Panthers cut former Pro Bowl kicker Graham Gano after eight seasons with the team

The 33-year-old veteran missed all of 2019 with a leg injury

Cam Newton won't be the only longtime Carolina Panther playing elsewhere in 2020. Hours after veteran kicker Graham Gano's wife, Brittany, posted on Instagram to bid the Panthers farewell, ESPN's Adam Schefter reports the team has, in fact, released the former Pro Bowler. The 33-year-old Gano, who spent the last eight seasons with the Panthers, was still under contract for an additional two years but spent all of 2019 sidelined with a leg injury.

Gano was set to count $4.3 million against the salary cap this season, making more than all but four kickers in the NFL. By releasing the special teams veteran, the Panthers will save almost $1.3 million in 2020, as well as about $3.75 million in 2021.

The writing was probably on the wall for Gano as early as the start of the 2019 season. Hindered at the end of the 2018 campaign by a left leg injury, he was placed on injured reserve last August following bouts of offseason soreness. The Panthers turned to undrafted rookie Joey Slye to fill placekicking duties after an impressive preseason, and Slye finished his rookie year connecting on nearly 80 percent of field goal tries in 2019.

Originally undrafted in 2009, Gano joined the Panthers in 2012 after stints with Washington and in the now-defunct UFL. He was a model of consistency for much of his time in Carolina, hitting 85.5 percent of his FG tries with the club and converting at least 25 FGs in four different seasons. A Pro Bowler in 2017, when he connected on all but one of his 30 FG attempts, Gano was the Panthers' kicker during their Super Bowl 50 trip in 2015, making two of three kicks in the championship.