Rashaan Gaulden’s poor special teams play cost him his job, but Joey Slye is still kicking
A day following the Panthers’ 34-31 loss to the Saints, the team cut loose a special teams player whose poor performance directly influenced the result.
But it wasn’t the more obvious choice.
Monday, the Panthers released Rashaan Gaulden, their 2018 third-round pick. He had played almost exclusively on special teams this year after playing 22 percent of the team’s defensive snaps in the season opener.
“It’s just a football decision,” coach Ron River said. “(We’re) making what we thought was a good decision for the football team and for the young man. … The decision we made is for the betterment, so we’re going to move from there.”
Gaulden had two big mishaps in the loss to the Saints. The first came in the opening quarter when he was blocking on a punt return and ended up bumping into teammate DJ Moore as he attempted to catch the punt. The ball bounced off the back of Gaulden’s leg and the Saints recovered. New Orleans scored four plays later to go up 14-0.
The 24-year-old also started started a small shoving scuffle following a kickoff in the third quarter and even made contact with an official. Offsetting penalties called on the play against Gaulden and Saints cornerback Eli Apple, both for unnecessary roughness.
Gaulden has recorded three tackles this season and 20 in his Panthers career. He was selected 85th overall out of Tennessee and had been up for the starting free safety job this offseason until the team elected to bring back Tre Boston for the role.
The other special teams player whose spot on the roster seems uncertain is kicker Joey Slye. The Panthers have added some competition for Slye by signing kicker Greg Joseph to the practice squad. Joseph spent part of last season with the Browns, converting 17-of-20 field goals and 25-of-29 PATs. They also promoted Garrett McGhin to the active roster from the practice squad to fill Gaulden’s roster spot.
Slye missed two extra-point attempts in the loss to New Orleans, in addition to a 28-yard field goal that would have put the Panthers up with two minutes left in the game.
“Those are things we are going to most certainly discuss,” Rivera said. “It is about going out and doing your job, and Joey is well aware of that. It’s something that we’re going to talk about.”
The promotion of McGhin to the roster is likely not a good sign for guard Greg Van Roten, who left the game vs. the Saints with a toe injury. Rivera had shared that both Van Roten and nose tackle Dontari Poe were getting MRIs on Monday and that there should be concern for both.
Injury note:
- Brian Burns shared that he had a minor procedure Monday that removed the remaining pins from his wrist. Rivera said that it was good to see him play vs. the Saints without focusing on his hand calling him “productive, active,” despite making a couple of mistakes, but “that he did the things we know he’s capable of and he’s past the hand.”
This story was originally published November 25, 2019 at 3:26 PM.
