Carolina already has $127 million committed toward next year’s salary cap and that obviously doesn’t include the players they draft this year. This year’s draft class will put the Panthers at well over $130 million in cap space next year and the cap isn’t expected to rise much from this year’s $130 million figure.
Then, there’s 2015. The Panthers already have $107 million committed toward the 2015 cap and that’s for only 19 players.
All of which means that the Panthers will be spending considerable time checking out the player talent bargain bin for the foreseeable future. Expect lots of veteran players signed to league-minimum deals. It may also prove difficult for the Panthers to resign their own players when they get to free agency. Panthers are likely to have questionable depth, and will be extremely vulnerable to the impact of injuries.
Bonus observation: Not helping matters is that the Panthers only have five picks (no 3rd and 7th rounders) in this year’s draft.
