Greg Olsen plans to play out contract, doesn’t want to be distraction
Greg Olsen is planning to show up for the start of training camp with the Carolina Panthers on Wednesday, and the star tight end has apparently given up on trying to get the team to restructure his contract.
On Tuesday, Olsen told reporters that he plans to play out his current deal, which will pay him around $7.5 million for each of the next two seasons.
Greg Olsen says he's going to play out his contract, told us after Gettleman was fired he did not want to be a further distraction…
— Tiffany Blackmon (@tiffblackmon) July 25, 2017
Former Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman was surprisingly fired earlier this month, and Olsen feels that has caused enough drama with the team. Interestingly enough, it sounds as though Gettleman was one of the people who was standing in the way of Olsen getting a new deal.
Perhaps the Panthers have told Olsen they plan to take care of him at some point. The 33-year-old is the seventh-highest paid tight end in the NFL despite eclipsing the 1,000-yard receiving mark in each of the past two seasons. Olsen is Cam Newton’s favorite target and one of the best tight ends in the game, and he said previously that he would like to be compensated accordingly.