Of course, it’s appropriate to celebrate a season like the Panthers did, even though they came up short of their ultimate goal. But now the reality of the situation is that when you have a season like that, win or lose the Super Bowl, your team just isn’t going to be the same as it was before. Players want bigger contracts and cap available teams want to poach players off of successful teams and give them all the money they want.
It appears that has happened to the Panthers. Details coming via the Charlotte Observer:
Gettleman said last week he’s not worried about Norman’s contract situation becoming a distraction. But Norman, who’s looking for a deal in the neighborhood of $16 million a year, applied public pressure on the Panthers during a couple of national TV appearances last week.
You don’t appreciate the kind of quiet season they had last year until it has quickly vanished early in the 2016 season. As a young sports fan, I would always want players to take less cash to stay with their teams- you want it to be like your high school team, a band of brothers. But as you grow up and the bills start showing up in your name, you learn to never fault someone for wanting to get the full amount of money that they can. You absolutely never know when things are going to change and that paycheck is suddenly much smaller or not coming at all.