The Carolina Panthers have decided to part ways with the franchise’s all-time leading rusher DeAngelo Williams after nine seasons with the team.

Williams himself reported the news in an interview with local Carolina news station WBTV on Monday. The running back, who turns 32 in April, played in just six regular season games and two playoff games for the Panthers in 2014 due to various injuries. He averaged less than 10 carries per game, totaling 249 yards without a touchdown in those eight contests. Williams told WBTV that he was called into a meeting with Carolina head coach Ron Rivera and general manager David Gettleman, and the two men were honest in their assessment.

“We sat down and he told me ‘The fact of the matter is we’re going to have to release you’,” Williams told Molly Grantham of WBTV. “I said you know, ‘Why?’ and he said, ‘because we don’t run the ball enough. Just like you said back before the season started, we don’t run the ball enough to keep you and both [Jonathan Stewart], so we’re going to release you’.”

The Panthers would not confirm Williams’ release, and they reportedly intend to make the veteran running back a post-June 1 cut, which can not be done until the new league year begins on March 10. The move will save Carolina $2 million in cap space.

“I spoke to DeAngelo. We had a great conversation. It’s confidential. It’s between us,” Gettleman said. “DeAngelo had a tough season. He lost his mom, who he was very close to. Then came the season and he just couldn’t stay healthy….but he finished the season like a pro’s pro and like a man’s man. I really respect DeAngelo for the way he finished it.”

After missing all of December with a broken hand, suffered in a game against the Minnesota Vikings on November 30, Williams returned to play in both Panthers playoff games, but carried just four times in 16 yards in the wild card win over the Arizona Cardinals, and just twice for 14 yards in the divisional round loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

The nine-year veteran was set to count $6.3 million against the Carolina cap in 2015, $4.3 million of which was prorated, with just $1.85 million guaranteed. He wraps his time in Carolina with 1,432 career carries, 6,846 yards rushing and 46 rushing touchdowns, all franchise records. He enjoyed a breakout season with the Panthers in 2008, rushing for 1,515 yards and led the NFL with 18 rushing touchdowns and 20 total touchdowns that season. But Williams went on to rush for over 1,000 yards just once more, in 2009 when he was named to his lone Pro Bowl. He has since been plagued by injuries, most notably several ankle sprains that have cost him time on a yearly basis.

Though divorces such as this one can be ugly in the salary cap era, Williams told WBTV that he harbors no ill will toward the Panthers and understands the decisions they have to make.

“I don’t feel bitter at all. It’s a business,” he said. “And that business comes back and reminds us year after year – whether it be Steve Smith, whether it be Jordan Gross, whether it be myself – it’s going to happen to every guy in that locker room, so it doesn’t bother me at all.”

At the age of 32, with plenty of mileage on his legs, and with several young running backs entering the league in a stacked draft class, it may be tough for Williams to find work in a league that continues to place little value in veteran running backs.

CARDS EXTEND COACH, GM

After a remarkable season that saw the team make the postseason at 11-5 and come within a Week 17 victory of the NFC West crown despite debilitating injuries to core players, the Arizona Cardinals have moved to secure the futures of two of the men responsible for that success.

The Cardinals announced on Monday that they have extended the contracts of head coach Bruce Arians and general manager Steve Keim through the 2018 season. Team President Michael Bidwell said in a statement that the franchise is on the right track behind the leadership of the two men.

“Two years ago we hired Steve and Bruce a few days apart and believed we had something really special,” Bidwill said. “Every day since then, they have done nothing but validate that belief. The team’s performance over the last two seasons certainly reflects how talented they are in their respective roles and it was important that we reward them for their accomplishments. I speak not only for myself but all Cardinals fans when I say how thrilled we all are that Steve and Bruce are now under contract through 2018.”

The 62-year-old Arians is coming off his second season as coach of the Cardinals, a 2014 campaign for which he was named AP Coach of the Year after leading the team the postseason despite season-ending injuries to the franchise’s star quarterback Carson Palmer, lead running back Andre Ellington and several other key players on both sides of the ball throughout the season.

In just two seasons with the Cardinals, Arians has led the franchise to 21 victories and became just the second coach in franchise history to win 10 games in back-to-back seasons. The last, Don Coryell, did so in the 1970’s when the franchise was still located in St. Louis. Arians is widely considered one of the best coaches in the league and has been recognized as Coach of the Year twice in the last three seasons. The first honor came in his final season in Indianapolis, when he took over the reins of the Colts in the absence of Chuck Pagano, who was battling cancer and helped the team win 11 games and reach the postseason with rookie quarterback Andrew Luck.

Arians noted when he was named Coach of the Year that he is proud of what the team is building in Arizona, but believes the franchise still has plenty of work to do to get to the top of the sport.

“You have to get better, you have to work every single day,” Arians said. “you can’t relax in this business. Like I’ve always said, it’s a real short elevator ride back down. Enjoy (the accolades), but don’t ever believe it.”

While Arians bounced around through different organizations both college and pro before winding up in Arizona, Keim has been with the Cardinals for 16 years, since his brief playing career came to a close. He started out as a college scout with the franchise in 1999 and moved up the chain all the way to Director of Player Personnel in 2008. He was named VP of Player Personnel in 2012 and finally named GM in January of 2013. Ten days after he took the job, he hired Arians to be the team’s head coach and the two have worked magic in Arizona ever since.

“I’m living out my dream,” Keim said recently. “Here I am, the son of  a machinist, running a football team in the NFL. I’m humbled by it and appreciative of the opportunity. What makes it special is seeing where this organization started and what it has become.”

During the 2013 season, Keim and his staff made massive changes to the Cardinals roster, with nearly 200 roster moves and a more than 50 percent turnover on the roster from the end of the 2012 season to the end of the 2013 season. Their work elevated Arizona from a five-win season in 2012 to 10 wins in 2013, and for his efforts Keim was named NFL Executive of the Year by Pro Football Talk. He continued to make adjustments to the Cards roster in 2014, helping the team reach the postseason despite their injury struggles.

Already this offseason, Keim has set out to restructure the team at the wide receiver position, working out a new two-year contract with star receiver Larry Fitzgerald that saves the Cardinals nearly $13 million in cap space. They followed that move by parting ways with veteran receiver and return man Ted Ginn after just one season with the tem.

The Cardinals have plenty of work to do to continue to improve in the highly-competitive NFC West, but the return of quarterback Carson Palmer, who is said to be ahead of schedule rehabbing his season-ending knee injury, and Ellington, whose season ended early due to a sports hernia, should help an offense that scuffled late in the season. The continuity of keeping the staff in place for a third season should help as well.

“I’m like the fans, I want stability and we are going in the right direction and also reward them for our past successes,” Bidwill told the team website. “We want to build upon what we did in 2013 and 2014 and we expect great things in 2015. We are getting ready for free agency and I want to make sure we are prepared with a lot of these things behind us so we can really concentrate on free agency and the draft. That’s the focus right now. With Larry’s deal we were able to clear some cap space, his new deal gives us flexibility to be aggressive in free agency, which we intend to be.”

BYRON JONES WOWS ON FINAL DAY OF COMBINE

The 2015 NFL Scouting Combine came to a close in record-breaking fashion on Monday afternoon as University of Connecticut product Byron Jones set a world-record with a standing broad jump of 12 feet-3 inches during defensive back workouts.

Jones’ jump broke a world-record that had stood for more than 46 years, previously held by Norwegian Arne Tvervaag, who jumped 12-2 in 1968. It was the first jump of more than 12-feet ever at the combine.

Jones, who is listed as a 6-1, 199 lb. cornerback, also impressed in the vertical jump, a drill that is slightly more applicable to NFL play. His jump of 44.5 inches was 1.5 inches off the combine record mark of 46 inches set by former NFL safety Gerald Sensabaugh in 2005.

Though they don’t guarantee him much, the eye-popping statistics are sure to have teams taking a second look at Jones, who started just seven games in his senior season at UConn after suffering a torn labrum in October that hindered him through the end of the season. He finished his final college season with 24 tackles, four passes defended and two interceptions, including a 70-yard touchdown against South Florida in September. He finished his college career with eight interceptions and 21 passes defended in 43 games over four seasons at Connecticut.

The broad and vertical jumps were the only events Jones participated in ahead of his March 31 pro day, so he was not eligible for the 40-yard dash, but three other prospects were awarded six-figure payouts for their performance in the annual sprint over the weekend.

Adidas awarded West Virginia wide receiver Kevin White (4.35), Miami wide receiver Phillip Dorsett (4.33) and Michigan State cornerback Trae Waynes (4.31) with $100,000 bonus checks for their efforts in the combine. All three players had previously signed endorsement deals with adidas and ran the 40 in adidas cleats.

UAB’s J.J. Nelson officially had the fastest 40-yard dash time at the combine at 4.28 seconds. That means Chris Johnson’s combine record of 4.24 seconds from 2008 stands for another year. Maybe next year, guys.