Carolina Panthers: Matt Kalil release best for both parties moving forward
The Carolina Panthers and Kalil have parted ways.
The Carolina Panthers are continuing to make off-season moves, and the one that occurred on Thursday May make many Carolina Panthers fans happy. According to tweets from Jordan Rodrigue of the Charlotte Observer, Panthers left tackle Matt Kalil has been released. As Rodrigue notes, this is a post-June 1 designation.
This will undoubtedly give the Panthers some salary cap relief. This saves the team about $5 million against the salary cap in 2019, and about $9 million against the salary cap in 2020.
Kalil played two seasons for the Carolina Panthers, and 2018 was marred by injuries. Many fans thought that his play did not warrant the huge contract he got in 2017. Kalil received a five-year, $55 million deal. He also received $25 million in guaranteed money.
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Watching him last preseason, there was one game in particular against the Miami Dolphins in which he really struggled. Robert Quinn manhandled Kalil the entire game and it was not a promising start for a player who already had his fair share of struggles since arriving to Carolina.
The fact that this will take so much money off the books for Carolina is exciting. Between his injuries and his poor play last season, the contract that the Panthers were committed to looked like a terrible one. Now, the Panthers have more money to play with. Granted, and especially in today’s market, it is not a ton of money, but the Panthers now have more money than they started with prior to this move. With the team re-signing Daryl Williams to a one-year contract earlier this week, the team should certainly consider moving Taylor Moton to left tackle.
If the Panthers were to move Moton to left tackle, this would give the team a plethora of dependable lineman to block for Cam Newton and the running backs. That would certainly be a better situation than the makeshift line that they had to deal with last season. It makes sense, especially since the National Football League is beginning to favor the quarterback even more. Especially with the addition of Matt Paradis, this line could become one of the strongest in the National Football League. That is a far cry from where they were a year ago.
Next. Is Paradis an upgrade over Kalil?. dark
We wish Matt Kalil nothing but the best moving forward. Hopefully, he can revamp his career with a new team. In this case, a change of scenery is probably best for both parties.