Sidney Rice to Carolina? Don't Count On It

Former Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Sidney Rice has been medically cleared to begin football drills after having surgery on his ACL.

According to multiple reports, teams interested in Rice are the Seahawks, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, and the Carolina Panthers.

There are a few reasons why Rice signing with Carolina makes sense: 

- He grew up pretty close to Charlotte and would probably love to play there. 

- Carolina is rebuilding their receiving corp and bringing in the 27-year-old would be a boost.

- He can be a good weapon in the passing game when healthy.

However, there are also a few reasons as to why Carolina WON'T sign Rice:

- Cap space. Rice would have to take a pretty small deal in order to play with the Panthers, who don't have much money to work with.

- He's very prone to injuries and general manager Dave Gettleman will certainly be looking at that.

- The three other teams interested in him will probably try harder to sign him.

The reason I say they'll try harder is they all have more money than the Panthers and they'll probably be much less hesitant about signing him.

The Panthers have signed wide receivers Jerricho Cotchery, Tiquan Underwood, and Jason Avant, along with tight end Ed Dickson. All are guys who will be effective in the passing game, but none are a number one target. I don't see Rice as a number one either.

Carolina will likely take either an offensive tackle or wide receiver in the first round of the draft, so it's unlikely they'll be very active in free agency from this point going forward. They need to save money for their draft picks.

Letting Rice sign with another team isn't too big of a deal. In the end, I think he'll be too much of a risk due to his history of injuries, and I think Gettleman sees that.