While much of the focus in Carolina is on the Panthers’ pursuit of Deshaun Watson, the team continues to open up some additional cap space. ESPN’s Field Yates reports (via Twitter) that the Panthers have restructured offensive lineman Pat Elflein‘s contract.
[RELATED: Panthers Preparing “Aggressive” Offer For Deshaun Watson]
The front office converted $4.86MM of the player’s 2022 compensation into a signing bonus, creating an additional $2.4MM in cap space. Per Yates, the team is now “closing in” on close to $30MM in cap space.
The Panthers added Elflein on the first day of free agency in 2021, with the lineman inking a three-year, $13.5MM deal. He started all nine of his games during his first season with the organization, but he missed a chunk of the season while dealing with a hamstring issue.
The 27-year-old started his career with the Vikings, starting 43 of his 44 games. He split the 2020 season between the Vikings and the Jets.
Seems like Carolina is looking to create cap space for a Deshaun Watson trade
They also might want to sign actual good offensive linemen this offseason.
Deshaun makes your offensive line look good. Look at our OL right now and the only one notable is Laremy Tunsil and Watson still balled out. He has the elusiveness to miss sacks.
Theoretically, but he’s still taken a lot of hits and that Carolina line is pretty horrible outside of Moton.
Remember when the Panthers tried to fix the left side of their offensive line by signing Pat Elflein and Cam Erving on the first day of free agency? Wild stuff.