Over the course of the 2019 offseason, veteran wide receiver Torrey Smith has drawn the ire of Panthers fans and become a bit of a strawman for the Carolina cap situation, which earlier in the spring could be described as strapped – at one point they had the least amount of cap space in the NFL, but after a series of moves that began with the release of Matt Kalil, featured a restructure from All-Pro Luke Kuechly and has now culminated in a pay cut for Smith, the Panthers are set to have almost $20m in cap space entering the weekend.
And coincidentally, it happens to be the same weekend that prized free agent defensive tackle Gerald McCoy will visit the team.
What a fortunate turn of events.
Smith – who was traded for last offseason with a contract that paid him $5m per year for 2018 and 2019, with neither salary being guaranteed – has agreed to take a lower salary of $2m base with $1m in bonuses, according to Field Yates and confirmed by a league source.
The eight-year vet who has won two Super Bowls in his career is valued heavily by the Panthers not only for his contribution on the field, but his veteran presence in the locker room that features two top wide receivers both under the age of 23; although Smith had the worst statistical season of his career in 2018 with only 17 catches for 190 yards and two scores, most of that production came in the first half of the season before Smith suffered a knee injury and had a clandestine surgery that kept him off the field for five games in the middle of the season – Smith would have only one catch after Week 6.
Decisions…Decisions pic.twitter.com/743Qpu4UMI
— Torrey Smith (@TorreySmithWR) May 28, 2019
Marty Hurney has used some creative bookkeeping to open up space for the Panthers this offseason – by designating the Kalil release as a post-June 1 designation, the Panthers will clear over $7m in cap space beginning Sunday; the Kuechly restructure opened up another $7.24m and the Smith renegotiation takes $2m more off the books, leaving the Panthers with just over $19m in available cap space once the Kalil move clears the books, according to Spotrac.
The Panthers still must sign draft picks Brian Burns and Greg Little, which will cost about $3.5m under the rookie pay scale.
“That’s all stuff that’s probably a better question for Marty,” said Ron Rivera this week when asked about adding McCoy, who would join the Panthers as an immediate starter next to Dontari Poe and Kawann Short. “I think a guy with his ability could come in and help most certainly. But again, it’s something that we’ll have to see.”
With the veteran tackle’s release last week, the Panthers expressed initial interest – but with a combination of a visit to Charlotte and the corresponding Smith move, that interest has clearly intensified and those questions for Marty are beginning to be answered.
