Shaq Thompson is about to make it an even decade in the Queen City.
According to ESPN senior NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler, the Carolina Panthers have recently restructured Thompson’s contract. The move reduces his base pay this season to $3.1 million, with $1.7 million guaranteed, and clears up approximately $3 million in cap space for the team.
The Panthers reworked Thompson’s deal last offseason, which gave him an extra year with the organization. Prior to that adjustment, the contract was set to a $24.4 million cap hit for 2023 and would have sent him into free agency after the season.
Thompson will be entering his 10th campaign in Carolina, a run that began as the 25th overall selection of the 2015 NFL draft. He’s started in 108 of his 119 career games—having amassed 717 combined tackles, 12.0 sacks, three interceptions and four forced fumbles.
His 2023 season was cut painfully short after he sustained a fractured fibula in the Week 2 loss to the New Orleans Saints.
