The Carolina Panthers will likely be directly affected by the Eagles signing Fletcher Cox to a gigantic 6 year contract.

Kawann Short, the Panthers pro bowl defensive tackle, does not appear to be holding out. That is the good news.

The bad news? The Carolina Panthers may not be able to afford Short in light of the Fletcher Cox deal.

Cox is due 63 million dollars at signing, making it the highest guaranteed payout of his position by 4 million dollars. Those numbers are far beyond what Carolina Panthers GM Dave Gettleman would want to spend on any sole player. Can you imagine KK Short making more than Cam Newton and Luke Kuechly? I can’t.

That is not necessarily a bad thing for the Carolina Panthers.

Very rarely does a perennial Superbowl contending team set a new bar for player contracts. Just look at the Denver Broncos, they still have not signed their marquee defensive player Von Miller. Denver is a contender, Philadelphia is not. See the correlation?

Gettleman also has the luxury of watching rookie Vernon Butler this season. Butler is very similar to Kawann Short in almost every respect. Except, of course, Butler is on a four year rookie contract with a 5th year option on the tail end. The fifth year option is basically a heavily discounted franchise tag, available to be placed on any first round pick.

If Vernon Butler can even fill 80% of Kawann Short’s shoes, Dave Gettleman may decide it is in the best interest of the team as a whole to let Short walk.

Of course, like the Josh Norman move, this will be met with anger by Carolina Panthers fans. But if Dave Gettleman can continue to create Superbowl contending rosters without breaking the bank, that anger will be very short lived.

Short is expected at Carolina Panthers mini camp this week. You can expect more on this story very soon.