Panthers Cap Space (This Season) After Moton Deal

[CarolinaLivin]

The Carolina Panthers cut it pretty close, but they were able to work out a new long-term contract with their star right tackle Taylor Moton just before the franchise tag deadline.

If a deal had not been struck, Moton would have played under the tag and counted $13,754,000 against the cap, the highest amount on the roster. Instead, Moton signed a four-year, $72 million deal, deservedly making him one of the highest-paid tackles in the NFL. The move also saved the Panthers a good chunk of salary cap space for the 2021 season.

According to updated figures at Over the Cap, Carolina now has a little over$24 million in cap space – $10 million more than before the Moton deal.

While there’s not a whole lot of options left on the market, that’s more than enough to go out and address a couple of the team’s biggest roster hole before the games begin. Signing a proven left tackle and a free safety should be at the top of the list.

 

Link: https://pantherswire.usatoday.com/2021/07/18/how-much-cap-space-do-the-panthers-have-after-taylor-motons-megadeal/

 

With saving approx. $10 million and putting us at about $24 million in current cap for this season, who do you think the Panthers will try to bring in if anyone? I've seen articles suggesting a LB (Vander from cowboys, would be a trade situation I believe), CB (already brought in veteran FA clinton dix), and S (suggestions from articles included FA hooker & vaccaro). 

[CarolinaLivin]

I think we could try to rollover as much $$$ as we can from this season to next season. This season we sent prove-it contracts to some unproven guys. Next season we'll have more than enough to send contracts to proven guys. 

Edited July 19, 2021 by CarolinaLivin

[Captain Morgan]

only the Jets, Jaguars and Broncos have more cap space than we do this year, but we're 14th for next year.

[shaqattaq]

3 minutes ago, stbugs said:

I really hope we aren’t stupid enough to go for it again. Save the cap, roll it over and spend it on DJ, Burns, etc. and whatever’s left can go to a splurge when we are actually competing for a title. I want to see Darnold improve before wasting anymore like we did in 2019/2020.

Exactly! let's start keeping some of our own talent for a change. Yes, I realize we can't keep everyone, but the 2 guys you mentioned are definite, and I wouldn't mind trying to see what it would take to keep Reddick more than 1 year or extend Anderson, although I have the feeling we drafted his replacement this year. 

[Snake]

24 minutes ago, CarolinaLivin said:

I think we could try to rollover as much $$$ as we can from this season to next season. This season we sent prove-it contracts to some unproven guys. Next season we'll have more than enough to send contracts to proven guys. 

Yeah extending guys like Burns,Moore,and maybe Anderson would be great.

[thefuzz]

Need to save cash for Burns and DJ, also need to save some incase one of the "Big 3" were to come here next offseason...Rodgers, Russell, Watson.

[kungfoodude]

4 minutes ago, thefuzz said:

Need to save cash for Burns and DJ, also need to save some incase one of the "Big 3" were to come here next offseason...Rodgers, Russell, Watson.

Rodgers and Wilson are looking for wins or locations. I don't see us on their potential location list nor on their list for ready to win now teams.

Watson is a possibility but probably a rather slim one at this point. Just depends on how serious it gets for him. I think legally he comes out fairly clean because he has access to the rich people justice system but the court of public opinion isn't so kind.

[thefuzz]

8 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

Rodgers and Wilson are looking for wins or locations. I don't see us on their potential location list nor on their list for ready to win now teams.

Watson is a possibility but probably a rather slim one at this point. Just depends on how serious it gets for him. I think legally he comes out fairly clean because he has access to the rich people justice system but the court of public opinion isn't so kind.

We think we know what they are looking for, but very well may not.

Maybe they think this division is about to turn.  Maybe they look at our weapons and hopefully a better O Line and want to play here, maybe Rodgers really wants to play for Brady and Rhule.

I'm just saying that it's a possibility that one of them could be here, especially after we tried like hell for Stafford.  This ain't your daddy's Carolina Panthers.

[shaqattaq]

31 minutes ago, stbugs said:

Honestly, it should be relatively easy. As posted in another thread we’ve got a nice 3 year cap space amount. Yes, we added Moton but I expect that to be a bit back heavy so if we release Shaq, that frees up $25M in 2022/2023 which will likely cover most of Moton’s 2022/2023 cap.

DJ - 2021 is rookie contract and 2022 is 5th year so, not really a big hit until 2023.

Burns - 2021/2022 is rookie contract and 2023 is 5th year so not really a big hit until 2024.

Brown - same as Burns + 1, not a big hit until 2025

Chinn - same as Brown except we could easily tag him (S isn’t a huge price tag franchise) and make him relative cheap until 2025.

Do I wish we had all the cap space we wasted last year? Heck yeah, but it is what it is and it seems OK. Darnold is the only fly in the ointment but I’d be ecstatic if he was worth $30M a year in 2023. He’s still pretty cheap in 2022. Seems like we’d have enough to extend maybe a Reddick too, but it’s more important that our OL and other draft picks pan out. For instance, we should hope that Smith, Moore 2 and Marshall make extending Anderson not necessary.

AS always, the secret to keeping the cap under control is drafting well, especially in the mid-later rounds. So far, I've liked what has happened the last 2 years. Let's hope we're right. 

FWIW, this is what OTC is reporting on Moton:

[BrianS]

That's actually an amazing contract for us if true.  All of his guarantees are out by 2023, so our dead cap after that is incredibly low.

 

[kungfoodude]

2 hours ago, thefuzz said:

We think we know what they are looking for, but very well may not.

Maybe they think this division is about to turn.  Maybe they look at our weapons and hopefully a better O Line and want to play here, maybe Rodgers really wants to play for Brady and Rhule.

I'm just saying that it's a possibility that one of them could be here, especially after we tried like hell for Stafford.  This ain't your daddy's Carolina Panthers.

There has to be some mutual interest for either of them, IMO. I doubt Rodgers is going to play anywhere other than Green Bay or a Cali based team. If he was traded somewhere else, he'd likely just retire. 

Wilson has mild ties to the area but his wife is unlikely to want to stray too far from the West Coast given her industry. Also, I don't think Wilson is very serious about wanting to leave Seattle. I suspect that is very much more a case of him voicing some general frustrations rather than him trying to force a trade.

While we have turned over a new leaf as a franchise, I don't think you will see us be much of a prime location for many big free agents or NFL stars until we show some stability and success. It's a process to get there and we are very much in the infancy of it.

Edited July 19, 2021 by kungfoodude

[thefuzz]

59 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

There has to be some mutual interest for either of them, IMO. I doubt Rodgers is going to play anywhere other than Green Bay or a Cali based team. If he was traded somewhere else, he'd likely just retire. 

Wilson has mild ties to the area but his wife is unlikely to want to stray too far from the West Coast given her industry. Also, I don't think Wilson is very serious about wanting to leave Seattle. I suspect that is very much more a case of him voicing some general frustrations rather than him trying to force a trade.

While we have turned over a new leaf as a franchise, I don't think you will see us be much of a prime location for many big free agents or NFL stars until we show some stability and success. It's a process to get there and we are very much in the infancy of it.

I think you COULD be right, however, I'm still of the mindset to plan for the future, and have some dry powder rather than blow it all trying to chase something that's not attainable yet.

Save the cash, and prepare for next season and beyond is all I'm saying.

[kungfoodude]

11 minutes ago, thefuzz said:

I think you COULD be right, however, I'm still of the mindset to plan for the future, and have some dry powder rather than blow it all trying to chase something that's not attainable yet.

Save the cash, and prepare for next season and beyond is all I'm saying.

Yeah, there is no reason to go nuts until we have more of our core secured.

[CarolinaNCSU]

Roll it over barring some hot start and Darnold looking legit.  Then, get crazy at the trade deadline if you want. 

Spending just because you have space, on a team that's still possibly a QB (and more) away, is how you suck for a prolonged period of time.