Former Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Brandon Boykin signed a one-year contract with the Carolina Panthers on Monday for the veteran minimum plus an $80,000 signing bonus and he has since told me on Twitter that he turned down even more money from another team.
“Turned down 2 mil to go to a place where I can play fairly,” Boykin posted on Twitter.
The fact that Boykin’s biggest offer was $2 million a year is still a little confusing based on what he has managed to put on tape over the course of the last several seasons. It led me to speculate that Boykin might not have a great reputation around the league but Steelers running back DeAngelo Williams quickly dispelled that notion to me on Twitter.
“If u are referring to Brandon Boykin he’s a grade A class act never an ass while playing for the steelers,” Williams wrote to me on Twitter.
Look, I certainly understand why Boykin might be bitter as his year in Pittsburgh probably didn’t go as he anticipated it would have when he was traded for during training camp. With that said, I have noted several times that I thought Boykin played reasonably well when given the opportunity to do so and I even had his market value this offseason being $4 million more than it actually wound up being. How that is perceived as me “hating on him” I’ll never know. Personally, I think the Panthers got a steal.
As far as Boykin’s snaps potentially being limited because of conditions related to his trade, I’m still not buying that even though he apparently believes that is what led to his lack of playing time. When Boykin finally gets settled in with the Panthers perhaps he will sit down with one of their great local beat writers and tell his side of the story as it relates to how he felt things went wrong with the Steelers.
