12:55pm: The two-year deal is worth $16.75MM, effectively $13MM guaranteed, Rand Getlin of NFL.com tweets.
12:42pm: The Panthers announced that they have inked center Ryan Kalil to a two-year extension. The deal will keep Kalil in Carolina through the 2018 season. Exact terms of the deal are not yet known.
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Kalil, 31, earned his fifth Pro Bowl selection and his second career First-Team All-Pro nod in 2015. With (effectively) one year to go on his deal, Kalil was in great position to work out a brand new contract with the team.
Regarded as one of the top centers in the league, Kalil signed a six-year, $49MM+ contract extension with the Panthers in August 2011. The monster deal included $19MM in total guarantees and it will be interesting to see what the numbers on this latest deal are. Before starting his new deal, Kalil will earn a base salary of $7.5MM in 2016.
In 2015, the advanced metrics at Pro Football Focus (subscription required) ranked Kalil as the 12th best center in the NFL, just head of Falcons center Alex Mack and Saints center Max Unger. Kalil’s overall score of 76.6 accounted for his strong 84.0 run block grade and his less impressive 57.6 mark for pass blocking.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.