Greg Olsen still doesn’t have that new deal he was looking for, but he has been given some extra motivation with two years to go on his current pact. The Panthers have added $2MM in incentives to his contract, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter) has learned. The bonuses will be tied to catches, receiving yards, average yards per catch, and other honors, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link) adds. Olsen now has the ability to earn $8.75MM in total this year.
Olsen was pushing the Panthers for a revamped deal earlier this offseason and it was even intimated that he could hold out from training camp. However, he backed down from those demands after the team fired GM Dave Gettleman. Citing a desire to keep the team distraction-free, he said that he would play out the remainder of his contract under interim GM Marty Hurney.
“I haven’t talked to Marty about it or anybody about it,” Olsen said. “If something gets done, great. But we’ve got a lot going on now with training camp and preseason and whatnot. So it hasn’t been really something I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about. But we’ll see over these next couple of weeks what happens.”
The tight end hasn’t missed a game during his six years with the Panthers, and he has averaged 71 catches, 897 yards and five touchdowns per season with the club.