Panthers Ready To Shop At Tiffany's? Not So Fast.

[Saca312]

So, David Newton actually posted something that's well worth noting. Many on here are under the conceived notion that we would have a lot of money to spend, but Newton doesn't believe so. When considering who we likely are going to focus on bringing back, it may not be as much of a huge FA grab as many here hope.

Rather, it looks to be another off-season focusing on keeping our key guys.

http://www.espn.com/blog/carolina-panthers/post/_/id/24651/panthers-still-not-ready-to-shop-at-tiffanys-despite-more-than-50-million-in-cap-space

Quote

Fifty-plus million is a lot, particularly when you consider a few years ago the Panthers had about $16 million in cap space.

But when you consider what it's going to cost to sign a few of Carolina's own free agents to long-term deals, the number shrinks fast.

Let's start with defensive tackle Kawann Short. Should the Panthers go ahead and use the franchise tag while they continue to negotiate a long-term deal that will eat up an estimated $14,770,194 in cap space.

The checkbook already is down to $35 million to $37 million. It could be down more if the Panthers work out a deal that averages more than the tag price.

The Panthers also would like to sign defensive tackle Star Lotulelei to a long-term deal even though they picked up his fifth-year option for the 2017 season. Let's say he wants a deal among the top 12 tackles. That would eat up between $5 million to $6 million, maybe more.

So now you're down to around $29 million, give or take a few million.

Say the Panthers decide to keep defensive end Mario Addison, who led the team in sacks this past season with 9.5. That could cost $3 million to $6 million, depending what his market value is.

Toss in defensive end Charles Johnson at another one-year, $3 million bargain like last year and you're closing in on $20 million in available cap space.

Then there's tackle Mike Remmers. He moved from right to left tackle the final 13 games last season after Michael Oher was diagnosed with a concussion. He probably won't get left tackle money, at least from Carolina, but the 10th-ranked right tackle last year earned $5.5 million.

If Remmers gets that, now you're getting to the $15 million range available.

Wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. also is a free agent. He counted $2.775 million against the cap last year. He likely will have a more cap friendly deal moving forward, but that still could cost $1.5 million or more.

Very daunting to say we may only have $10m left over to spend in FA, not to mention keeping some of that for our draft picks. I was thinking about researching and posting on this, but David already did that job for me, and it's very daunting.

We may truly have another lackluster offseason with the way keeping our own guys is looking out to be.

So, I wouldn't expect big-name players like Berry or JPP to be anywhere near Charlotte, but guys like LT Matt Kalil, CB Captain Munnerlyn, DE Julius Peppers and WR Victor Cruz are likely targets if they're on the cheap. I'm hoping Cyprien is also on the radar, but I don't know if we can afford him.

Very grateful Gettleman has achieved us to have this much cap to use to resign our guys, but does give a downer considering how much of our cap they'd eat up.

[The Lobo]

It is nice to think and dream of signing a ton of guys and getting the big catch, but we should all know by now we just don't do that. That's ok, just as long as we bring our guys back and grab solid role players. My la la land signing is DJax...probably won't happen.

[Saca312]

Just now, The Lobo said:

It is nice to think and dream of signing a ton of guys and getting the big catch, but we should all know by now we just don't do that. That's ok, just as long as we bring our guys back and grab solid role players. My la la land signing is DJax...probably won't happen.

If we're closer to the $60m cap I originally believed we'd have, then I'd see some good signings with decent name players. But $50m? I don't think we'll go out and hunt down hard.

Oh, forgot we needed a FB as well. Well add that to the list.

[Mage]

If we give Remmers $5.5m, I'll LOL.

[Guest Lasus83]

Newton is usually on point but this analysis is done in a vacuum

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[punkpanther]

There's a good chance 2-3 of those guys aren't coming back ..so there's that


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[TheSpecialJuan]

Oh well, so much for Eric Berry or JPP. Bring on Shamarko Thomas and Karl Klug.

[outlaw4]

I get the feeling that we're not keeping everyone. After all, we can always either find a cheaper alternative through the draft/FA or use the savings of losing one key player to grab two or three good ones and bolster other areas of the roster. It really depends on what direction we want this roster to go. 

[Mr. Miagi]

15 minutes ago, Mage said:

If we give Remmers $5.5m, I'll LOL.

And then someone will sign Riley Reiff for the same amount. 

[Nails]

19 minutes ago, Lasus83 said:

Newton is usually on point but this analysis is done in a vacuum

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David Newton sucks.

[OldNorthPowell]

We will have more money to spend.

[Reebis21]

This article doesn't take into account how we structure the money over the course of these contracts. Take Star for example. We might sign him long term but backload the deal or at least structure it so he doesn't get a ton of money this year. GMs have all kinds of ways to play with the cap.

Im not saying we won't use most of our cap room on our own guys, but I'm more optimistic than this article makes me feel.

[Saca312]

1 minute ago, Reebis21 said:

This article doesn't take into account how we structure the money over the course of these contracts. Take Star for example. We might sign him long term but backload the deal or at least structure it so he doesn't get a ton of money this year. GMs have all kinds of ways to play with the cap.

Im not saying we won't use most of our cap room on our own guys, but I'm more optimistic than this article makes me feel.

Very fair, but I don't know about backloading much. You consider the 2018 offseason will be another heavy one for us, so I don't know how much Gettleman wants to save for that headache as well.

[The Lobo]

32 minutes ago, Saca312 said:

If we're closer to the $60m cap I originally believed we'd have, then I'd see some good signings with decent name players. But $50m? I don't think we'll go out and hunt down hard.

Oh, forgot we needed a FB as well. Well add that to the list.

Well if we cut Dickson and do a restructure with Stew or perhaps a cut and sign like CJ, we will be closer to 60. There's a chance.