Clay Johnston – Carolina Panthers LB
With Shaq Thompson still out with an injury, Frankie Luvu has been starting in place of the Carolina Panthers veteran.
But with Luvu limited by a biceps injury this week, second-year linebacker Clay Johnston received a lot of his snaps against the New York Giants and didn’t do much impressing.
The Baylor product and star of last year’s Hard Knocks with the Los Angeles Rams struggled while spelling Luvu. While the rest of the defense had a solid first half, he had a costly 15-yard penalty in the first quarter due to unnecessary roughness on Giants tight end Kyle Rudolph.
The penalty put New York at first-and-goal and would lead to the Giants first points of the day with a Graham Gano field goal.
Johnston finished the day with five tackles and if he keeps playing like this, his tenure in the NFL might not last much longer.
There’s a lot to like about Johnston’s enthusiasm and his love for the game. But that will only get you so far and the NFL will find players like this out extremely quickly when push comes to shove.