Is K Short worthy of his salary

[Kick]

Can someone explain why K Short is paid the salary of 80 million to be on IR every year?  

[Camp Fodder]

Just now, Kick said:

Can someone explain why K Short is paid the salary of 80 million to be on IR every year?  

Because we have Hurney as a GM?

[BrianS]

Oh, this thread again . . . 

[SmokinwithWilly]

Because Hurney likes to restructure contracts for dead weight instead of cutting them loose.

[Jon Snow]

No.

[jfra78]

In b4 stbugs

[Dragoon11]

Nope!! Like a lot of the Panther's DT's over the years... once they get paid, they get soft.

[Yaboychris28]

Unfortunately some athletes mail it in once they get paid. Kawan Short is a prime example of that 

[onmyown]

6 minutes ago, Yaboychris28 said:

Unfortunately some athletes mail it in once they get paid. Kawan Short is a prime example of that 

The panthers organization as a whole is a prime example of that

when whiny fan favorite players can demand a contact and are made happy to sit on the bench and given a retirement contract, other players notice

Poor player evaluation and unwillingness to let go

We need a GM with Hurney’s chariama and Gettles ruthlessness, but one or the other - an extreme side of the spectrum is a fail

[Mvp2014]

horrible general management 

[DaveThePanther2008]

It's sad that one year he was neck in neck with A. Donald and got very little press.  I was so looking forward to Brown and Short collapsing the middle and Burns and YGM racking in the sacks.   Could have had one of the best young D-lines in the league but KK goes IR.

[Khyber53]

Outstanding performance for a couple of years while on his rookie contract. KK was just a beast early on in his career, piling up sacks, pressuring quarterbacks and becoming the man most offensive coordinators feared to face. KK got the big contract and Star Lotulelei got to try free agency. The two were perfect bookends but the less stat-spectacular Star got the short end of the stick. 

There's a case to be made that KK just got fat and lazy on the big contract. There's also a case that it was Star tying up linemen that broke KK free so often. And there's still a case that can be made that minor injuries slowed him down and the big injuries that followed made it nearly impossible for him to be the force he once was. The truth probably lies somewhere in between. 

On the contract note, when he got the big money deal there was every reason to believe in it and the fan base would have been up in arms had we let KK walk. He was, at that time, the league's defensive line monster who was as disruptive from the inside as the best DEs were. He was basically Aaron Donald for a while there and he looked like a long-term world beater. In 2015 he made the Pro Bowl with 11 sacks, 4 passes defended, 3 forced fumbles, 36 solo tackles, 16 tackles for a loss and 18 QB hits. The next season he slumped a bit as teams gamed for him more (and the post SB hangover) but he snagged the big money as the team tried to keep the band together for another run for the roses under Rivera.

Hindsight is 20/20 and the deal hasn't worked out for the team at all. KK hasn't renegotiated because, well, why should he? He also has a case that injuries keep him from performing at peak levels, but the eye test (sorry, not making fun of you KK) says that even when healthy the effort just isn't there anymore, the stats aren't either. 2019-2020 only shows seven solo tackles and 1 TFL for seven games played in two seasons.

With a dead money hit of $11 million next year, chances are we'll see him roll out in a Panthers' uniform again next season to bring in that $20.8 million total cap hit to fruition. It's not in our favor, but looking back it was easy to see how the most disruptive interior lineman got the big payday. Looking back it's also easy to see he never lived up to the contract, but he is making the team live up to its end.

 

[Icege]

Not going to hold injuries against somebody as a reason against their contract.

Best ability is availability though, and the $14.5M he'd clear off the cap would be great for retaining Moton.

[mattnasty919]

No, no elaboration needed.