Panthers Cap Space (This Season) After Moton Deal

[Toomers]

46 minutes ago, BrianS said:

Paradis is gone in 2022.

We converted 7ish million of base salary this year into bonus in order to spread the cap hit over two years, albeit two years he is not on the team.  I'm guessing the thinking was that this year our cap is in bad shape due to Luke, Teddy, etc.  We needed the 4 million in relief.  The next couple years our cap looks way better, and so by spreading 4 million over each of those years we have a lower impact on our ability to field a good team.

 

That’s not how it works. The entire 9.2M hits in 2022. Unless they resign him to another 3-4 yr contract. Those are void years. They cancel after the season. 

[RumHam]

23 hours ago, CarolinaLivin said:

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). 

did we actually sign dix or just work him out? I don't think we signed him. Dix also isn't a CB.

[CarolinaLivin]

4 minutes ago, RumHam said:

did we actually sign dix or just work him out? I don't think we signed him. Dix also isn't a CB.

Just worked him out. and also nice catch.

[Toomers]

Just now, stbugs said:

Yep, but that 9.2M is already in our cap projections.

Yes. But the team is not getting anything from it. It’s the same as dead money. It’s gone. There is no difference. You have 9.2M to account for and no C. What is the difference? 

[Toomers]

2 minutes ago, stbugs said:

Oh, I agree although we already got it. We’ll have paid him $29M and only accounted for $20M. We overspent because we knew we’d get an injured year. I’m just saying that our cap picture is still solid even with that all in 2022. Some folks before had thought that the voided years weren’t counted yet. Seeing as how our cap space is $24M, it really doesn’t matter if we accounted for the $9M this year or in 2022. We’d either roll over $15M with no Paradis cap hit or roll over $24M with a $9M Paradis cap hit.

Yes. It’s just like any restructure. And Paradis is being cut and the 9.2M is gone. This is just a way to make this years hit as little as possible. 

[Toomers]

2 minutes ago, stbugs said:

I’m not sure Paradis is actually released as there’s no new money in the deal and the years are instantly voided with no way to keep him (he’ll be an UFA so we could re-sign him). I think this is just the Saints trick although with $24M in rollover it ended up not being necessary. It might mess up any potential comp picks but I’m not sure about that. I’m assuming we did that just in case we needed space if we got Stafford or Watson but now it’s meaningless.

I mean like being cut after a restructure, ala KK should have been earlier and finally was. He’s not cut. His contract is over. Curious how they work with comp picks myself. If they are eligible still, it helps. 

[MHS831]

17 hours ago, kungfoodude said:

I believe you mean, "Let's see if he can stay healthy."

He is a bit fragile. 

[iamhubby1]

On 7/19/2021 at 11:15 PM, PandaMan said:

Exactly, pass rushers are by far one of the most important positions in the game and we will have to pay Burns in a couple years.  I would also love keeping DJ Moore.  He’s performed so well with trash at QB, this guy can be a league leader in stats with better QB play.  

We’ve been laughably bad at retaining quality homegrown talent, so I’m a believer that the Moton deal was a sign of good things to come.  

 

We have also been laughably bad at saving money. We pain Moton, and still have money. 

 

We used to spend every dime we had. Never had Cap Space. So we had to let some players walk. So far, it looks like this regime has a handle on that. So far at least. Maybe, just maybe, we can start keeping some of our home grown talent. Wouldn't that be nice?

[rmoneyg35]

Can anyone explain why you wouldn’t front load the contract? I mean this year supposed to be a rebuilding year so wouldn’t you want more cap available in years 2-4 of the contract so we can have room to resign/ sign players? Why not put the majority of the contract for this year?

[SBBlue]

6 minutes ago, stbugs said:

we’ve got some solid young talent that could compete for a title.

We certainly do.

[SBBlue]

19 minutes ago, stbugs said:

Our best path forward:

2021 - Get Sam right, don’t worry about playoffs, just get him to where we need. Figure out which of the rookie OL can contribute and where (ideal case is BC and either Moore or Brown plug 2 IOL spots). Figure out if Marshall, Moore 2 and Smith make Anderson expendable (hopefully, he is). Figure out which short time vets we want to stay longer (Jones, Reddick, Bouye, Perryman, Arnold, OL).

2022 - Release Shaq to save $25M over 2022/2033 and work on extending DJ after 5th year option. Re-sign Donte if he does well (he shouldn’t be expensive based on years 1-3). Draft our LT in round 1 (or QB if Sam flops, which puts a kink in plan) and draft another 1 or 2 OL. Draft a LB as Shaq’s replacement (maybe 3rd, not having 2nd is tough) or FA like Perryman. Fill in depth based on 2021 progression of players.

2023 - Extend Burns who will be on his 5th year option. Maybe extend Chinn/Gross-Matos if not a franchise tag on Chinn. Draft OL heavy yet again and sprinkle in other positions needed.

2024 - Enjoy making a run at a repeat. 

I agree with most of these moves from the current vantage point...but I reserve the right to change my mind.

Players we expect to do well may decline and unexpected players may impress.   We don't know where we're drafting at or what will be available.

In 2014 we were 7-8-1.  The NFC south was considered the worst division in football.  Who predicted that we would go to the Superbowl in '15 and 3 NFC Champions would come from the NFCS over the next 6 years.

Rhule and Fitt make decisions I would have never considered and that intrigues me.  Do they see something I don't?    I would have gone Fields and oline like the Bears did. Lets see how the Bears do and how we do.

 

[frankw]

1 hour ago, stbugs said:

Our best path forward:

2021 - Get Sam right, don’t worry about playoffs, just get him to where we need. Figure out which of the rookie OL can contribute and where (ideal case is BC and either Moore or Brown plug 2 IOL spots). Figure out if Marshall, Moore 2 and Smith make Anderson expendable (hopefully, he is). Figure out which short time vets we want to stay longer (Jones, Reddick, Bouye, Perryman, Arnold, OL).

2022 - Release Shaq to save $25M over 2022/2033 and work on extending DJ after 5th year option. Re-sign Donte if he does well (he shouldn’t be expensive based on years 1-3). Draft our LT in round 1 (or QB if Sam flops, which puts a kink in plan) and draft another 1 or 2 OL. Draft a LB as Shaq’s replacement (maybe 3rd, not having 2nd is tough) or FA like Perryman. Fill in depth based on 2021 progression of players.

2023 - Extend Burns who will be on his 5th year option. Maybe extend Chinn/Gross-Matos if not a franchise tag on Chinn. Draft OL heavy yet again and sprinkle in other positions needed.

2024 - Enjoy making a run at a repeat. 

Edit: I see it now. Moore is going to get minimum 80 millionish. Pair that with Burns deal that's a heap of salary cap that could make things tough for 2025.

Edited July 21, 2021 by frankw

[SBBlue]

Just now, stbugs said:

 Darnold is the key and that’s a bit scary.

Or exciting.  

Darnold plays better than Teddy, which even some of his detractors concede, and Teddy was  just below average in many categories. 

As for ints,  Darnold's 3% last year  was bad, but still better than the 3.1% in '16 and 3.3% in '18 that Tannehill had. 

Tannehill's is now at 1.5 int%.   Darnold doesn't have to get close to that for us to be good. 

Teddy had a 2.1 int% last year, a very reasonable target for Darnold this year.

People seem to forget that Darnold had a winning QB record in 2019, with the JETS and Gase.  That year, he had better a QB -record than Prescott, Ryan, Winston, Stafford, Rivers, and our Newton and  Kyle Allen.   Now that's a ridiculous comparison, I know.   But see how much situation matters?  Sam may fail, but I wouldn't say the odds lean overwhelmingly that way.

You don't have to have rose colored glasses to see that Sam could work, there's plenty of data to support it.  He has definite flashes on film.

The Bucs stood still and it looks like aints and birds took a step backward. 

I think we changed radically for the better.

[frankw]

7 minutes ago, SBBlue said:

Darnold plays better than Teddy,

 

I would be hesitant to make that claim just yet. TB wasn't holding the team back bc he was a turnover machine though that was a factor. He could have been a decent starter if he pushed the ball downfield consistently and didn't opt for the easy play far too often. He was risk averse to a fault. With Sam we know he can sling it better than Teddy but it's a matter of coaching those too often risky plays out of him. There was a video in one of these threads going back to his usc days of him just heaving up some pretty dicey passes. That's the x factor we have to wait and see on if he will be able to progress from that.