Cole Luke

It’s easy to forget that the 5-11 undrafted free agent cornerback from Notre Dame actually made the roster in 2017 before being placed on injured reserve after the season opener; Luke then spent the season on the practice squad last season while the Panthers morphed his position designation from cornerback to safety – Rivera has mentioned his name multiple times throughout the offseason as someone that might be a factor in the competition in the secondary.  There is a clear opening at both nickel cornerback and free safety – Rashaan Gaulden will likely fill one of those openings, but he won’t fill both; Luke has the versatility to play multiple positions, and if there’s one thing we know Ron Rivera values, it’s position flexibility in a player that’s spent multiple seasons in his system.

“I think he’s a guy that has a great opportunity – we’ll see,” said Rivera about Luke. “There’s going to be some real interesting battles [in training camp]. You get an opportunity to practice everyday and work your skillset as a practice squad player – you end up doing a lot more than lining up at corner. He’s lining up everywhere from corner, nickel [to] safety and did some wide receiver stuff when he had to.”

“That’s one of the benefits of being on the practice squad.”

Luke has seen reps at nickel – it will be interesting to see if he gets those reps during training camp.

Marquis Haynes

There are a couple of telltale signs that a player’s role is increasing: more reps during practice, specific mentions by the coaching staff and references by players to their performance – one player whose name has been on players’ lips this spring has been the 2018 fourth-round pick who set the Ole Miss sack record during his time there. Greg Olsen namechecked Haynes after minicamp and Mario Addison said that the move to three-man fronts on the defensive side will help smaller players like Haynes exponentially – there’s a reason why the Panthers invested two different picks and a free agent signing this spring in players with body types similar to Haynes – Bruce Irvin, Christian Miller and Brian Burns are all between 6-3 and 6-5 and weigh around 250 pounds.

Haynes is 6-2 and has put on weight since entering the league at 235.

“We kind of felt making the move to a little bit of a 3-4 base was gonna benefit him – and we’ve seen it,” said Rivera of Haynes. “He’s very explosive off the ball. I think this suits him a lot better than having to put his hand in the ground all the time.”

“For guys like that, I think it’s a huge plus.”

Haynes will certainly be someone to keep an eye on once the pads go on in August.

Josh Klein on Twitter
Josh Klein
Editor-In-Chief at The Riot Report
Josh Klein is Editor-In-Chief of The Riot Report. His favorite Panther of all time is Chad Cota and he once AIM chatted with Kevin Greene. Follow Josh on Twitter @joshkleinrules.