The fifth round of the NFL draft is not where teams expect to find their next franchise player. Players like Richard Sherman, Josh Norman, and Herschel Walker, all drafted in the fifth round, were aberrations instead of examples. Exceptions that prove the rule. Teams are much more likely to get a solid contributor like a David Mayo or a Cameron Artis-Payne, both drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the fifth round of the 2015 draft. Every now and then you get a player like Josh Norman, whom the Panthers snagged in 2012 before losing him to free agency before last season; every now and then your fifth round pick is cut before the season and placed on the practice squad like the Panthers 2016 fifth rounder Zack Sanchez. Sometimes they have an injury that slows their development and keeps them from starting the season on the active roster, and that seems like it will be the case with 2017 fifth round pick, inside cornerback Corn Elder.
Corn Elder was expected to come in and compete for the fourth cornerback spot on the Carolina Panthers roster, called one of the “top steals” and “hard-hitting bargains” of the draft in April, but after the first practice of training camp last Wednesday, Elder complained of soreness in his right knee. An MRI revealed that the former Miami Hurricane has a patella stress fracture, and Panthers.com reporter Bill Voth called him week-to-week, following up that timeline with a tweet that indicates the timeline is actually “4-6 weeks, maybe longer.”
A patella stress fracture is a fracture of the kneecap caused by repetitive stress, as opposed to an acute fracture from a known trauma. A displacement (which means the fragments have separated) would lead to a longer recovery time, and while a stress fracture of the patella is an extremely rare injury, even in cases where surgery is not required, recovery may take longer than six weeks.
“I’d like to see Corn Elder out here, but unfortunately, with the knee situation, he’s going to miss some extended time.”
-Head Coach Ron Rivera
This is why Corn Elder should be placed on Injured Reserve/Designated to Return when the season begins. If Elder is placed on the list at the beginning of the season, he cannot practice or play until after Week 6, when he can be activated and put on the active roster whenever healthy. If he doesn’t fully recover the way the team wants, he can stay on IR for the entire season, thus allowing the team to activate another player from IR later in the season if necessary. The rub with placing Elder on IR is that only two players can be activated to return to the active roster per season, so if Elder is healthy enough to be active, then there would only be one more player available to return from the IR. I would argue that the roster spot is more important at the beginning of the season, when the back half of the roster is the most in flux.
Even with a complete recovery at the low end of the 4-6 week timeline, that would put Elder back on the practice field immediately before the third preseason game in Jacksonville. If he is out for the expected six weeks (or longer), he won’t see the practice field until the regular season has already begun. There is no reason to rush Elder along, with James Bradberry, Daryl Worley, and Captain Munnerlyn all expected to be ahead of him on the depth chart and undrafted free agent Cole Luke performing well the first week of training camp, not to mention former fifth round pick Zack Sanchez available to take snaps as well, it’s not worth risking a long-term injury for the rookie at this stage. Elder must be placed on IR/Designated To Return; if his injury lingers past the third preseason game, don’t expect to see him until at least Week 6.
