5 biggest turkeys in Carolina Panthers franchise history
By Dean Jones
What are the biggest turkeys in Carolina Panthers franchise history?
The Carolina Panthers have enjoyed a storied history that has been eventful, to say the least. Their 26 years in the NFL have come with plenty of ups and downs, a few close misses regarding a first Super Bowl, and other seasons that won’t exactly live long in the memory.
Things haven’t been easy in recent years for the Carolina Panthers, but under head coach Matt Rhule this young and exciting roster might just be heading in the right direction. There have been plenty of bumps along the way in 2020 so far and how they finish the campaign will tell us plenty about just how much needs to be done this offseason.
Carolina’s game at the Minnesota Vikings on Thanksgiving weekend will be another stern test of their credentials, of that there is little doubt. Hopefully, they can build on their shutout win against the Lions and pick up another notable success before their well-deserved bye week.
In keeping with the holiday, we picked out the five biggest ‘turkeys’ in franchise history.
Turkey No. 1
Matt Kalil – Former Carolina Panthers OT
Ryan Kalil will undoubtedly go down as one of Carolina’s best-ever offensive lineman. Sadly, the same cannot be said of his brother.
Matt Kalil was a big-money signing in free agency after his time with the Minnesota Vikings came to an end. He signed a five-year, $55 million deal in 2017 in the hope he could provide a solid blocking presence on the edge that had been missing since Jordan Gross retired and it is something the Panthers are still paying for to this day,
Injuries and poor production resulted in Kalil’s time cut short before the 2019 campaign and he is counting $9.8 million (no – that’s not a typo) against Carolina’s 2020 cap.
Of all the turkeys that the Panthers have conjured up for themselves in free agency, Kalil might be the worst of all.