Update: The news has been confirmed by both Alaina Getzenberg and Joe Person.
The Carolina Panthers have decided to part ways with veteran kicker Graham Gano, according to an Instagram post from Gano’s wife Brittany.
Working on getting more information on this, but the Panthers appear to be moving on from Graham Gano. His wife, Brittany, posted this message on IG this morning: pic.twitter.com/Jr90RyhBbA
— Alaina Getzenberg (@agetzenberg) July 30, 2020
Joe Person of The Athletic reports this will give the Panthers $2.8 million in salary cap relief, but will add another $1.5 million to their league-leading dead money pool.
Panthers have cut K Graham Gano, his wife posted on Instagram. Nothing official from team, yet.
— Joe Person (@josephperson) July 30, 2020
Panthers will save $2.8M vs. the salary cap, but add another $1.5M on their dead money the next two years, per @spotrac.
This is one of those moves that everyone saw coming from a mile away. Gano missed the entire 2019 season with a knee injury, the team is currently rebuilding and they have already signed Joey Slye to a one-year contract extension. Since they don’t need to carry more than one kicker, and Slye is both younger and cheaper than Gano, there’s no reason to keep Gano on the roster.
Based on a post by Graham Gano's wife on Instagram it appears the Panthers are moving on from their long-time kicker who spent last season on IR. Coach Matt Rhule said on Wednesday that Gano was looking good, but his salary cap figure doesn't make sense... https://t.co/ereMI4RkMp
— David Newton (@DNewtonespn) July 30, 2020
The team has not made this move official yet, but when they do we’ll update the story to officially confirm the news. As always, stay tuned for updates to this developing story.