Panthers Sign 1st Round Pick Beason, Other Notes

Here’s how the impasse was broken.

Agent Michael Huyghue said Beason, the 25th pick in the draft, will get a $3.2 million signing bonus to make up for the lack of a second-year option bonus, which was the main stumbling block in the negotiations.

This is great news. The Panthers now have everyone in camp, including a starting safety, so hopefully we can avoid any more injuries like the one reported on Terrance Melton.

The 6-foot, 237-pound Beason will have plenty of catching up to do when he hits the practice field Monday morning. The speedy Beason was expected to unseat veteran starter Na'il Diggs at outside linebacker, or start at middle linebacker if Dan Morgan can't return from multiple concussions.

Lets hope he is a quick study. I can’t wait to get a look at him on Thursday.

Kalil on Playing Special Teams

I reported last week that Kalil was playing on kick-off returns and appeared to be with the first team. He seemed to doing pretty good with it. I then read in his camp diary that he has never played special teams before in his life. I love his attitude, he seems to be willing to whatever the coaches ask of him. No attitude problem here.

Today I was in my first special teams meeting ever. I had never been on special teams before in my life. Hopefully, I don’t screw up and (stink) too badly. But I think I’ll be okay because alongside me in the meetings is Geoff Hangartner, who is a fairly intelligent individual, and a big fan of rookie Ryan Kalil. Anything I need or might be confused about, I can always turn to him. He’ll always be there to answer any questions I have.

Kudos to Geoff for helping the guy who he is competing with, a true class act and team player.

Offense Looks Sharp

Panthers Digest has a few nice notes from camp that encouraging. The 1st team offense marched down the field against the 2nd team defense.