The Carolina Panthers had no choice but to let Muhsin Muhammad go.
Muhammad, who has been a Panther for life, was due a $10 million bonus this week and would have made $12.5 million next season. The only way he could have stayed with Carolina was to take a massive pay cut, and he chose not to, so he’s gone. The Panthers jettisoned him Friday, and the Bears grabbed him Saturday.
Only elite receivers command the money Muhammad was due, and you can’t be one of the best receivers in the league when you’re not the best receiver on your team.
What he has working for him: He’s among the best blockers at his position in the league, he’s big, he works hard, runs great routes and is in superb condition.
What he has working against him: He’ll be 32 when the season begins, he is not terribly fast and he has gone through periods in which he’s had trouble hanging onto the ball. Some of those periods lasted several years.
And he has never admitted he dropped a pass.
The bad part II: His two best seasons, 1999 and 2004, came when he was playing for a new contract.
When Muhammad was good, in 1999 and 2000, 2003 and 2004, he played with a quality quarterback. When the Panthers paired him with Steve Beuerlein and Jake Delhomme, Muhammad excelled.
Only when former coach George Seifert ran Beuerlein off and presented the offense to Jeff Lewis did Muhammad disappear.
Although Steve Smith emerged as Delhomme’s principal target, Muhammad developed into one of the league’s better complementary receivers.
Fans never totally embraced Muhammad, but he was more than a guy who played in Charlotte. For one thing, his foundation raised thousands of dollars for kids.
Muhammad is a good player, a tough player. That will be his legacy here.
But you can’t skew your salary cap to accommodate a player unless you know he will excel. With Muhammad, you don’t know.
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