Carolina Panthers: Ross Cockrell suffers broken leg during practice
The Carolina Panthers once again saw a player expected to play a major role on this suffered a significant injury in practice, the second such injury in three days.
Entering this training camp, cornerback Ross Cockrell was expected to compete for the starting cornerback job opposite James Bradberry for this Carolina Panthers’ defense. Those plans have been put on hold with him suffering a broken leg in practice on Monday and is expected to miss the season, according to the team’s site.
The Panthers signed Cockrell this offseason to a two-year, $6.6 million contract per Spotrac. As Bill Voth notes in his article, the Panthers signed Cockrell after their deal with Bashaud Breeland was voided due to a failed physical.
The veteran cornerback entered training camp expecting to compete with Kevon Seymour and rookie Donte Jackson. The three cornerbacks were competing for the starting cornerback job opposite James Bradberry.
This job was available with the Panthers trading Daryl Worley earlier this offseason to the Philadelphia Eagles for Torrey Smith.
Cockrell was a fourth round draft pick by the Buffalo Bills in 2014. However, he only played one season with them before being released during next year’s training camp. He had stops with the Pittsburgh Steelers and last year with the New York Giants.
The Panthers signing of Cockrell was a homecoming of sorts for the veteran cornerback as he grew up in Charlotte and played his college football with the Duke Blue Devils.
Cockrell started 32 games over the past three seasons and over that span had 156 total tackles, 36 passes defended and five interceptions.
The injury to Cockrell means the starting job is likely a two man race between the aforementioned Seymour and Jackson. Right now, it would seem Seymour would have the inside track for the starting job due to his experience however that could quickly change depending on Jackson’s play over the next few weeks.
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The Panthers will have their first off day of training camp tomorrow before returning to the field on Wednesday.