Panthers GM Dave Gettleman wouldn’t commit to veteran WR Steve Smith being on their roster next season during his press conference on Thursday, per Greg Rosenthal.
- Gettleman was reportedly pressed on the topic and still wouldn’t offer any definitive statement regarding Smith’s status with the team.
- Gettleman also mentioned that Smith was a part of their offseason “evaluation process,” and added that “no one plays forever,” per Ian Rapoport.
The Panthers have obvious cap space issues that Gettleman has eluded to numerous times in the past few months, however, releasing Smith doesn’t appear to be an option given that they would take a cap hit of $2 million by releasing him, according to OverTheCap.com.
Carolina could designate him as a Post June-1 release, which could give them $4 million in cap relief that could be used to sign most of their draft class.
Smith, 34, still has three years remaining on his four-year, $37.75 million contract. He will count $7 million against the team’s 2014 salary cap.
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