What to do about Charles?

[Nick_81]

Obviously it makes more sense to keep Johnson over Hardy but at what cost?  Johnson is eating up a TON of cap space and a contract extension is a wise idea.  Would he be willing to just straight up take a pay cut?

No way in hell.  I mean, I don't think he's only money driven by any means, like Hardy is, but I don't see him taking a cut.  6 years/$76 million, isn't a terrible deal at all for CJ, IMO.  It was just back loaded to hell and back, then all the restructuring just added to it.

[Anybodyhome]

Wait for him to get a parking ticket and cut him.

[ThPantherFan]

I would go for an extension. 

[Panthers Fanatic]

Have to extend him. Big Money made his and would probably accept a salary more in line with his market value for the next few seasons. I think we tend to forget how important he is in the locker room too (tends to get overshadowed as a leader of the D with Luke and TD there).

[the butch]

Any way you swing it, big money is big money, and we are going to have to deal with our choices one way or the other.

[thefuzz]

We can work around the cap hit this season with some of the dead money coming off the books.  I don't like a hit that high, but we can manage it now that we have a real GM and not Joe Person running the front office.

 

 

That said, if the Panthers feel good about his future/injuries, and he want's to give himself a little more long term stability, I say extend him, but try not to push the money too far back.  I don't support another restructure.

[bigdog10]

You have to extend him.  He is a blue chip at his position.  His performance last year was a little off but there are a number of things to attribute that to (Hardy situation, His Injury, Star's Missed Time).

 

When he is on his game, he is a top five 4-3 DE in the game.

[KSpan]

CJ has been worth every penny of that contract in the sense that he has been a consistent and dominant force since signing - no post-contract letdown.  Keep him, and I have confidence that it will be done in a way that benefits both parties.

[AU-panther]

Seems inevitable.

 

How much dead money would come from a release? 

 

We have $14m in dead money associated with him that we are going to have to account for no matter what we do.

 

Cap hit:

 

If he stays -                 2015: $20m

                                    2016: $15m

 

If he is restructured -   2015: $15.6m

                                    2016:  $19.4m

 

If he is cut -                 2015: $14m

                                    2016: 0

 

If he is June 1st cut -   2015: $10m

                                    2016: $4m

 

If you designate him a June 1st cut you would save $10m in 2015 and $11m in 2016.  The question becomes can you replace his production and leadership for that amount?

 

Extension:

 

Currently CJ is scheduled to earn roughly $10m in 2015 and $11m in 2016, so $21m for 2 years.

 

Would he take $40m for 4 years instead with a $10m signing bonus?  If so his average cap hit for those 4 years would be around $13.5m a year.  Also it would probably be somewhat back loaded, 2015 would probably be around $10-12m and future years would go up from there.

 

Another option that could be used is to add voidable years to help spread out some of the cost, but that really just moves money down the line. 

 

I really have no idea how much of a discount CJ would be willing to keep to stay so it could be possible he would sign for less.  I'm sure others have a better idea of this then me.

[top dawg]

CJ is underappreciated by many in the Huddle, but anyone that truly knows football---the Panthers in particular---knows how important he is to our success on the field. You have to extend that man. G-man and CJ will work out an extension because we need him, and he wants to be here.

[PantherBrew]

Everyone has a value. 

 

Gett knows this. 

 

I love CJ but his value is not close to 20 mil, prob not even 15.  

 

10-12 sounds right. 

[PhillyB]

definitely extend. he's an anchor on that line and we can take advantage of ealy and maybe a rookie playing on cheap deals.

[SOJA]

extend him so he retires a Panther and rework the money. boom.

[O-Ther]

Gettleman's gonna extend him and TD and Olsen no worries there. Right now he's prepping for the combine, so look for the extensions to happen after the combine and before March 10.