Russell Shepard saw the writing on the wall after a year with the Carolina Panthers.
The general manager who signed him to a three-year, $10 million contract, Dave Gettleman, had been fired. The Panthers drafted wide receiver D.J. Moore in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. They added wide receivers Torrey Smith and Jarius Wright in free agency.
Shepard admitted that “when he [Gettleman] got let go a lot of things changed.
The Panthers wanted Shepard, after a season in which he caught 17 passes and led Carolina with six solo tackles and a forced fumble on special teams, to take a pay cut.