Bill Voth, citing a league source, reports that the Carolina Panthers are preparing to franchise DE Greg Hardy in the coming weeks.
The Panthers recently freed up close to $7.25 million in cap space by reworking the contracts of C Ryan Kalil, RB Jonathan Stewart and LB Thomas Davis, which should bring their available cap space to close to $19 million in cap space.
Carolina could use the tag as a temporary measure that will buy them some time work on a long-term agreement in the coming months. The franchise would run the Panthers close to $12.6 million guaranteed next season.
Previous reports have mentioned that Hardy could be targeting a deal that would surpass the six-year, $78 million contract Panthers signed DE Charles Johnson to a few years ago, which could prove to be an impeding factor in extension talks.
We have Hardy listed as the No. 2 player in our Top 50 Free Agents list.
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