Former Carolina Panthers first-round pick DeAngelo Williams reportedly announced that the team has released him after nine years with the club.
After putting up great campaign towards the end of last decade, the soon-to-be 32-year-old running back has struggled big time with injuries over the past several years. Williams played in just six games this past season, accumulating a career low 3.5 yards per carry on 62 attempts. That’s a far cry from the over 1,500 yards and 18 scores the Memphis product tallied back in 2008.
It wasn’t as much a cost-cutting move for the Panthers as it was getting rid of someone that they didn’t believe had a future with the team. Williams was slated to make $6.3 million next season, but also has a dead money cap hit of $6.6 million. This means that Carolina lost about $300,000 in cap room by releasing Williams.
Talk about wanting to get rid of someone.
With Williams jettisoned from the team, Jonathan Stewart and Mike Tolbert become the top two running backs. However, it’s not a foregone conclusion that both will be back with the team next year. While Stewart’s job appears to be safe, Tolbert is set to count $3.4 million against the cap. In reality, Carolina might be best served moving on from him.
As it relates to Williams, he finishes his Panthers career with 6,846 rushing yards and 46 touchdowns. It remains to be seen if the former first-round pick has enough left in the tank to spike the interest of teams in need of a veteran running back presence.
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