Carolina Panthers: James Bradberry facing pivotal contract year
By Jake Wexler
Potential Scenarios
Carolina may or may not be faced with a difficult decision here.
If Bradberry has a poor season, the Panthers can let him walk or sign him for a fairly lower cap hit. If Bradberry has the best season of his career, Carolina can let him walk or attempt to sign him with a fairly higher cap hit.
The Panthers can also opt to gamble here, as can Bradberry. If Carolina believes to know exactly what they have in their former second round pick, they can attempt to extend his contract before or during the regular season. If Bradberry’s camp finds this number to be fair, he can avoid gambling on his play in 2019. If not, he may roll the dice and do what he can to increase his value. Either way, the team should be better off in most outcomes involving an early extension.
Preferably, an incentive-laden extension to be completed before the end of the 2019 season would be the outcome for which fans should root. Thus allowing Bradberry to earn his keep, while not roping the Panthers with a tight cap leash heading into Cam Newton’s potential third contract negotiation.