Panthers sign OT Michael Oher to a three-year extension
In order to protect Cam Newton’s blindside, the Carolina Panthers signed OT Michael Oher to a three-year extension on Friday.
After making a strong run to the Super Bowl last season, the Carolina Panthers locked up one of their most important offensive players on Friday morning, as they signed left tackle Michael Oher to a three-year contract extension.
"According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the three-year extension is “worth $21.6M in new money, averaging $7.2M with $9.5M guaranteed.”"
Oher is best known for his story as a homeless person in high school who becomes a football star. In the 2009 Sandra Bullock movie ‘The Blind Side’ Oher’s story of an improbable rise to football success was played out on the big screen.
Now, he has become an essential part of one of the best offenses in the entire NFL.
Oher signed a two-year deal with the Panthers last off season, and immediately won their starting left tackle position despite struggling in his only season with the Tennessee Titans the year before.
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The Panthers have struggled to produce quality offensive tackles in recent years, but Oher was a strong blindside protector for Cam Newton in 2015. They obviously feel well about his ability to continue to protect Newton well in 2016 and beyond.
The Panthers as a whole did struggle to protect Newton in Super Bowl 50 against the Denver Broncos. While it was right tackle Mike Remmers who had the most obvious struggles in the game, Oher certainly had has issues against Denver as well.
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The Broncos’ ferocious pass rush was a huge reason for their Super Bowl win, but to be fair to Oher and company, Von Miller and the rest of the Broncos’ pass rushers had been dominating everybody.
It was nice to see Oher get his career back on track last season, and the Panthers were wise to reward him by locking him down going forward.
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