The Carolina Panthers made an interesting move on Monday. Multiple outlets reported that the Panthers and Chicago Bears agreed to terms that sent Jared Allen to Carolina in turn for a first round draft pick. This is a compelling move for a variety of reasons. At the end of the year pundits will opine as to whether or not this was the right move, but for now Carolina stands to come out a winner either way.
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The first aspect of this deal is Allen’s salary. The terms include that the Bears will pay Allen $11.5 million while the Panthers will cover the remaining $823,000. He is set to make $8.5 million next season and $8 million the year after that. Those are rather sizable hits to the team’s budget; especially when one factors in Allen’s lack of contributions during the last few seasons. However, Evan Massey of Forbes equates this move to another deal that involved a big name from the Panthers’ past: Julius Peppers.
Peppers signed a new deal with the Green Bay Packers that totaled $26 million dollars. This is after a season in which the 35-year old player saw a drop in his overall productivity. In 2014 his play improved well enough that the Packers locked him into this new deal that strengthened their overall defense. Carolina has the opportunity to make a similar move with this Allen trade.
Allen has earned double-digit sacks in 8 of his previous seasons. It was that type of performance that excited Bears fans when he was added to the roster in 2014. Unfortunately, he would not produce in such a fashion. While losing Allen has some of Chicago’s fans upset, there are others that are happy to see the former Pro-Bowl player go.
Sep 27, 2015; Charlotte, NC, USA; Carolina Panthers defensive end Charles Johnson (95) gets carted to the locker room after an injury during the fourth quarter against the New Orleans Saints at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
A second note of interest is that the Allen trade comes on the heels of news that Charles Johnson suffered a hamstring injury that will keep him out of the Week 4 matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. David Newton of ESPN reported the injury to the same hamstring that that bothered Johnson last year. Coach Rivera is planning he slow and steady approach to Johnson’s return.
“We’ll see how long it’ll be,” Rivera said. “But he most certainly will be out this week for sure. … Hopefully, [the bye] will give it time to calm down a lot and get some strength back, and we’ll see how he is coming out of the bye.”
Allen can help fill the void for Johnson if he is forced to miss substantial time this year. On the other hand, Johnson is capable of playing at a later date this will hopefully create a tandem that can cause havoc for the NFC South and beyond. The Panthers have seven sacks at this point in the year so bringing on another playmaker to this strong defensive unit will go a long way.
Carolina moved rather quickly to bring Allen over from the Bears in hopes of strengthening their suddenly depleted defensive line. Even though his performance was questionable at times in these years with the Bears, the Panthers have an opportunity to immediately score big with his addition.
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