Literally minutes after the Carolina Panthers announced that they had waived Marquan McCall on Monday, head coach Frank Reich told reporters he knew the big defensive lineman would be on a roster soon enough. Well, he was right.
McCall has been officially claimed off waivers by the New England Patriots this afternoon. Reich stated the following of Carolina’s decision to move on without the nose tackle:
“Honestly, we’re doin’ it now ’cause we think he’s gonna be on a roster somewhere,” he said yesterday. “Just comes down to two things. It comes down to a fit for us and what we’re tryin’ to do, and then we’ve had a couple guys at that position who have really looked good.”
An undrafted free-agent signee of the Panthers out of the University of Kentucky in 2022, McCall appeared in 16 games during his rookie campaign. He totaled 15 tackles and a quarterback hit.
The 6-foot-3, 345-pounder was listed as the team’s starting nose tackle in their initial depth chart for the 2023 season.
