Well, it looks like Justin Layne won’t be joining the Carolina Panthers for Christmas.
As announced by the organization on Friday morning, the 24-year-old cornerback has not reported to the team ahead of their Week 16 matchup against the Detroit Lions. Layne was claimed off waivers from the Chicago Bears on Wednesday.
The 6-foot-2, 192-pounder was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 2019 draft. He served mostly as a special teams piece, totaling 41 combined tackles and a fumble recovery over 43 games between 2019 and 2021.
Layne would be waived by the Steelers prior to the 2022 regular season on Aug. 30. He was then claimed a day later by the New York Giants, whom he played five games for, and was waived again on Nov. 14 before finding his way to Chicago.
As a result of his no-show, Layne has now been placed on the reserve/did not report list and will not be available for tomorrow’s game. Luckily for the Panthers, however, they should be at full strength after returning a clean injury report yesterday.
