Like many in the NFL, Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera did not get to finish his playing career on his own terms.
He was, he says, a “cap casualty” as a nine-year veteran linebacker for the Chicago Bears. He, and a lot of his teammates and close friends, all lost their jobs.
“In 1993, they passed a whole new (collective bargaining agreement),” he said. “There were a group of us who were caught up in the middle of it. That was the first time there was a salary cap. ... It was the changing point in the NFL at the time.