Bad outing vs. Falcons leads to Panthers cutting CB Bene Benwikere
That’s gotta hurt.
Days after his poor outing against Atlanta Falcons’ receiver Julio Jones, the Carolina Panthers released cornerback Bene’ Benwikere on Friday, promoting rookie Zack Sanchez off the practice squad to fill the spot.
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Benwikere was one of the players charged with shadowing Jones last Sunday, and Jones had an incredible day, becoming just the sixth NFL player in history to record a 300-yard receiving day. The All-Pro had 12 catches for 300 yards and a touchdown as the Falcons beat the Panthers 49-33 to drop the defending NFC champions to 1-3.
Daryl Worley also covered Jones for Carolina, and didn’t fare much better.
Joe Person, the Panthers beat writer for the Charlotte Observer, tweeted that Benwikere told him Thursday that he wasn’t working with the first team in practice, and suspected he was being phased out. Clearly, he wasn’t wrong.
Matt Ryan’s first three pass attempts of the game went to Jones – for 22, 14 and 15 yards – and things didn’t get any better from there. Jones also had catches of 43, 53, 32 and 75 yards (his touchdown) on the afternoon.
Greg Cosell detailed the bad defensive day for Benwikere and the Panthers, but the timing of Benwikere’s release is a little odd. Typically we’d see a move like this made on Monday or Tuesday, not Friday, particularly with the Panthers playing this week. They host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
A fifth-round pick in 2014, Benwikere became a full-time starter this season after Carolina parted ways with Josh Norman. The 25-year old broke a bone in his leg last December, and wasn’t immediately ready for training camp; he said conditioning played a role in his performance against Jones.
