Carolina Panthers trade rookie to Seattle Seahawks for veteran cornerback before cuts

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The Carolina Panthers swung a trade Thursday to improve their secondary depth ahead of Saturday’s preseason finale against the Buffalo Bills.

Following practice, the team announced it traded rookie linebacker Michael Barrett to the Seattle Seahawks for veteran cornerback Mike Jackson. Barrett, the team’s seventh-round pick in April, was seen on the practice field prior to the swap.

Mike Jackson, 27, will be used to mitigate the depth concerns presented by another veteran cornerback named Jackson — projected starter Dane Jackson, who is expected to be sidelined for at least a month with a hamstring injury. Head coach Dave Canales worked on the Seahawks’ staff during the first two of Mike Jackson’s three years in Seattle.

Panthers trade drafted rookie for veteran cornerback

Mike Jackson, a 2019 fifth-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys, has played in 38 career games (21 starts) for the Seahawks, Detroit Lions and New England Patriots during his career. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound cornerback has good length and speed at the position, and his starting experience should be valuable as the Panthers look for someone to start opposite Jaycee Horn and nickel corner Troy Hill.

Newest arrival joins Horn, Hill, Dane Jackson, fifth-round pick Chau Smith-Wade, Dicaprio Bootle, D’Shawn Jamison, Chris Wilcox, Quandre Mosely and Willie Drew at the position. The University of Miami grad could make his Panthers debut as early as Saturday’s preseason matchup against the Bills.

Barrett, who will now head to Seattle, didn’t appear to be in line to make the 53-man roster coming out of training camp. Despite earning rave reviews from Pro Football Focus during the first two preseason games, Barrett was buried on the depth inside linebacker depth chart behind starters, Shaq Thompson and Josey Jewell, as well as third-round pick Trevin Wallace and special teams aces, Claudin Cherelus, Tae Davis, and Chandler Wooten.

The Michigan alum will now reunite with former Wolverines defensive coordinator Mike MacDonald, who is now the head coach in Seattle.

The Panthers’ roster is currently at the 90-man limit. The team will need to cut the roster down to 53 players by Tuesday, Aug. 27 at 4 p.m. ET.

Dave Canales hopes to play Panthers starters vs. Bills

After resting his starters in each of the first two preseason games, Canales said Thursday that his “hope” is to play quarterback Bryce Young and the rest of the top group against the Bills on Saturday.

“The importance of it to me is how valuable is the night-before prep is,” Canales said. “Waking up in the morning, you got a 1 o’clock kick, we got a lot of those this year. So just the body-readiness. The plan behind this camp was to practice early so that we can have that readiness going into a season where most of our kicks are 1 o’clock, except for a couple out of time-zone things. And of course we go to Germany.”

Young has been stacking strong practice performances for the past two weeks ahead of the preseason finale. The first-team offensive line has also mostly been intact over the past week. With that momentum, Canales is hoping to get a fresh look at his offense against another defense in live action.

“This is a great opportunity to go through their pregame routines with each other, to have the communications on the sidelines as we go into the first drive there,” Canales said. “And just gather information. Talk. This is how it’ll feel like. So I love this opportunity for the guys, and they’re excited about it.”

The Panthers are still figuring out if backup QB Andy Dalton will step on the field for the preseason finale. Dalton has been dealing with a quad injury that caused him to miss a large chunk of training camp. However, he has participated in team drills throughout the week.

Tight end Tommy Tremble was involved in team drills on Thursday, but he went back to the sideline after a catch and was holding his right hamstring. Following practice, Canales said Tremble’s soreness is part of his rehab on-boarding routine. Tremble was sidelined for most of camp with a hamstring injury that lingered.

“Tommy, we have him on a pitch-count for these practices, and we’re ramping him back up, so this is just kind of normal soreness,” Canales said. “This is his third day in a row. And for Tommy, with an injury, when anything starts to feel a little bit different, it’s concerning. And I can feel that about him there in practice. But we’re like, this is good, we’ve gotten great work with him for three days. We’ve felt good about it. We didn’t need for him to finish the rest of practice.”

Quick hits

▪ Wide receiver Diontae Johnson (illness) didn’t participate in practice Thursday. Wide receiver Adam Thielen (veteran day/calf), safety Xavier Woods (groin) and pass rusher Luiji Vilain (undisclosed) returned to work in various drills. Thielen and Vilain missed Wednesday’s practice, while Woods had been sidelined since last week.

▪ Cornerback Dane Jackson (hamstring), safety Sam Franklin (foot), offensive tackle Badara Traore (knee), center Cade Mays (shoulder), tight end Ian Thomas (calf) and defensive end Jaden Crumedy (ankle) continued to sit out of practice with injuries. Running back Jonathon Brooks (knee) remains on the active/non-football injury (NFI) list, while offensive tackle Yosh Nijman (leg) and outside linebackers Amare Barno (knee) and D.J. Wonnum (quad) are still on the active/physically unable to perform (PUP) list. However, Nijman was seen doing a bit more work on the side than usual on Thursday.

▪ Fun fact: Rookie safety Demani Richardson sang “Candy Rain” by Soul for Real for his rookie song. Defensive pass game coordinator Jonathan Cooley said Richardson doesn’t have a very good voice, but the song stuck. Richardson has now performance it multiple times behind the scenes and every time the rookie intercepts a pass, the secondary plays or sings the song. Safety Jordan Fuller said Richardson’s nickname is “My Love” because of the way he sang that opening lyric “monotone.” Fuller says Richardson originally got jeered for the song, but he has improved his performance in follow-up renditions.

▪ Follow Observer reporters Mike Kaye (@mike_e_kaye) and Alex Zietlow (@alexzietlow05), and columnist Scott Fowler (@scott_fowler), on X, formerly known as Twitter, for the Panthers’ latest news and highlights.

The Observer’s Alex Zietlow contributed to his report.