No Hometown Discount from Cam Newton
Hello my name is Randy Inman and I cover the Carolina Panthers for Sportsblog.com. You can read my stuff at http://pantherlair.sportsblog.com/ and I was asked to write a Cam Newton contract article here
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We Panthers fans are in for some nervous and interesting times as the team tries to resign Cam Newton. The question is how much will Cam Newton cost the Carolina Panthers? ‘Veteran journeyman quarterback Carson Palmer just signed a 3 year deal for $50 million with the Arizona Cardinals
Cam Newton has indicated that he wants no Collin Kaepernick or Andy Dalton type of deal. Those contracts offered smaller signing bonus’s and are very team friendly. Cam Newton is looking at a Matt Ryan deal with maximum money up front.
In other words Cam Newton wants a big signing bonus and a contract that will keep him from being easily released. Here are the details of Matt Ryan’s contract from the Falcons according to Spotrac.com. Matt Ryan signed a 5 year / $103.75 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons, including a $28,000,000 signing bonus, $42,000,000 guaranteed, and an annual average salary of $20,750,000.
Cam Newton wants a contract that will really hurt the salary cap of the Carolina Panthers. That is not a knock on Cam Newton, it’s simply a fact. Cam did say he would not hold out in a contract dispute because the quarterback position is too important to the team.
Keep in mind that Cam Newton was the first rookie quarterback to fall under the rookie wage scale. He didn't get the big, big money of a Sam Bradford in his initial contract. Newton simply wants the security of the most money he can get in case he gets injured and that is not at all uncommon in the NFL.
As fans we want to think NFL players will play for less to help out our favorite team. That is seldom the case and hardly ever with starting quarterbacks trying to get their “Money” contract. If Cam was working on his last contract and had made his money then he would be more inclined to take less money to go for a ring or play in a city he liked.
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