12:03pm: The Panthers have confirmed in a press release that they’ve cut Boykin and Lester, and that they’ve waived White with an injury designation. The club also announced the five other moves it has made to get its roster down to 75 players. Here are those transactions:
Placed on injured reserve:
- WR Kelvin Benjamin
Waived:
- DT Kenny Horsley
- WR De’Andre Presley
- DT Micanor Regis (waived with injury settlement)
- T Davonte Wallace (waived/injured)
9:58am: The Panthers have yet to announce their final set of roster moves that will get the team down to 75 players, but a pair of notable Tuesday cuts have already been reported. Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer passes along a tweet from Melvin White, indicating the cornerback has been waived, while Jonathan Jones of the Charlotte Observer reports (via Twitter) that wide receiver Jarrett Boykin has also been let go.
White, 25, has spent the last two years in Carolina after joining the team as an undrafted free agent out of Louisiana-Lafayette. He claimed a larger role than expected, starting 17 regular season games for the club and recording 89 tackles to go along with three interceptions over the past two seasons. With Charles Tillman penciled in as a starter this year, White had slipped down the depth chart at cornerback, and was the odd man out.
As for Boykin, his release is somewhat surprising, given the Panthers’ lack of wide receiving talent. Boykin, who totaled 49 of his 57 career receptions in 2013 with the Packers, may have become expendable when Carolina acquired wideout Kevin Norwood from the Seahawks in a trade on Monday. According to Jones, Boykin was cut early in the process to allow him to latch on with another team.
In addition to cutting White and Boykin, the Panthers also waived safety Robert Lester, tweets Person. Person’s role was reduced last season after he started four games for the club in his rookie campaign in 2013.
By my count, the Panthers’ latest moves leave them with 80 players on their roster, so the team will have to announce a few more transactions before 3:00pm central time today.
Steep fall for Boykin, two years removed from a 49-catch season in Green Bay and one year from entering the season as the Packers’ No. 3 receiver. Not making maybe the most receiver-needy team in the league is certainly surprising.