CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolina Panthers have secured a key piece of the team’s offensive line for years to come.
Right tackle Taylor Moton has agreed to a four-year contract extension, per league sources. He is under contract now through the 2025 season and is still scheduled to earn about $14.5 million guaranteed in 2021, slightly more than he would have earned strictly on the franchise tag.
The total value of the contract is five years, $85 million with $43 million guaranteed, per a league source. After the 2021 season. he will earn $70.5 million for four seasons.
The two sides had until July 15 at 4 p.m. to work out a long-term deal before Moton was locked in to playing under the tag this season. The deal came together just an hour before the deadline. He would have been set to become a free agent in 2022, if an extension was not agreed to by that time.
Of the seven players that were still scheduled to play on the tag going into the week, Moton was the only one who agreed to a long-term deal by the deadline. With an average of $17 million per season over the five years, he is now tied for the ninth-highest paid offensive tackle based on average salary, per Spotrac. The $43 million guaranteed is the eighth-most among tackles.
Moton had been willing to play on the tag since he was tagged in March.
“I’m here in the building right now,” Moton said when asked during the team’s minicamp if he would play under the tag. “I don’t see a reason why not to, but like I said, the whole contract situation is just something I can talk to about my agent. For now, I’m just focused on being the best football player I can be until minicamp is over, and then through this offseason program, just doing what I can to be the best I can be.”
With the deal, the Panthers lock up the team’s best and most consistent offensive lineman for years to come. At the end of June, the New Orleans Saints re-set the market for right tackles, signing All-Pro Ryan Ramczyk to a five-year deal worth $96 million, including $60 million guaranteed, making him the highest-paid right tackle in the NFL.
Right tackle is the position that has seen the biggest increase in the amount of growth that the top five players at the position earn since 2017 (73%), per Pro Football Focus.
Moton, who will turn 27 on Aug. 14, was originally drafted by the Panthers in the second round of the 2017 draft out of Western Michigan. Since 2018, he has started 48 straight games and has yet to miss an NFL game in his career. After starting the first two games of the 2018 season at left tackle, he has been a constant on the right side of the line and has played at least 99.5% of the team’s offensive snaps each of the last three years. He has not been named to an All-Pro team or a Pro Bowl.
Entering his fifth year in the NFL, Moton is coming off his best season to date. He has allowed 10 sacks in his career, per Pro Football Focus, and only three last season. Moton has given up four career quarterback hits and allowed 19 pressures in 2020, which was the second-fewest among offensive tackles that played at least 1,000 snaps (Garett Bolles).
Moton was the only tackle to play 1,000 snaps in 2020 and not give up a single quarterback hit, per PFF. He was called for one penalty last year.
Rebuilding the offensive line is a long-term project for the Panthers, with question marks about the future at almost every position. Taking care of the right tackle position, however, is a step in fortifying the line for the future and a key part in supporting the likes of Sam Darnold and Christian McCaffrey.
Veteran center Matt Paradis is entering the final year of his deal with the team and versatile lineman Pat Elflein may be next to take over the position. There are not clear starters under contract for future seasons at either of the guard spots or at left tackle. Having security at right tackle is that much more important due to the uncertainty on the other side of the line at left tackle. The team is set to start a different player at left tackle for the ninth straight season.
Moton becomes the third offensive lineman in franchise history franchise tagged and then signed to a long-term deal, joining left tackle Jordan Gross and center Ryan Kalil.
