Tag: Corn Elder

Panthers position battles: Who starts at cornerback opposite Donte Jackson?

Now, Matt Rhule is telling reporters there is an open competition for the position.

It has been years since the Panthers have had a respectable and consistent defensive backfield. This year is no different, as the team’s longest tenured cornerback is Donte Jackson, the third-year DB coming off a less-than-impressive sophomore campaign. While Carolina needs Jackson to have a bounce-back season to give the secondary any hope, there are bigger concerns about who takes his old spot at CB2. Now, Matt Rhule is telling reporters there is an open competition for the position.

With less than two weeks until Carolina’s home opener against the Las Vegas Raiders, let’s take a look at some of the top candidates for the job.

Eli Apple

Eli Apple
(Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Apple (6-foot-1, 203 pounds) has had a mixed bag of a football career. While he has shown flashes of potential, those moments have been offset by inconsistency that’s placed him on his third team in just five seasons.

His career got off to a rocky start with the New York Giants, as a heated exchange with a coach led to a suspension by the team at the end of his rookie season for conduct detrimental to the team. Soon after, former teammate Landon Collins went on a radio talk show, saying Apple was “a cancer” for the Giants.

Apple began to turn things around midway through 2018 when he was traded to the New Orleans Saints. The former first-round draft pick was an immediate starter with his new team, totaling 52 tackles, nine passes defended and two interceptions in 10 starts. His 2019 season was less successful, as he allowed a 100.9 passer rating. Apple is now looking for another fresh start with Carolina.

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Panthers 2020 training camp: Projecting 5 potential cuts on defense

Let’s take a look at the next potential five cuts on defense.

The Carolina Panthers began padded practices yesterday after announcing a series of offensive roster moves on Sunday. The team picked up wide receivers Tommylee Lewis and Marken Michel plus tight end Andrew Vollert. To make room, they cut DeAndrew White, Cam Sutton and two rookie linebackers.

More releases will be coming soon. Let’s take a look at the next potential five cuts on defense.

DE Myles Adams

Myles Adams
Don Wright-USA TODAY Sports

As an undrafted rookie, Adams already had a difficult road to make the 53-man roster this year. Things got more complicated on Monday when the Panthers claimed former Cowboys defensive end Jalen Jelks off waivers. Early-round picks like Yetur Gross-Matos are assured their spots, but Adams doesn’t have that advantage built in for him. He will need to separate himself from the rest if he’s going to survive the next round of cuts.

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Panthers Highlights: WR Curtis Samuel makes a circus catch at practice

Watch Samuel reel in a rare behind-the-head catch on a pass from Teddy Bridgewater at today’s practice.

Training camp MVP might be the most meaningless media non-award that goes around every year. We have to take what we can get in 2020 though, especially with no preseason games. So far the frontrunner for the Carolina Panthers appears to be wide receiver Curtis Samuel, who has drawn a lot of buzz for his work so far.

Watch Samuel reel in a rare behind-the-head catch on a pass from Teddy Bridgewater that was tipped by Corn Elder at today’s practice.

Shades of the highly-underrated Cole Beasley.

You may not remember because it was roughly 2,000 years ago, but Samuel was also a popular camp MVP pick last year. Unfortunately, the rapport he had going with Cam Newton on deep passes didn’t carry over into the regular season after Cam’s foot injury. Kyle Allen never got into a rhythm with Samuel, whose uncatchable ball rate was among the highest in the league.

And so we go into year four of waiting for the seemingly inevitable breakout season from No. 10. At least this time around Samuel will have an upgrade at offensive coordinator.

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Panthers bring back CB Corn Elder by signing him off Giants’ practice squad

According to Joe Person at the Athletic, the team has signed cornerback Corn Elder off the Giants’ practice squad.

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The Panthers are bringing back another familiar face. According to Joe Person at the Athletic, the team has signed cornerback Corn Elder off the Giants’ practice squad.

Elder was one of former general manager Dave Gettleman’s last draft picks in Carolina. Gettleman selected him in the fifth round of the 2017 draft. Elder did not see the field much in his first run with the Panthers, though. He appeared in 13 games last season but only played 251 total snaps, mostly on special teams. He was one of the team’s first cuts this year.

Why bring him back now?

It may have something to do with both starting outside cornerbacks James Bradberry and Donte Jackson dealing with groin injuries. Bradberry sat out Sundays’ loss to the Packers and Jackson apparently re-aggravated his, which kept him on the sidelines three weeks earlier in the season.

When Jackson went out against Green Bay, slot cornerback Javien Elliott moved outside to cover for him. Colin Jones took over for Elliott in the slot, which is obviously not an ideal situation. Elder is best suited to play that nickel position.

He may be active against Atlanta, but we probably won’t see him play unless both Bradberry and Jackson are out. That seems unlikely, as Jackson returned against the Packers later on and made some big stops down the stretch.

Update:

The move to add Elder is official. To make room, the team waived OL Bryan Witzmann.

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Giants waive Evan Brown, Corn Elder signed by Panthers

The New York Giants have waived OL Evan Brown and had CB Corn Elder signed off of their practice squad by the Carolina Panthers.

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Less than a week after promoting him to their active roster, the New York Giants waived offensive lineman Evan Brown on Monday evening.

The 23-year-old Brown had been added to the team’s 53-man roster with center Jon Halapio (hamstring) and right tackle Mike Remmers (back) ailing. He logged just a single offensive snap (on a busted PAT) and two special teams snaps in a Week 10 loss to the New York Jets.

It’s likely the Giants sign Brown back to their practice squad if he clears waivers. And somewhat ironically, they now have an open space for him.

In addition to waiving Brown, the Giants announced on Monday that the Carolina Panthers had signed cornerback Corn Eldger to their 53-man roster from Big Blue’s practice squad.

The Giants had added Elder to their practice squad shortly after he was released by the Panthers as a part of final cuts in late August/early September.

The 25-year-old Elder was a fifth-round pick of the Panthers in the 2017 NFL Draft.

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