Bashaud Breeland makes sense for Carolina Panthers after Ross Cockrell injury
By Matt Conner
The Carolina Panthers were once interested in cornerback Bashaud Breeland enough to sign him to a three-year deal. He should be their guy again after Ross Cockrell’s injury.
As if there already were not enough parties interested in cornerback Bashaud Breeland, a very interesting team could suddenly make a lot of sense based on an unfortunate development out of Carolina on Monday.
Cornerback Ross Cockrell was carted off of the field today during training camp for the Carolina Panthers, and early word is that he could have potentially broken his leg.
No matter the severity at this point, it’s quite obvious that the Panthers could be without their cornerback for quite some time, which opens up a potential spot in the secondary.
When players approached Ross Cockrell they saw his leg and turned their heads away quickly and grimaced. Trainers were holding his leg on the way in. That’s never a good sign.
— Steve Reed (@SteveReedAP) July 30, 2018
Donte Jackson said the team said a prayer for Cockrell. “To hear a grown man scream, you know it’s not good.”
— Steve Reed (@SteveReedAP) July 30, 2018
Ron Rivera didn’t offer any update on Ross Cockrell instead injury deferring to trainers. But he was obviously dejected about the injury. We hope to know more later.
— Steve Reed (@SteveReedAP) July 30, 2018
The interesting thing about Cockrell was that he was Plan B for the Panthers. Plan A was Breeland, a free agent cornerback out of Washington who originally reached a three-year contract with the Panthers in free agency back in March. Breeland agreed to a $24 million deal only to have it nullified when he failed the physical shortly after signing it. The issue was an infected foot after suffering a cut while on vacation in the Dominican Republic. Instead of waiting for Breeland to heal, the Panthers decided to terminate their agreement and move on to Cockrell.
Breeland might have bad blood over the Panthers lack of patience with his own injury, but then again, he might be swayed by the fact that he was willing to sign there in the first place. Circumstances could bring the parties back together if Cockrell has to miss a significant amount of time. At the very least, it gives Breeland even more leverage as he decides his next team.
Breeland has been making the rounds as a free agent and spent much of last week with the Kansas City Chiefs among other teams. The Chiefs make a lot of sense for Breeland and vice versa, but the finances have to work and that’s the most important aspect of it all for a guy looking for his first big payday in free agency.
Next. Early impressions from each position at Chiefs camp. dark
Breeland has also visited or received overtures from the Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Oakland Raiders, Indianapolis Colts and Cleveland Browns.