Charles Godfrey tore his Achilles last year, and the Panthers responded by giving him a big pay cut and moving him to a new position this offseason.
They’re not going to give him any of the money back, but they are going to give him a chance to win his old job.
According to Bill Voth of Black and Blue Review, the Panthers are working Godfrey at safety again, after trying to turn him into a nickel corner this offseason.
“I was asked if I could move to safety a little bit. We’re kind of down on numbers now,” Godfrey said. “I’ve been doing that since I’ve got here, so that’s easy for me. Not a lot of thinking, it’s fun.”
The move comes as a result of several factors, not the least of which is Godfrey wasn’t knocking it out of the park as a corner. He’ll still get some work there, but with some injuries at safety and the need to carry a third quarterback because of Cam Newton’s sore ankle//sore ribs, they need as many multi-taskers as possible.
“That’s out of necessity,” head coach Ron Rivera said. “If we were to keep five safeties and those guys aren’t up, that only gives us three. Knowing that Charles has that ability, we wanted to get a couple reps with him this week just to make sure on that.”
The former third-round pick is among the players who got post-lockout contract extensions, only to get big paycuts from General Manager Dave Gettleman.
And moving him back and forth isn’t necessarily a sign his job is secure at a reduced rate.