The Carolina Panthers released Pro Bowl kicker Graham Gano on Thursday.
The team confirmed the move several hours after Gano’s wife, Brittany, broke the news on social media.
“This is not the easiest thing to post but we know that all good things eventually have to come to an end,” she posted on Instagram. “… This is just the beginning to a new amazing adventure.”
Gano, 33, made the Pro Bowl in 2017 but missed the final four games in 2018 and sat out the entire 2019 season with an injured left knee, his plant leg.
Entering the third year of a four-year, $17 million contract, he was due $2.8 million this season. The Panthers will save that money against the cap while absorbing $1.5 million in dead money in 2020 and 2021.
In 10 seasons with Washington (2009-11) and Carolina (2012-18), Gano has made 224 of 273 field-goal attempts (82.1 percent) and 306 of 321 PATs (95.3 percent) in 134 career games.
Gano ranks second in Panthers history in scoring with 742 points, trailing fellow kicker John Kasay (1,482).
On Oct. 7, 2018, he booted a career-long 63-yard field goal as time expired to lift the Panthers to a 33-31 victory against the visiting New York Giants.
Gano’s release leaves incumbent Joey Slye as the only kicker on the Carolina roster.
Slye, 24, set a Panthers record and led the NFL with eight made field goals of 50-plus yards in 2019. He converted 25 of 32 field-goal attempts and 31 of 35 extra points in 16 games.