Charles Godfrey had no leverage. The Panthers safety tore his Achilles in Week 2 last year, he was due a big base salary in 2014, and not many teams are in the market for a guy coming off a torn Achilles.Godfrey’s only real option was to hope to return to pre-injury form after taking a large pay cut. That expected move officially went through Tuesday.According to contract numbers on the NFLPA’s website, Godfrey’s 2014 base has been sliced from $5,000,000 to $750,000. And since nothing was added to the remaining two years of his deal, this appears to be a strict pay cut, not a kick-the-can-down-the-road restructure.[pricing_table columns=”2″] [pricing_table_column featured=”false” title=”Before Pay Cut”] [icon_list] [icon_list_item type=”ok”] 2014: $5 million [/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”ok”] 2015: $5 million [/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”ok”] 2016: $5.3 million [/icon_list_item] [/icon_list] [/pricing_table_column] [pricing_table_column featured=”false” title=”After Pay Cut”] [icon_list] [icon_list_item style=”color: red;” type=”remove”] 2014: $750,000 [/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”ok”] 2015: $5 million [/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”ok”] 2016: $5.3 million [/icon_list_item] [/icon_list] [/pricing_table_column] [/pricing_table]Monday night, the NFLPA’s salary cap report placed the Panthers at just $1,733,296 under the cap. After Godfrey’s pay cut, they’re now $5,770,796 under.The Panthers could have saved $5.1 million if they made him a June 1 cut, but they figure it’s worth around one million in cap space to give Godfrey a chance to contribute.As we reported last month, the 28-year-old has been on a good pace during his rehab, and with Captain Munnerlyn now in Minnesota, the teams needs a nickelback. Godfrey has played safety since Carolina drafted him in 2008, but 25 of the 28 starts he made at Iowa during his college days were at cornerback.Even if the Panthers try Godfrey at corner, that doesn’t mean his safety days are done. He can play both strong and free, Thomas DeCoud and Roman Harper were free agents for a reason, and it’s tough to put too many eggs in the basket of 2013 undrafted rookie Robert Lester.For some reason, many fans have more bad memories of Godfrey than may actually be deserved. Before last year’s injury, he had started all but one of the Panthers’ 75 games since 2008 and he was never a true liability.Now Godfrey gets a chance to help Carolina at a much cheaper price. It’s not a great thing for his bank account, but it could be a good thing for the Panthers.[share title=”Share this Post” facebook=”true” twitter=”true” google_plus=”true” linkedin=”true” pinterest=”true” reddit=”true” email=”true”][author title=”About the Author”]