CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CHARLOTTE SPORTS LIVE) – You need a good quarterback to win in the NFL, but you can’t overpay.
Panthers’ vice president of football administration, Samir Suleiman, elaborated on just how vital the position is to a franchise.
“The quarterback is the most important position on a football team,” Suleiman said. “If you have one of the elite ones, you’re gonna pay what they’re worth because they’re gonna put you in contention for a Super Bowl every single year.”
With quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers holding onto a 4-year, $150.8M guaranteed contract, Russell Wilson with a 5-year, $161.1M guaranteed, and most notably, Deshaun Watson with a 5-year, $230M guaranteed, the market has been completely reset.
This prompts the evident Lamar Jackson situation in the 2023 off-season. Those fully-guaranteed contracts may not be the norm much longer as owners begin to understand the adverse effects of building a team around that type of salary cap hit.
So, with that being said, Suleiman weighed in on the balance of the quarterback market.
“The issue you have with the quarterback market is occasionally you’ll get a handful of desperate teams that pay more than they probably should for a player hoping that they’re going to play up to that contract,” Suleiman explained. “Unfortunately, that just skews the market.”
So how do you prevent an organization from making the rash decision to throw a massive paycheck at an elite quarterback?
“That’s part of my job, keeping us from making emotional decisions,” Suleiman explained. “Just presenting the facts and having the self-discipline to make good decisions.”
