Snappy title, I know!

Basically, I wanted to take a little time to instill some confidence in the fanbase about Jerry Richardson and what he did this offseason to ensure we would have a bright future.  I don't agree with everything that happened this off season, but you can't deny the results.  Don't get confused now, because this was all about the money.  But it was not about saving the money.

Jake Delhomme, Brad Hoover, Na'il Diggs, Landon Johnson, Maake Kemoeatu, Damione Lewis, and Chris Harris were all let go this off season and it has been brought up that Richardson was going cheap.  He wanted to put a cheap team on the field and make a point to the rest of the owners that he could win without big name contracts.  That's how the story has been spun...  Sorry, but I'm not buying it.  Taking things a little closer, here's what we actually "saved" by cutting the roster down.

Jake Delhomme: paid $12 million guaranteed
Na'il Diggs:  Set to make $1.1 million this year, cut and given $1.23 million
Maake Kemoeatu:  $755,000 salary, given $2.63 million when cut
Damione Lewis:  $855,000 salary, given $1.42 million when cut.
Chris Harris:  $2 million salary given to the Bears, cap hit would have been $2.45 million
Brad Hoover:  Saved $855,000 in salary by cutting
Landon Johnson:  Saved $2 million by cutting

All numbers taken from a blog post by Pat Yasinskas of ESPN.

So there you  have it.  All in all the Panthers saved $4.855 million this year, but spent $17.28 million on players who are no longer even playing for us.  If this was a cap year, that figure would be even more skewed.  But it's not a cap year and that's why they were able to make these moves, setting us up for years to come.

Dug the grave, nailed the coffin shut, and buried it.  Can we drop this "Richardson is going cheap" argument now?