Carolina Panthers: Cox’s deal affects Short
The Carolina Panthers may be saddled with some difficulty in the aftermath of the Eagles signing Fletcher Cox to an extension.
The Carolina Panthers are in the middle of a contract extension negotiation with Kawann Short. Short clearly needs more money than his second round rookie contract provides. The question is how much is he worth?
The Philadelphia Eagles threw something of a wrench into that process by adding another exciting off season move. After dumping Chip Kelly’s players and signing three quarterbacks, the Eagles signed defensive lineman Fletcher Cox to a big contract last week. The numbers look massive with it being a six year $103 million dollar deal. That is $17 million dollars a year or Sam Bradford money.
Truthfully no NFL contract is worth more than its guaranteed money. Also no contract is worth anything past the point where it becomes unaffordable. According to reports from Cork Grimes of the Business Insider, that point is year 3. It’s closer to twenty million per season over the first three years of the contract.
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The trick is how comparable Cox is to Short. Cox is a 4-3 defensive tackle. Last season he had 9.5 sacks to Short’s eleven. He had fifty tackles. He was Pro Bowler last season as well. All of these things are comparative to Short.
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The other factor is the Panthers having money. One difference between negotiating with Short and negotiating with Charles Johnson is that the assumption was that Josh Norman would eat all the money. Now the that is not the case. The Panthers did want to pay Norman $15 million a year, are we going to see the same drama play out with Short?
Perhaps not since Short plays a more critical position in relation to team success. A long term problem would lead the same way that Norman’s did. Short would become a free agent and then perhaps get franchised. Unlike Norman, the Plan B for the Panthers is already on the roster in the form of rookie Vernon Butler.
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The Panthers may not want to move off $15 million a year but Short’s market value is probably higher than that – closer to $16 million or more. Which means the only option is more guaranteed money while keeping the yearly number down.