Marty Hurney has said for a few weeks now and reiterated at his pre-draft press conference Wednesday that the Panthers had some plans to gain space under the salary cap, something that was sorely needed as the team had less than a million dollars remaining to spend under the cap – the lowest figure in the league – as of Wednesday.
It would appear that the trick up his sleeve was a restructure of linebacker Luke Kuechly’s contract to convert $9.05m of the 2013 Defensive Player of the Year into signing bonus, which will free up $7.24m in 2019 cap space, according to Field Yates of ESPN.
This will be the second restructure in two years for Kuechly, who made a similar move to help clear $5.1m off of the cap in September of 2018.
Kuechly, who signed a five-year, $62m extension in 2015, has played 31 games over the past two seasons after missing a combined nine due to concussions in the two seasons prior.
In 2018, he racked up 130 tackles, his highest total since 2014 and was selected as a first-team All-Pro as well as his earning his sixth consecutive trip to the Pro Bowl.
The Panthers have been active in free agency despite being strapped for cap room this offseason as they’ve added pass rusher Bruce Irvin and center Matt Paradis and re-signed tackle Daryl Williams for 2019; they also released tackle Matt Kalil, a move that will save them just over $7m against the salary cap, but will not see that relief until June 2nd as the move was designated a post-June 1st release.
In 2018, Kuechly tallied 20 tackles for loss, the most by any Panthers player all-time. He added two forced fumbles, one interception and one fumble recovery last season, and his five First Team All-Pro honors tie J.J. Watt for the most among all players on an active roster in 2018.
Kuechly still has three years and approximately $42m left on his contract, which expires after the 2021 season.
