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Former sports agent and NFL cap expert Joel Corry addressed how Ryan Succop’s new deal with the Tennessee Titans could impact Carolina Panthers free agent Graham Gano via Twitter Wednesday morning:
Ryan Succop's new deal (reportedly $4M per year) should become an important data point for Graham Gano. Gano was great in 2017 but the Panthers could have had a kicker at $1.935M for the next 3 seasons (2018-2020) if Harrison Butker had been kept instead.
— Joel Corry (@corryjoel) February 21, 2018
As Corry notes, Succop has reportedly signed a new five-year, $20 million deal with the Titans.
Gano, 30, is an unrestricted free agent and should command similar money per year from his next destination, whether that be Carolina or elsewhere.
Of course, the Panthers wouldn’t even have to worry about this problem if they didn’t leave Mr. Harrison Butker sitting on their practice squad, easy for the plucking by Uncle Dave Toub and GM Brett Veach when Cairo Santos went down due to injury after Week 3.
The Chiefs signed the 22-year-old Butker, originally a seventh-rounder in last year’s NFL Draft, off Carolina’s practice squad. They then waived Santos, and the rest is history.
Butker set the single-season franchise record with 38 field goals made, won multiple AFC awards despite starting in just 13 games, and he was named to the PFWA all-rookie team.
The beauty of it all?
While Gano and Santos are unrestricted free agents, the Chiefs have Butker under team control for the next three seasons, and he’ll make $555,000 for 2018 despite being one of the better kickers in the league.