Today is the first day NFL teams can designate players for a franchise tag. If the Panthers use theirs, the clear favorite is right tackle Taylor Moton. He is their most important pending free agent and also likely to be the most expensive. If the Panthers can’t reach a long-term deal by the new league year, they’re expected to use the tag on him, per David Newton at ESPN.
A long-term extension would be better for Carolina’s cap room in 2021, though. How much might a Moton extension cost? Pro Football Focus is predicting they’ll re-sign Moton to a five-year, $82.5 million contract which would include $45 million guaranteed.
“Moton has been the model of consistency over the last three years, grading “in the green” every year as a starter. He performs well in the parts of offensive line play that translate well moving forward, including ranking in the 90th percentile in PFF pass-blocking grade on true pass sets since 2018.”
Moton is coming off an excellent 2020 season. He was Carolina’s highest-graded player of the year by PFF and only allowed a 3.4% pressure rate.
Taylor Moton (81.2) was the #Panthers highest graded player on offense this past season.
Moton allowed a career low 3.4% pressure rate. #KeepPounding pic.twitter.com/1clcA8p0o8
— PFF CAR Panthers (@PFF_Panthers) February 22, 2021
$82.5M sounds like a lot to us non-millionaires, but Moton would be worth every penny. In addition to a consistent high level of blocking, Moton has proven remarkably durable. He has yet to miss a game in his career and has played at least 99% of the team’s offensive snaps the last three seasons.
If the Panthers do work out a deal with Moton soon, it would give them a better chance to also re-sign WR/RB Curtis Samuel, who is their next-most important pending free agent.
