to everyone outside of Carolina. We value him more....and will pay him more than most teams.

Don't forget he punched out a reported 3 teammates, has kicked opponents in the head, cussed everyone out.....and when things don't go his way he is just a dick (see his behavior as recently as 2010). We take the bad bc we have experienced the good.....harder for other teams to overlook that stuff

My god, who the fug cares. You do know his wife was sick in 2010 right? Maybe that's the fuging reason why he wasn't himself and the way our entire team was pure poo, JR did not show anyone he was committed to winning. He is a better teammate and a better man today. Everyone in that fuging locker room respects Smitty he is respected across this league he is a fiery competitor and a great father and husband.

Some people bitch and moan about the dumbest poo. Pisses me the fug off.

if he averages a thousand yards a season over the next three years I have a hard time believing he won't stick around for as long as possible after that. even if he sticks around for two years after that and puts up a couple hundred yards playing a donald driver type role, it'll pad his stats and increase his shot at collecting rings. at this point in his career he's got to be thinking about what he can do to boost his shot at the HOF.

"I'm not a choirboy. I've never said I was. And I don't want a roster of 53 choirboys,"- Jerry Richardson

Good business....and he's worth every penny!

CRA has become a liability to this Franchise.
We overpaid him when he signed his contract guaranteeing nothing!

What was hurney thinking! He better cut CRA or psl owners will start revolting by selling their psl's!

JR probably figures that that he's now paid Smitty enough money that he can pay for his own statue outside BOA.

What I see in this deal is there's not way he can finish this contract. The first three years are manageable but when his base salary jumps to $9m and he's 36-37 years old it get's hairy. If there was no salary cap I'd pay him $15m a year until he was 50 but we do have to keep his number low for the rest of the team.

Thats about the time he will retire honestly.

You know, there are some who will say that Smitty's occasional fits of temper disqualify him from consideration as an example of what the best in being a Panther is all about, but I would beg to differ. I think on the whole, he has been the ultimate team player, and I would like to cast my vote early to see him in bronze near Sam Mills when he hangs up his cleats.

We only had $440,000 cap room prior to this deal. This explains why we haven't made Jordan Senn's re-signing official yet.
We freed up $4.74 million with this deal now have approx 5.18mil in cap room.
Look for us to re-sign Shockey as well as another 3rd tier FA like Jason Brown or Rocky McIntosh w/that cap room.

The Hurney magic

props to Hurney

Smith's deal is appropriate for his age and future potential. Smith knows that you don't get huge deals at 32 if you aren't a quarterback. He got good money but it was likely less than he could have gotten elsewhere not more. I don't think he got less because of a bad reputation but I do think he did give us a hometown discount. He told us that he wanted to stay here because of his family and Smith puts family above all else. Look at how many deals other guys with a few issues get as long as they are productive. He was top 5 in the league last year. He has been pretty much a choir boy for the past few years.

I love the deal, Smith is imo the best panther ever and I'm hoping he retires here when all is said and done.

This is the best re-sign we've done.