When Matt Rhule took the Nebraska job back in late November, both the new coach and those representing his new employer kept repeating the same two things: 1) They both really, really wanted to make it happen, and 2) That mutual desire itself was not enough to bring Rhule to Lincoln, because working out a deal between Nebraska and the Carolina Panthers was really, really complicated.
Thanks to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, we now have a good look at just how complicated.
Jones reports that Rhule is taking the Panthers to arbitration over what his camp says is $5 million that the team still owes him.
Here are the particulars.
-- Carolina signed Rhule to a 7-year, $60 million contract upon leaving Baylor in January 2020. As we know, he lasted 38 games before the team fired him in October.
-- In November, Rhule signed an 8-year, $74 million deal with Nebraska.
At issue seems to be the way Nebraska structured its contract. Rhule will earn $5.5 million in 2023, and top out at $12.5 million by 2030, the final year of the deal. Carolina reportedly believes Nebraska structured it in such a way as to purposefully underpay the early years, knowing the Panthers will pick up the slack.
From the report:
According to a source, the Panthers will argue that Rhule's Nebraska contract violates the league's anti-tampering policy. Section 3, Article D of the policy under "CONTRACT WITH NEW CLUB/REASONABLENESS" reads:
"If the contract with the new club includes a substantial salary increase in new contract years, the Commissioner shall use the following as a guideline to determine the reasonableness of those increases: (i) if annual compensations is scheduled to increase by 20 percent or more for the new contract years, the prior club's annual offset, if that club is entitled to an offset, shall be calculated based upon the employee's average annual compensation during the entire term of contract."
Of course, Nebraska can turn around and argue it's not bound by any agreements the Panthers enter into with other 31 NFL teams.
Though the league's anti-tampering policy makes no reference to college coaching jobs, the policy also does not make an explicit distinction as to what it means by "club."
As Jones writes, Rhule was due an additional $34 million upon his firing. His Nebraska contract is set to pay him $29 million through the end of the Carolina contract (Jan. 31, 2027), and so Rhule believes the Panthers owe him the $5 million difference.
Carolina will counter that Nebraska has the extra $5 million, it just chose not to pay it.
CBS reports that the NFL will control who hears the case, either by handpicking the arbitrator or by using a commercial firm that regularly hears such cases.