The Carolina Panthers on Tuesday made official what general manager Dave Gettleman said he would do at last month's NFL meetings.

The team picked up the fifth-year option on defensive tackle Star Lotulelei, six days before the deadline to do so for 2013 first-round picks.

If Lotulelei plays the 2017 season under the option, his salary will be $6.75 million, a nice raise from the $1.71 million he's set to make this year. But the Panthers would like to lock him in long-term, regardless of what happens this summer with fellow defensive tackle Kawann Short.

Taken one round after Lotulelei in 2013, Short doesn't have a fifth-year option. The Panthers' No. 1 contract priority this offseason — more so than anything with former cornerback Josh Norman — has been to work something out with Short before he starts his contract year. The expectation is the two sides will come to an agreement sometime this summer on a deal that should reach at least $15 million per season.

Because his role is much different, Lotulelei doesn't have Short's eye-popping stats, but a long-term deal for the space-eater could cost more than $10 million a year. Add the two young "hog mollies" together, and you can see why Gettleman didn't want to give a 28-year-old cornerback $15 million per season.