Carolina Panthers firm on Charles Johnsonâ€™s retaining

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011 at 11:45 am , filed under NFL News by Andrew Pollard

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The Carolina Panthers were not about to let their top free agent Charles Johnson to get away even if it meant shooting out big bucks. However, the Panthers have persuaded Johnson as their prized defensive end and to agree to a contract worth $72 million over six year and that includes a $30 million signing bonus. Besides, the team has confirmed that the deal of Tuesdayâ€™s night and Johnson said that he plans to sign the deal on Friday.

Charles said that the Panthers have told him the whole time they were going t come after him hard. He told that he had to see it to believe, but they did. Johnson said that he was blown away by Carolinaâ€™s offer and the money convinced him to choose Carolina over Atlanta and Denver who has also expressed the interest. Charles had a season breakout for the Panthers during 2010 with 11Â½ sacks in his first year as a started. Adding to this he had combined 10 sacks his previous two seasons playing behind veteran ends Julius Peppers and Tyler Brayton.

Johnson told that the first thing he plans to do with some of the signing bonus is take care of his family with most of which still lives in Georgia and some of whom wanted him to sign with the Falcons. He said that the Falcons initially showed a lot of interest but has backed off once they have learnt about the Carolinaâ€™s offer. He can sign his contract Friday but cannot join the Panthers at the training camp until 4th August as per the new league rules. Till then, he remains in Miami and will continue to train.

Johnson said that he is thankful and does not begin to describe it. He is so excited and is ready to get back to football.

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