CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With less than three weeks until their regular season debut against the New Orleans Saints on Sep. 9, the Carolina Panthers have made a move to shore up their secondary.
On Thursday, the team announced that it traded rookie linebacker Michael Barrett to the Seattle Seahawks for cornerback Michael Jackson. Jackson, 27, was a fifth-round pick in 2019 and has played for the Seahawks, Lions and Patriots across his five NFL seasons.
Carolina was pretty set at corner coming into training camp, but injuries to starter Dane Jackson and backup Lamar Jackson opened a hole in the secondary that the team needed to address. At 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, Michael Jackson has the ideal size to suit up across from Jaycee Horn as the Panthers' other outside corner.
Barrett was a seventh-round pick out of Michigan, where he was a team captain and a two-time All-Big Ten selection. He will have at least one familiar face in Seattle, as the Seahawks special teams coordinator, Jay Harbaugh, was on Michigan's staff last year.
The Panthers hope the 2024 season will bring more joy than its previous campaign, when the team went 2-15. Carolina was in line for the No. 1 draft pick, but that selection wound up with Chicago thanks to the trade that landed the team Bryce Young in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Carolina ranked third in the league in passing defense in 2023 (171.5 yards per game) and fourth in total defense (293.9 yards per game). The Panthers' defense is led by coordinator Ejiro Evero, who is in his second season with the team.
The Panthers wrap up the preseason this Saturday at 1 p.m. against the Bills. The game will be broadcast locally on CBS.
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