Doubt gives way to opportunity for Carolina Panthers CB Robert McClain

Carolina Panthers cornerback Robert McClain hoped he would get another shot at the NFL, but he had doubt creep into his mind as 2015 wore on.

McClain, a 2010 seventh-round selection, had been out of football since the Patriots released him before the season. He continued training in Atlanta, and says he worked out for about 10 teams since being released in September.

“There’s always a little doubt but I stayed positive and it was just continuing to work out, changing my different cardio workouts to make sure I was ready if anything happens or anybody calls,” McClain said Wednesday. “It was getting close to the end of the season and it was slim but it happened.”

With the Panthers needing reinforcements at outside corner, McClain was their first call this week. He had previously worked out for the team three weeks ago and drove up from his home in Atlanta this week to sign with Carolina, which drafted him in 2010 out of the University of Connecticut.

This team is far different from the 2010 Panthers, who went 2-14. The next year, Carolina released McClain on the final day of roster cuts in Ron Rivera’s first season as head coach.

After three seasons in Atlanta with three interceptions for the Falcons he became a free agent. McClain, 27, started a total of 15 games and had 20 pass breakups for the Falcons despite being a smaller corner at 5-foot-9.

Carolina worked him out in mid-November when it needed help at nickel corner. McClain is better suited outside, so the Panthers went with Cortland Finnegan.

Now with Charles Tillman’s sprained knee giving the team pause, they went back to McClain.

“Hopefully he’ll get a few snaps in the (Giants) game,” Rivera said. “We’re going to find an opportunity to work Robert in and get his feet wet.”

Finnegan played nearly half of his first game back, but Rivera said McClain won’t see nearly that much time on the field in his return to Carolina.

On Wednesday at practice, McClain leaned heavily on Tillman for advice.

“I was asking him a lot of questions today,” McClain said. “He’s a veteran guy. I was asking pretty much all the secondary questions on how they see things and how they prepare for different teams.”

This story was originally published December 16, 2015 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Doubt gives way to opportunity for Carolina Panthers CB Robert McClain."