5 Panthers players who quietly had great seasons in 2020
By Dean Jones
Corn Elder – Carolina Panthers CB
Corn Elder deserves an endless amount of credit this season. He worked his way up from deep on the cornerback depth chart at training camp and took advantage of some problems with other veteran players to carve out a substantial role for himself.
With Donte Jackson struggling with a toe problem for almost the entire campaign and the Eli Apple experiment failing miserably, there was plenty of pressure on Elder to produce the goods with relatively little in the way of experience in his brief career.
This is a responsibility he took seriously.
And it might end up with a longer-term commitment from the Carolina Panthers.
Elder has been tasked with covering primarily from the slot and done well all things considered. There have been some rough moments, which was expected considering he hasn’t filled such a big role in the NFL before. But the Panthers might just have a player on their hands if the former Miami Hurricane takes this positive momentum into next season.
Whether that is in Carolina or elsewhere is dependent on a new deal this offseason. But one thing is for sure, Elder couldn’t have done more to catch the coaching staff’s eye and he will have some nice film for teams to look at if the Panthers decide to part ways with the player during what is expected to be another eventful preparation period in 2021.