CHARLOTTE -- Remember when everyone thought the Carolina Panthers were cheap?
Two years after a salary purge left many fans wondering whether they were committed to winning, the Panthers are in a different kind of cost-cutting mode following last summer's post-lockout spending spree on the team's own players.
According to ESPN's John Clayton, the Panthers are one of four teams that need to get under the salary cap by March 13 when the new league year starts. The Panthers are a reported $9.6 million over the cap, projected to be close to last year's $120.4 million ceiling.
That means the Panthers - like Pittsburgh ($11.7 million over), Oakland ($11 million over) and the Super Bowl-champion Giants ($7.3 million over) - will have to restructure some deals or cut players to create cap space over the next three weeks.
A provision in the new collective-bargaining agreement allows teams to increase their cap by rolling over unused space from 2011 into the new league year, which will begin at 4 p.m. March 13.
The Panthers have some obvious candidates for restructuring, beginning with linebacker Thomas Davis. He was among those whom the Panthers extended last season but made it only until Week 2 before tearing the ACL in his right knee for the third time in a 22-month span.
The Panthers have until March 14 to exercise an $8 million club option on Davis. They are more likely to cut Davis and potentially re-sign him to avoid the $8 million payment, or re-work the deal.
The Panthers also would owe No. 3 quarterback Jimmy Clausen a $923,000 roster bonus in March. Clausen started 10 games as a rookie in 2010, going 1-9 and finishing as the league's lowest-rated passer.
Offensive guard Travelle Wharton also could be a target.
Wharton has two years left on his contract, with a cap figure of $7.6 million in 2012. A third-round pick out of South Carolina in 2004, he has played his entire career with the Panthers.
