7:33 p.m. Rookie linebacker Jon Beason was simply awesome in 2007 and he will be rewarded for his play in 2008. Beason hit certain escalators that were built into his rookie contract, triggering a $500,000 increase in base salary.
Beason's base salary has jumped to $870,000, more than double the league minimum of $370,000 that he was scheduled to earn.
Cornerback Chris Gamble also will get a bump in pay for his production, with his base salary increasing from $1.06 million to $1.435 million, a bump of $375,000. That's good for those players, but that's $875,000 more against the team's salary cap. Of course, the Panthers had already planned for such an increase against their cap.
7 p.m. The Panthers have signed RB LaBrandon Toefield to a one-year deal. He's a big back and that's what they wanted. It's unclear if he's the No. 2 back or not. My guess is the Panthers fill out the rest of the position in the draft. The draft is heavy on running backs this year.
5:12 p.m. Noooooo. The Panthers are not trading Julius Peppers. Hey, I'm all for fans having their say on message boards, but the problem becomes when some wiseguy starts a rumor and then other people start to believe it. I believe the rumor that the Panthers were trying to trade Peppers -- oh, and Jordan Gross at one point, too -- to the Minnesota Vikings for running back Chester Taylor started on a fan-based website. I won't mention the name because driving web traffic there only adds to fire. The team, and Peppers' agent, Carl Carey, have emphatically denied there is any chance Peppers could be traded. It's not going to happen. That's all I have to say about it. I first heard about it yesterday morning and investigated it just to be safe, but didn't feel it deserved to even be mentioned when there was no truth to it. Honestly, it still doesn't deserved to be mentioned... but people are talking about it, so let me put everyone's mind at ease -- Julius Peppers will not be traded. Now, hopefully this rumor dies soon.
5 p.m. The Panthers have released cornerback Patrick Dendy. Not a surprise here. There were at least five cornerbacks ahead of Dendy on the depth chart including Ken Lucas, Chris Gamble, Richard Marshall, Dante Wesley and presumably, newly-signed Ricardo Colclough. Dendy was due to make $527,000 this season.
3 p.m. When I spoke with Andy Simms, the agent for linebacker Landon Johnson, late Thursday night he said his client would decide in the morning whether or not to make any more visits to other teams. When Johnson woke up Friday there was no doubt he wanted to play for Carolina and he quickly agreed to a three-year contract worth about $10 million. It's a good move for Carolina and he will be an upgrade over Na'il Diggs if he starts at weakside linebacker. That also gives Carolina added depth at linebacker in case they lose restricted free agent Adam Seward to New England. Sure, the team has other needs, but adding a quality linebacker doesn't hurt. It's nice to see the Panthers make a move that is a clear upgrade. Now, how about that defensive end, running back and wide receiver?