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The Carolina Panthers traded for help on their defensive line Tuesday, acquiring tackle Louis Leonard from the Cleveland Browns for an undisclosed draft choice.
Leonard (6 feet 4 inches tall, 325 pounds) should immediately compete for the starting job vacated by Maake Kemoeatu, who tore his Achilles tendon on the first day of training camp and will miss the season.
The Panthers have used Nick Hayden and rookie Marlon Favorite in Kemoeatu's spot during the preseason and have struggled to contain the run.
The San Diego Chargers signed Leonard as an undrafted free agent out of Fresno State in 2006. Picked up by Cleveland in 2007, Leonard played 33 games for the Browns over the next two seasons, making 20 tackles.
Leonard had a recent disagreement with Browns defensive line coach Bryan Cox and had to run laps during a training-camp practice as punishment.
Leonard is more comfortable in the 4-3 defense the Panthers play. He probably was miscast as a tackle in the Browns' 3-4 defense and had been playing defense end.
Notes
Safety Charles Godfrey was back at practice wearing a protective cast on his broken left hand. Running back Jonathan Stewart (Achilles) missed another practice, and linebacker Jon Beason is still out with a sprained knee.
With the addition of Leonard, the Panthers cut their roster to the required 75 players by releasing rookie defensive tackle Lonnie Harvey and placing safety Nate Salley on injured reserve. They will cut 22 more Saturday to get to the required roster limit of 53 for the start of the regular season.
The Panthers, who will finish their exhibition schedule Thursday against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Bank of America Stadium, had a compressed preseason. They played their first two games – Aug.17 at the New York Giants and Aug.22 at Miami – within five days of each other. Then, after a week off, they're playing their final two – last Saturday against Baltimore and Thursday against the Steelers – also within five days of each other.
“That's your schedule,” said Panthers coach John Fox. “We do that in the regular season. We do that in the preseason. You've got to play to the schedule. It wasn't a mystery. We knew the schedule a while back, so we planned accordingly.”
