Examining the top-5 salary-cap hits on the Carolina Panthers in 2021

Teddy Bridgewater – Carolina Panthers QB

• 2021 salary-cap hit: $22.91 million

It comes as no surprise that the Carolina Panthers’ biggest cap hit and largest salary come from quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. He was a solid placeholder for the organization in the 2020 season, but it isn’t a secret the team is going to move on from the quarterback following their aggressive pursuit of an upgrade that ended with a trade for Sam Darnold.

It is Darnold’s team now and Bridgewater will likely be traded in the next few weeks, providing another team is willing to take on his contract.

The biggest question for the Panthers is how big of a pay cut will Bridgewater take to enable a trade? He is likely to garner a lot of interest considering his leadership and stability – although his days as a starter could be a thing of the past.

Bridgewater is similar to Tyrod Taylor – a solid quarterback who might be too good to be a backup but not quite talented enough to elevate a team to the playoffs.

Getting his contract off the books is going to open up a lot of possibilities for a team that has all the cap space to make splashy moves in the next two offseasons. This is all part of the business of the NFL and Bridgewater can have no complaints following his inability to come through in critical situations.