Panthers losing another safety

[LinvilleGorge]

42 minutes ago, TheSpecialJuan said:

Incorrect. He’s an excellent special teams gunner 17 other teams thought he was pretty good. 

Franklin had similar one-year offers from 17 teams per his agent Harold Lewis. Conversations with Darren Rizzi, George Paton helped put Broncos over the top. $1.17m salary plus $167,500 SB all full guarantee. #9sports

https://x.com/mikeklis9news/status/1909728710783086631?s=46&t=xeIgh_-Vr2aKxBkBJdfnKA

He's a special teamer and he should fire his agent if he truly had 17 teams vying for his services and he signed that contract. Me thinks that the 17 teams might have been a wee bit of a stretch. LOL 

That deal was probably the 2025 veteran minimum for a player with five years of NFL experience.

You're telling me you had 17 teams putting offers on paper and you couldn't get any of them to move off of vet min? Fired.

[Basbear]

8 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

He's a special teamer and he should fire his agent if he truly had 17 teams voting for his services and he signed that contract. Me thinks that the 17 teams might have been a wee bit of a stretch. LOL 

Maybe they all had similar base salary and Denver upped their SB to get it done. He could get cut easy and be right back on the market. I bet the Panthers had a offer in the pile too, its just hard for teams to add ST specialist that dont kick, punt, or snap. 

Edited April 8, 2025 by Basbear

[MHS831]

He was a rhule guy and I recall him talking smack and getting a penalty or two on special teams.  Stay in your lane.  Nobody cares if a gunner is pissed off.

Apparently, the panthers are going to more energy into the S position this year.  I am excited about it.

 

[Aussie Tank]

How are we gonna replace the penalties

[Icege]

1 hour ago, TheSpecialJuan said:

Free agent safety Sam Franklin has agreed to a one-year deal worth up to $1.5 million with the Broncos, according to his agent, Harold Lewis.

Franklin, 29, spent the past five seasons in Carolina.

In 2024, he played 10 games, seeing action on four defensive snaps and 241 on special teams, while making eight tackles.

Franklin has appeared in 74 games in his career, with nine starts. He has played 782 defensive snaps and 1,327 on special teams and has 105 tackles, a sack, five pass breakups and an interception.

Damn! Sucks to see Sam go, but the Nick Scott signing makes more sense now seeing that we see Sam is getting $500k more to head to SF.

I think he was hoping to get $2.5M - $3M but best he could get was $1.5M.

[Panthercougar68]

Loved his fire but with a newer staff and GM they probably didn’t like the random 15 yard penalties on kickoffs coming out of the 2nd half that he was responsible for.

[RJK]

Good. He’s a hot head who takes awful penalties for a career special teamer 

[ncstatekwi]

[Waldo]

That entire unit deserved a hard reset.

Just draft someone in the 2nd or 3rd and they should beat out Scott or another Franklin. Gunner is cool but at 29 it would be nice to let a young guy get reps to see if there could be any further development. I don't mind special teams guys sticking around but they have to be amazing for me to really care.

[45catfan]

One of the last Matt Rhule holdovers gone.  So there's that.

[MHS831]

1 hour ago, Aussie Tank said:

How are we gonna replace the penalties

I am not a Franklin fan--he was good on special teams, but he was nearly out of control with his mouth and antics.   Good riddance.

[therealmjl]

4 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

He sucks and better safeties will be cut through camps elsewhere.

And was a literal bonehead on special teams 95% of the snaps last year

[PanthersNCSU]

He was a good ST player and well liked, so sucks to lose him. But at the same time...that's all he was. If that's your only role and you're not making 2-3 standout ST plays a year, you're replaceable. 

I won't miss his penalties or near penalties for being a dumbass. 

[Khyber53]

Good luck to him, thanks for being here and we move on just as he did. Solid backing and ST player.