REPORT: Charles Johnson, take pay cut or be cut

[TheSpecialJuan]

An $8.5 million piece of the Panthers’ puzzle at defensive end played out Thursday when Jared Allen announced his retirement in epic, cowboy fashion.

The Panthers were not going to bring Allen and his non-guaranteed salary back, but his decision kept the front office from having to cut a future Hall-of-Famer who brought professionalism and a play-hurt mentality to the locker room during his four-plus months in Charlotte.

 

The conversations with veteran defensive end Charles Johnson figure to be a little tougher.

Johnson, 29, is entering the final year of the six-year, $76 million contract he signed in 2011. He’s due to make $10.75 million this year with a salary cap charge of $15 million – too rich for an aging player who finished with two sacks during an injury-plagued 2015.

Team sources say Johnson will have to agree to restructure his contract and take less money or risk being cut, which would create $11 million in cap space for the Panthers.

 

Carolina could do a lot with the nearly $20 million in combined cap room created by shedding the Allen and Johnson contracts, beginning with a franchise tag for cornerback Josh Norman estimated to cost $13.7 million.

 

 

 

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article61365817.html#storylhttp://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article61365817.htmlinhttp://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article61365817http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article6http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/artichttp://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article61365817.htmlle6136581.html1365817.html.htmlk=cpy

[TheSpecialJuan]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article61365817.html

[KillerKat]

Good

[TheSpecialJuan]

I think he's gone.

[Kevin Greene]

This is a giant Duh.

[csx]

This was inevitable but they will still have to pay for replacements and DEs aren't cheap.

[pantherj]

Wow this could be it for CJ. If I were him I'd refuse to take the pay cut, be cut, and then retire. He has more money than he will ever spend, and why suffer through another season of football for a lot less money that you don't even need.

[Doc Holiday]

8 minutes ago, Kevin Greene said:

This is a giant Duh.

How many people have been saying this since like week 8? yeah, it's in the news but not really news.

[SIGCHI222]

13 minutes ago, pantherj said:

Wow this could be it for CJ. If I were him I'd refuse to take the pay cut, be cut, and then retire. He has more money than he will ever spend, and why suffer through another season of football for a lot less money that you don't even need.

Wanna bet?

[Jangler]

45 minutes ago, Kevin Greene said:

This is a giant Duh.

[TheSpecialJuan]

45 minutes ago, csx said:

This was inevitable but they will still have to pay for replacements and DEs aren't cheap.

True but a cap hit of $15 million is ridiculous. Even if, let's say, we were to add 2 years to his deal, we only drop cap hit to 11 to 10 million. Still too damn much. We cut him and we save $11 million. It's an easy decision.

[Byrdman4real]

Bye bye CJ, Im looking forward in seeing the replacements

[brandon_87]

As many years as he has been handicapping our salary cap, he better 're do it for league minimum

[outlaw4]

Big Money's too big now in terms of cap room. He wants another good shot at a ring, he knows what to do. Otherwise, I'm afraid we might be seeing another termination letter posted all over social media.