Cap Savings: $3,718,750
Dead Money: $1,500,000
The Carolina Panthers remade their pass-game weapons last offseason. Trading away Kelvin Benjamin, giving Devin Funchess a bigger role and drafting Christian McCaffrey and Curtis Samuel.
It may be time for them to cut ties with Jonathan Stewart. The 10-year veteran plodded his way to 680 rushing yards in 2017 at a career-low 3.4 yards per carry. Stewart managed six rushing touchdowns, his third season in a row with at least that many, but he offered a pedestrian 45.3 rushing yards per game.
He was among the least efficient running backs in the whole league by our numbers, checking in with -0.14 Rushing NEP per attempt, which ranked 42nd of the 47 backs with at least 100 carries. Whether or not McCaffrey is a long-term answer as a bell-cow is a question for another time, but the Panthers need more explosiveness than Stewart is capable of at this stage of his career.