The Carolina Panthers were heavily linked to defensive lineman Milton Williams at the start of legal tampering. There were even reports that a deal was being finalized between the club and the player's representatives.
That didn't come to fruition.
Williams got a bigger offer from the New England Patriots that the Panthers weren't willing to match. They already thought their offer was a little on the high side and didn't want to jeopardize other areas of the roster by pushing all their chips into the middle.
Carolina Panthers' quest to sign Milton Williams was all part of the process
Brandt Tilis, executive vice president of football operations and Carolina's resident salary-cap guru, provided further clarity on the situation between Williams and the Panthers. While the front-office figure acknowledged it's never ideal to walk away from one of their preferred targets, it wasn't the big deal many made it out to be.
"Yeah, of course, it's hard to walk away from a deal. But at the same time, when we have a clear vision of what we want, and we have standards as far as value and things like that, it's easier to walk away. And also it's easy to make those decisions when we have the support of leadership, which is what we've got here. When the Milton [Williams] thing didn't go our way, we were just following a plan. And even during the, if you want to call it a frenzy or whatever it was. We're just operating our plan, and we were going through our process and talking to all the different players and just trying to take the resources that we had and put them in and put them to the most optimal use."Brandt Tilis
This was all part of the process. Tilis confirmed as much.
The Panthers didn't count on something being worked out with Williams. They got no assurances from his agent and were discussing potential deals with others. Adam Schefter from ESPN's report was put out with nothing more than to provoke the Patriots (or anyone else) from coming into the mix with a larger financial package.
That's all part of the business. Players and their agents will do whatever is necessary to cash in. All it takes is one team desperate enough for that specific position of need to take the bait.
Had this been previous Panthers' regimes, they might have bowed to Williams' demands. Matt Rhule and Scott Fitterer were renowned for gambling with risky additions. Not many worked out, which is why both were relieved of their duties as Carolina spiraled to rock bottom.
That's not the case anymore.
Dan Morgan and Tilis are running the football operation with more professionalism. There is an aligned vision for the future and a long-term plan for sustained growth. Once Williams was outside their price range, they pivoted accordingly without a second thought.
It's been a long time since there was this sort of purpose and conviction in Carolina's front office. Williams would have helped enormously, there's no getting away from that. But when the money became an issue, the Panthers explored alternatives.
And they were unequivocally right to do so.