The Carolina Panthers have exercised the fifth-year option on wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin, a league source confirmed Tuesday.
The news was first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman said in March the team planned to pick up Benjamin’s option for 2018, which is expected to be worth around $8.5 million.
But the decision became less certain as reports surfaced that Benjamin had shown up overweight and out of shape for the team’s offseason program.
The Panthers had until midnight Tuesday to exercise the fifth-year option on Benjamin, their first-round pick from 2014.