The Carolina Panthers re-signed top performing kicker Graham Gano to a four-year deal.
The Carolina Panthers made a move to re-sign kicker Graham Gano to a four-year deal worth $17 million. This is an interesting free agent move as it keeps Gano in place as he’s been with the team since 2012. This is an understandable move, but one that doesn’t come with some questions after further analysis.
From a statistical standpoint, bringing Gano back to the team makes a lot of sense. In 2017 he completed 29 of 30 field goals. His 96.7 completion percentage placed him at the top of list among all kickers in the NFL. He was nearly as accurate when it came to extra points as he completed 34 of his 37 attempts.
As mentioned in the past, the front office for the Panthers tends to focus on keeping a trend of consistency with veterans on the roster. From that angle, it’s understandable to see why the team elected to bring him back for his seventh season with the team.
However, Gano’s statistical performance doesn’t remove all of the criticism from this personnel choice. Gano comes at a big price tag. The average salary of this new deal comes in at $4.25 million. Gano is 30 years old, and kickers have a longer shelf life in the league than majority of the other positions.
But, the Panthers had the opportunity to secure the services of Harrison Butker. In his rookie season, Butker played exceptionally well. He completed all 28 of his extra point opportunities and finished 38 of 42 field goals for a 90.1 completion percentage. The price tag for this type of production is a mere $550,000. That’s an important difference when looking at how the Panthers could have used that additional money to not only secure other options for the upcoming season, but seasons beyond 2018 as well.
Carolina doesn’t have a lot of money to spend this season. The team needs to figure out how to add additional weapons on both sides of the passing game. Cam Newton needs additional weapons in the passing game. Greg Olsen’s injuries, Devin Funchess’s development and teams being more prepared for Christian McCaffrey are all pending issues that can be solved with another, big play option on the field.
The additional money that could have been available by keeping Butker instead of Gano would have helped if used on other positions. Andrew Norwell was a key tool in protecting Newton but he’s reportedly heading to the New York Giants because they had the funds to meet his rising cost.
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Moves made during the offseason are as much of a chess match as the play calling that occurs on the field. The Carolina Panthers made a decision to go with veteran consistency instead of spending less money on youth. It will be interesting to see how this price tag on Gano’s abilities impacts the rest of the decisions made during the off season. Carolina finished the year 11-5, but there’s a lot of building left to be done if they are going to return to Super Bowl form.