3 Potential Cap Casualties For the Carolina Panthers in 2017

[TheSpecialJuan]

Defensive End Paul Soliai

 

Of the few free agents the Panthers added in 2016, Soliai was the priciest and most disappointing. The former Falcon signed a two-year, $6.5 million deal with $3 million guaranteed.

Because the Panthers were so unimpressed, Soliai rotated on and off the inactive list with Kyle Love during the final two months of the season.

Soliai was never going to put up big stats, but he finished with just eight tackles and no sacks.

• 2017 cap hit: $3.5 million
• Dead money: $1.0 million
• Savings: $2.5 million

[TheSpecialJuan]

http://blackandbluereview.com/potential-cap-casualties-carolina-panthers-2017/

[cookinbrak]

Quote

Running Back Jonathan Stewart

 

For the record, I can't imagine a run-first team will part ways with their only legit runner. But Stewart's had a contract many have been watching for a while and it's not like Gettleman is afraid to make a surprising decision with someone who's spent his entire career in Carolina.

This is the first offseason the Panthers won't face a dead money hit of at least $13 million if they offloaded Stewart, who's going into the final year of a five-year, $36.5 million deal.

There's no need to relive his injury history, but Stewart's missed "only" six games since he became a workhorse back at the start of 2015 and he played as hard as anyone down the stretch of this lost season.

Stewart turns 30 in March, a number that usually signals a decline at his position, but years of rotating with DeAngelo Williams could make Stewart slightly younger than most 30-year-old backs.

This is incredi-stupid. If anything, let the current contract play out.

Quote

There's no need to relive his injury history, but Stewart's missed "only" six games since he became a workhorse back at the start of 2015 and he played as hard as anyone down the stretch of this lost season.

I guess Kuechly is gone, too.

[TheSpecialJuan]

Stewart's $6.5 million post June 1 savings are quite substantial and DG will have to seriously think about this possibility.

[BigCat#1]

Why would our only good RB become a cap casualty? Cap space isn't a problem. Also when did Paul soliai switch to defensive end?

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[LinvilleGorge]

Soliai, Dickson, and Tolbert should be no brainer cuts. Stewart won't be cut unless we draft one of the elite RB prospects.

[Guest]

Ive been calling for this to be the year stew is cut for a while. We, recently, have forgotten how injury prone he is.

However, his running towards the end of the hear may save him... even if we do draft Cook or Fournette.

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[pantherclaw]

Lol at injury prone. 

I wish fans understood not only the NFL,  but how brutal some positions are over others. 

Stew has never been injury prone, but i know fans love to throw "injury prone" out there for any player that gets hurt more than once, in this gladiator sport that we love.

[chknwing]

what would carolina be looking at as far as comp picks if we lost Stewart, KK, and Ginn and replaced them with players from the draft?

[Guest]

Lol at injury prone. 

I wish fans understood not only the NFL,  but how brutal some positions are over others. 

Stew has never been injury prone, but i know fans love to throw "injury prone" out there for any player that gets hurt more than once, in this gladiator sport that we love.

Really?

08-11 he only missed 2 games while splitting carries with DWill... not as the primary

Missed 7 games in 12
Missed 10 in 13
3 in 14
3 in 15
And
3 in 16

Past 5 years the guy has missed 26 full games. This does not count the games he left due to the injury.

Thats almost 1/3 of the year, on average, each year...

You saying this is common for the position?

Well, I decided to look...

http://www.profootballlogic.com/articles/nfl-injury-rate-analysis/

These stats for 2015

It agrees that RB is the most injured position, not by a landslide, but says that the average games a RB is available is 13.3 (most other positions in the 14 range)

So, I would say that stew is solidly below average in the past 5 years... closer to average over the past 2.

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[Byrdman4real]

44 minutes ago, lasus83 said:

Ive been calling for this to be the year stew is cut for a while. We, recently, have forgotten how injury prone he is.

However, his running towards the end of the hear may save him... even if we do draft Cook or Fournette.

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This

[Guest]

Really?

08-11 he only missed 2 games while splitting carries with DWill... not as the primary

Missed 7 games in 12

Missed 10 in 13

3 in 14

3 in 15

And

3 in 16

Past 5 years the guy has missed 26 full games. This does not count the games he left due to the injury.

Thats almost 1/3 of the year, on average, each year...

You saying this is common for the position?

Well, I decided to look...

http://www.profootballlogic.com/articles/nfl-injury-rate-analysis/

These stats for 2015

It agrees that RB is the most injured position, not by a landslide, but says that the average games a RB is available is 13.3 (most other positions in the 14 range)

So, I would say that stew is solidly below average in the past 5 years... closer to average over the past 2.

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Diving a little deeper...

http://rotoviz.com/2016/08/why-zero-rb-works-quantifying-injury-rates/

the article is geared to compare running backs with wide receivers for Fantasy Football purposes. However it also shows that between 2001 and 2004 the most likely injured positions were defensive back and linebacker.

It also, interestingly, asserts that age is not necessarily A determining Factor.

The article concludes saying that running backs are far more likely than wide receivers to be injured , especially if they are top-tier heavily used running backs.

That assertion combined with the data that we saw when Jonathan Stewart split carries with DeAngelo Williams suggest that our most effective approach would be to run a 2 back system.

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[arbnranger]

1 hour ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Soliai, Dickson, and Tolbert should be no brainer cuts. Stewart won't be cut unless we draft one of the elite RB prospects.

Even then, I'm not so sure. I actually hope we keep him another year. Just from my own eye test of really focusing on him, I think he's underrated. 

Aside from some injury concerns, he runs hard and gets tough yards, real tough yards. We get some better blocking and he's breaking a bunch of those this year, maybe not to the house but for big gains. Stiff arming defenders into the dirt along the way. 

[TheSpecialJuan]

1 hour ago, BigCat#1 said:

Why would our only good RB become a cap casualty? Cap space isn't a problem. Also when did Paul soliai switch to defensive end?

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good point