Panthers Sign CB Leonard Johnson
Carolina has added another experienced member to their secondary with the signing of Leonard Johnson on Thursday.
The Panthers have added one more body to compete at cornerback as they’ve signed Leonard Johnson to a one-year deal with the club. To do so the team parted ways with cornerback Shaq Richardson.
Johnson is a familiar face to the Panthers and the rest of the NFC South. The four year veteran sent the first three seasons of his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After going undrafted out of Iowa State in 2012, Johnson signed on with the Bucs and quickly earned himself a roster spot with the team.
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In his rookie season, Johnson showed promise and produced a solid 41 tackles, nine passes defensed, three interceptions and a forced fumble. His sophomore season was much of the same as his tackle total increased to 62 while also recording eight pass defenses and one pick. In 2014, after starting 14 of his first 32 games, Johnson was used as more of a rotational player but still produced solidly with 45 tackles, one interceptions and one forced fumble.
Before the 2015 season, Johnson suffered a leg injury and was placed on season ending injured reserve. He was then waived from the Bucs in December and signed on with the New England Patriots where he started three of the team’s last four games but saw no postseason action and was subsequently cut in February.
At 5-foot-10, 202-pounds, Johnson spent much of his time in Tampa Bay matching up with opponents slot receivers as the nickelback. With Carolina going into training camp with a slew of inexperienced players at cornerback the front office and coaching staff could have been getting worried about the position as a whole and specifically at nickel.
The Panthers are currently slated to start Bene Benwikere and Robert McClain on the outside and after cutting Brandon Boykin, likely would have been forced to start one of their three rookies at the nickel position.
With Johnson they now have an experienced player, who knows the division, to slide into that role or at the very least provide the team with another capable training camp competitor to help the rookies and other young secondary members along.