Panthers' Lucas Won't Accept Trade to Detroit, May Get Cut

NFL players typically don't have "no-trade clauses" in their contracts. Instead, the few players who are traded either have no leverage, are whining about their contracts and want new ones, or are so desperate for a change of scenery that they'd go practically anywhere.

In the case of Carolina Panthers cornerback Ken Lucas, he probably wishes he had leverage. Of course, having virtually no leverage apparently didn't stop Lucas from nixing a trade to a team he doesn't want to play for.

NFL.com's Adam Schefter reports Lucas has found a way to stop the Panthers from trading him to the Detroit Lions. Evidently, he doesn't want to play for a team that pulled off a 0-16 stinker last year.

Scheduled to make over $5.5 million next year, Lucas is apparently too expensive for the Panthers. Instead of trading him, Schefter reports that Carolina may cut Lucas. The club is busy right now trying to free up the necessary dollars so they can carry franchise player Julius Peppers' one-year tender while they figure out if they can keep him or if they will be forced to make a trade.

Officially, the Panthers aren't commenting on their plans for Lucas, who survived a round of cuts earlier this week.

"Ken is here at this point," (general manager Marty) Hurney said when asked about Lucas. "I'm not going to get into what we're going to do. I'm going to talk about what we've done.

"What we're going to do isn't something I want to talk about. We're obviously always working on things and talking about things, but I really would rather comment on what we've done at this point, because anything else is speculation."

Lucas is a very good player. Odds are that he didn't cost himself too many dollars by nixing the trade to Detroit, and assuming Carolina cuts him, he'll be able to pick his new team.

Now that I think about it, this might not have been a bad move at all. After all, not everyone thinks the way Matthew Stafford does.

(High-five: PFT)