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Michael Oher, Panthers Agree to New Contract: Latest Details, Comments, Reaction
June 17, 2016
The Carolina Panthers announced a three-year contract extension for offensive lineman Michael Oher on Friday that will keep him with the organization through the 2019 season.
Pro Football Talk reported the sides came to an agreement on a deal totaling $21.6 million, including $8 million in fully guaranteed money.
"Very thankful but even more motivated and will grind that much harder!" Oher wrote on Twitter after the re-signing was announced.
"I don’t think I could go anywhere else," Oher said, via the team's press release. "They do it right, everybody here does it right. You don’t want to leave places like this."
Oher, 30, signed a two-year pact with the Panthers last offseason after the Tennessee Titans released him following the 2014 campaign. He was immediately installed as the team's starting left tackle and showed flashes of the high-impact player he was early in his career with the Baltimore Ravens.
In December, Pro Football Focus rated him as the No. 28 offensive tackle in the NFL. Football Outsiders ranked the Panthers line as a whole as the No. 12 group in run blocking and No. 21 in pass protection.
Oher explained earlier in June what an extension would mean to him after just one season in Carolina, as relayed by Jonathan Jones of the Charlotte Observer: "It would show that the organization believes in me. I still have to prove myself. I'm still just trying to prove myself to them and just make sure I'm one of these guys because they do it right."
Fellow Panthers lineman Mike Remmers used a reference from The Blind Side, the semibiographical movie based on Oher's life, to congratulate him on the new deal:
Now, the focus shifts to putting together another strong campaign on quarterback Cam Newton's blind side. The Panthers quarterback showed what he's capable of when given a clean pocket en route to the MVP award last season. But when he was under siege in the Super Bowl, the team's offense fell apart.
That heartbreaking loss to the Denver Broncos should serve as a learning experience for Carolina, which figures to contend again in 2016. Oher is the most important piece up front, and continued improvement from him would go a long way toward another deep playoff run.
