When Captain Munnerlyn hit free agency after his first stint with the Carolina Panthers in 2014, he decided to sign a three-year, $11.25 million contract with the Minnesota Vikings to help shore up their cornerback position. The Panthers former seventh-round pick said the decision was easy in 2014.
“That was my first time really getting paid, so to be honest with you, it was like, ‘No, I was going for it!'” Munnerlyn said about his decision to leave Carolina the first time. “I was like, ‘Man, they offered me this?’ I’m going to get paid.”
Munnerlyn, one of the most outspoken players in the Panthers locker room, entered the league as the 216th pick in the 2009 NFL draft and won the punt returner and primary nickel cornerback role during training camp and the preseason; Munnerlyn would start five games and snag five interceptions in his second year, becoming the full-time starter by 2013, helping the Panthers win the NFC South that season with two interceptions returned for touchdowns.
Munnerlyn still holds the franchise record for defensive touchdowns, but his role is a little different now that he has returned to Carolina for a second stint.
After he only saw 11 snaps against the Saints in Week 3, the outspoken former Gamecock made his displeasure known, saying that he “didn’t come here for that.” While he has only played on 38.3% of the snaps and has 20 combined tackles in 11 games, that may be changing this Sunday against the Vikings.
“I know he frustrated with not getting as much snaps as he’d like,” Ron Rivera said Wednesday after practice. “Sometimes you say be careful what you ask for, because he’s about to get a whole bunch with Shaq’s situation.” Shaq Thompson, who plays the buffalo nickel and has been one of the main reasons Munnerlyn has seen limited playing time, did not practice after aggravating plantar fascitis on Sunday.
The diminutive cornerback says that he doesn’t regret his decision to return to Carolina even though it hasn’t been exactly what he wanted from a playtime perspective, but says he could have made a lot more money had he stayed in Minnesota instead of signing a four-year, $17.5 million deal with Carolina.
“When you leave millions of dollars on the table, it’s definitely a tough decision, but at the same time, Charlotte is my home,” Munnerlyn explained. “This is the place I wanted to be. You know agents, they want you to go for it. But at the same time, my agent said he’s down for whatever makes me happy; being in Carolina makes me happy.”
It’s not just Munnerlyn that’s happy he’s back in Charlotte, it’s the entire locker room. Munnerlyn’s locker sits squarely in the linebacker section of the locker room, right next to Thomas Davis; it’s rare to go into that corner without hearing laughter, energy and playful banter. It’s a regular sight to see two of the loudest guys in the locker room, quarterback Cam Newton and Munnerlyn, playfully jawing with each other during stretches before practices and games; the quarterback joked that he’s gotten some inside intel about Munnerlyn’s former team and the Panthers’ opponents on Sunday but wouldn’t go into details.
“We have our insight, strategies, and techniques that we want to pull from,” Newton grinned. “He may or may not be one of the sources.”
