Making moves to keep Curtis Samuel and Taylor Moton
If the Carolina Panthers commit to either Taylor Moton or Curtis Samuel, they’ll need to make additional moves to create more space to re-sign their own players and bring new players onto the team.
They’ll also need to have cap space to sign their draft picks. Here are the cap figures for the players the team will pick in each round:
- First Round (No. 8 overall): $2.68 million
- Second Round: $1.19 million
- Third Round: $833k
- Fourth Round: $784k
- Fifth Round: $712k
- Sixth Round: $690k
The Panthers’ seventh-round pick belongs to the Buffalo Bills from the 2018 trade for offensive tackle Marshall Newhouse. The team could still add a compensatory pick later this offseason.
Carolina could create an additional $27.1 million in financial space by cutting defensive tackle Kawann Short, defensive end Stephen Weatherly, safety Justin Burris, and punter Michael Palardy.
Additionally, restructures of the contracts of linebacker Shaq Thompson and center Matt Paradis could create a maximum of $11.35 million in cap space.
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This is not a roadmap to keeping both Moton and Samuel. It is how the Panthers keep the player that they hold most valuable to the team moving forward and some additional wiggle room on their strict cap to tend to other team needs as they look to enter the postseason discussion in 2021.