Panthers tight end Greg Olsen has landed a new contract. The veteran is signing a two-year extension worth $17.1MM that could be worth as much as $20.1MM, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. If Olsen nails his incentives, he’ll edge Jimmy Graham as the league’s highest-paid player at the position. 
Olsen flirted with the idea of transitioning into TV this offseason and even auditioned for ESPN’s vacant color commentary role on Monday Night Football. His new and improved contract will keep him out of the broadcast booth, at least for now.
“My preference would be to know my future here in Carolina past this year, if I’m being honest. Whether or not that happens, we’ll see,” Olsen said earlier this month. “But that would be the ideal situation and then that would answer a lot of these unknown questions.”
Olsen has some questions of his own to answer after injuries slowed him in 2017. Olsen reeled off three straight 1,000-yard seasons from 2014-16 and pushed hard for a new contract before last season. In 2017, he was limited to just seven games and he totaled less than 200 yards receiving.
The Panthers retooled their receiving group a bit this year by adding Torrey Smith and Jarius Wright. Still, Olsen projects to serve as one of Cam Newton‘s favorite targets once again in 2018.