Carolina Panthers: Corn Elder is coming back to Charlotte
The Carolina Panthers are welcoming a familiar face back in the fold.
The Carolina Panthers are reuniting with an old friend. Tuesday, the team announced they signed cornerback Corn Elder off the Giants practice squad. In a corresponding move, the team waived guard Brian Witzmann.
Elder is extremely familiar with the Panthers. He was drafted by the team in 2017, and spent the 2017 and 2018 seasons in Charlotte. He was waived to prior to the beginning of this season and found a home on the Giants practice squad.
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Admittedly, he didn’t do too much in 2017 as he spent the season on injured reserve. However, he ended up playing a role in the 2018 season, playing in 13 games for the Panthers. He recorded three tackles.
This is certainly an intriguing move. I like this move for a couple of reasons. For one, Carolina is bringing back a player who is familiar with how the defense works. We’ll have to see how Elder plays under the tutelage of Perry Fewell. The secondary has seemed to respond well under the direction of Fewell. The veteran presence of Elder combined with Fewell may make for a great match.
However, this move is intriguing for another reason. Secondary isn’t really an area of need in my estimation. Yes, the defense hasn’t played well over these past couple weeks. However, the run defense was the unit that got exposed the most on Sunday against the Packers. They just could not seem to stop anybody on the ground, whether it was Aaron Jones or Jamaal Williams. They were sliced and diced throughout the entire day.
I trust the Panthers to make the correct personnel moves. I am excited that Elder is back. However, this team has other areas of need to fill as well. Granted, it is hard to fill them in the middle of the season. Nevertheless, they must fix some aspects of the defense before it is too late. If you can’t defend the run, you must have a lockdown pass defense. At the moment, the Carolina Panthers do not have that either.
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The Green Bay Packers were able to show that run defense has not been a source of strength for the Carolina Panthers. Especially with the schedule coming up, and the amount of talented running backs in the NFC South, that needs to be fixed right away. If it is not, it could make for a long rest of the season. I don’t want to say this season is turning out like the end of last year, but that is certainly starting to be the case.