If you were like me and thought the only reason CB Captain Munnerlyn was active for the Eagles game instead of CJ Wilson because of the injury to Chris Harris you might be wrong. It does help that Munnerlyn returns punts but the Panthers have other players than can do that work. My thinking was that since Harris was out they had to leave S Sherrod Martin active as the 3rd safety meaning a choice between Wilson and Munnerlyn and since Wilson was #3 CB you might think he would get the call. 

HC John Fox clears that up:

"He's a good, young player," coach John Fox said. "We saw him improve, and we thought he was our third-best guy going into that game. He earned it. We don't just make decisions; they actually make the decisions for us."

So Munnerlyn is now the #3 CB playing when the nickel package is needed. The result was significant playing time against the Eagles.

They had me prepared for it, and I was kind of settled down going in," Munnerlyn said. "I felt kind of comfortable, and I went out and played some football. My first game I felt like I played pretty good. I graded out pretty good.

"I couldn't sleep the night before. I was like ‘Man, first NFL game.' I ended up playing like 45 plays on defense. Being a rookie, I felt like that was great."

I thought he played well though he only registered a single tackle in the game book. Munnerlyn is a good tackler who is always quick to come up in run support. I think we have another 7th round gem Panther fans. What do you guys think?