News now: Carolina Panthers are interested of signing a star player from…
News now: Carolina Panthers are interested of signing a star player from…
According to media reports, the Carolina Panthers intend to release starting center Bradley Bozeman on Wednesday at 3 p.m. CDT, the start of the NFL’s 2024 financial year.
On Sunday, the Charlotte Observer and NFL Network reported Carolina’s decision, citing team sources. The Panthers are releasing Bozeman even though he played every offensive snap in 2023 and still is owed $4 million.
Releasing the former Alabama standout will keep Carolina from needing to pay a bonus of $1.5 million, which is due if Bozeman is on the Panthers’ roster on Saturday. But the Panthers still will be on the hook for $4 million of Bozeman’s $4.15 million base salary for the 2024 season.
Last offseason, Bozeman signed a three-year, $18 million contract extension that included $10 million in guaranteed money.
Bozeman joined the Panthers in 2022 as a free agent on one-year, $2.8 million contract after reaching the end of his four-year, $2.578 million rookie deal signed after the Baltimore Ravens selected him in the sixth round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
Bozeman didn’t play an offensive snap in Carolina’s first six games of the 2022 season as Pat Elflein handled the work at center for the Panthers. Elflein’s season-ending hip injury opened a spot in the lineup for Bozeman, and he played every offensive snap in the Panthers’ final 11 games in 2022.
When Bozeman entered the lineup, Carolina had a 1-5 record and had just traded former All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers. The Panthers went 6-5 with Bozeman at center. After averaging 90.3 rushing yards per game without Bozeman, the Panthers averaged 151.6 with him.
In 2023, Bozeman played all 1,149 of Carolina’s offensive snaps. But the Panthers produced the fewest yards and were tied for the fewest points in the NFL this season, and Carolina’s quarterbacks were sacked 65 times.
A former Handley High School standout, Bozeman served as Alabama’s starting center in the 2016 and 2017 seasons, capping his career in the Crimson Tide’s 26-23 overtime victory against Georgia in the CFP national championship game.
As an NFL rookie, Bozeman played 214 offensive snaps in 14 games with one start. For the next three seasons, he hardly came off the field for the Baltimore offense.
With Bozeman at left guard, the Ravens rushed for more than 3,000 yards in 2019 and 2020 season – two of the six times that has been accomplished in NFL history.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
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