Carolina fell short in Super Bowl 50. But the Panthers can take consolation in a strong young core and their best cap situation in years, thanks in no small part to general manager Dave Gettleman patiently digging them out of a mess upon taking the gig in 2013.
Carolina's secondary covered only 6.8 percent of their cap in 2015 compared to 18 percent for the Broncos, per Spotrac, with the Panthers' $7.7 million combined DB figure nearly $15 million below that of Denver. Josh Norman neutralized Demaryius Thomas and nearly came away with a couple picks in the Super Bowl, but the corner now comes off his rookie deal as an unrestricted free agent.
@J_No24 pick your head up bro.. hell of a year.... I need you right for when we meet again
— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) February 8, 2016
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Norman, 28, could push the ceiling of the cornerback market, where Darrelle Revis, Patrick Peterson, Richard Sherman and Joe Haden reside in the neighborhood of $14 million per year. Over The Cap estimates $19.6 million in cap space for Carolina entering this offseason.
"Knowing Dave (Gettleman), he's not going to necessarily let Josh and his agent hold him hostage with regards to the fact that he's got needs in the secondary," said former Broncos GM Ted Sundquist, who worked with Gettleman when he was a Broncos scout from 1994 to 1997. "He's a tough cookie to crack. ... He had a pretty good conviction of what he thought a player was and what a player wasn't."
Sundquist believes Carolina will find a way to keep its All-Pro corner, even though Gettleman is no stranger to bolstering a defensive front and spending relatively less in the secondary.
"Knowing what he's got in Josh already," said Sundquist, "I think Dave's smart enough to realize that they may have to shift from 'go get the best guy that's available and stick with the offensive and defensive lines.'"
Gettleman worked in the Bills' scouting department in 1986 as they developed a four-time AFC champ featuring multiple All-Pros in their front seven, including NFL all-time sack leader Bruce Smith. He then made his way to Denver, where former first-round DEs were acquired in free agency and ended up earning All-Pro honors with the Broncos. Yet they still used their 1997 first-round pick on Trevor Pryce and gained a defensive line stalwart.
Gettleman's influence from his time as pro personnel director in the Meadowlands may be most prominent. The Giants were known to let a "best player available" strategy lead them to high DL picks, and they found success in adding strength to strength by taking three defensive lineman in the first two rounds from 2010-2011. Gettleman began his Panthers tenure the same way, starting in 2013 with Kawann Short and Star Lotulelei, followed by 2014 second-rounder Kony Ealy.
Short and Lotulelei are entering the final year of their rookie contracts, and Ealy is up in 2017. Veteran ends Jared Allen and Charles Johnson are viewed as potential cuts — from the outside, at least — as they would combine to offer more than $19 million in immediate cap savings.
"You're always looking one year out beyond what you're working with," said Sundquist, founder of The Football Educator. "I'm sure they're quite aware of how they structure things in 2016 and what those ripple effects could or couldn't be going into 2017."
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It will be interesting to see how much the Panthers lean on cheap first-round vets compared to 2015. Players like Ted Ginn and Michael Oher had lost any guarantee to an NFL starting job via draft status before Carolina found a way to get bang for buck. The cap disaster left from the previous regime combined with a refusal to rebuild may have angled Carolina toward frugal veteran deals, and it could also remain a vital way to supplement the roster moving forward.
"There's this misnomer that everything's got to be drafted and everything's got to be developed and it's all got to be your own stuff," said Sundquist. "I think by and large that's where most of your players should come from, but I do think there are pieces of the puzzle that can be put together by finding those former No. 1s who still have a little gas left in the tank, and bringing them along.
"The key is not falling for what the agent is going to want to sell you."