Carolina Panthers Stood Up By Player Claimed Off Waivers Who Simply Never Arrived For Unknown Reason

It has been a rough year for the Panthers and the hits just keep on coming. Though all of the details are unclear, it seems like at least one player would rather not play football at all than play for Carolina.

The Panthers, which sit at 5-9 through 14 games, have not been above the .500 mark at any point during the 2022 season. They fired Matt Rhule as head coach in October, traded Christian McCaffrey not long thereafter, and cut Baker Mayfield ahead of Week 14 after specifically seeking him out and trading for him during the offseason.

If that isn't bad enough, one of their players chose not to show up at all.

24-year-old cornerback Justin Layne was a third-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft out of Michigan State. He spent his first three years with the Steelers before bouncing around the league in his fourth.

Layne began 2022 in New York with the Giants and played mostly on special teams, but was waived in November. One day later, he was claimed off of waivers by the Bears.

Chicago chose to waive him on Dec. 20, but Carolina was there to scoop him up on Wednesday. As the Panthers deal with injuries in the secondary, Layne was expected to add some depth to the position group.

However, he just never showed up. No, seriously.

Carolina announced on Friday that they have placed Layne on the reserve/did not report list.

Because Layne just never arrived, the team currently has just 51 players on its roster for its game against the Lions this weekend. That is two players less than the normal 53-man roster.

The reason for Layne's no-show is unknown. Neither he nor the team have said what happened.

Did his agent forget to tell him? That would be hilarious.

Perhaps it was the unprecedented winter storm? Though the weather arrived to Charlotte on late Thursday night.

Maybe it's a family thing? It seems like that would be made public.

Assuming that Layne is okay, and hopefully he is, there doesn't seem to be much of an answer for his nonexistent arrival. The Panthers got stood up. Tough.