A Couple of Big Days Are in Store for Bradley Bozeman On and Off the Field
Whether it's on the football field or in the community, Bradley Bozeman knows how to make an impact and have his presence felt. Over the course of the next 48 hours, the Panthers center will have the opportunity to do both.
For the first time this season, Bozeman is expected to run onto the field as a member of the starting offensive line in place of the injured Pat Elflein (hip) who has started all six games at center.
When the Panthers signed Bozeman back on March 18th, the overall feeling was that he would be coming in to start. Instead, he found himself in the midst of a heated battle with Pat Elflein and an ankle injury that he suffered in a joint practice with New England essentially ended that competition.
Losing out on a starting job is not easy, especially for a guy that made 48 consecutive starts in Baltimore. But he's handled the entire situation like a true professional and has waited patiently for his chance.
"It's part of the business, you know what I mean? Like, you've got to take the chances you get. It's all about the opportunity in this league and that [injury] kind of hindered my opportunity," Bozeman said. "But I think Pat is a great player. I have nothing but respect for him. I understood the decision. I understood why it happened. It's a business. At the end of the day, just stay the course, do everything the right way, do things how I do them, and then I'll eventually get opportunities."
Bozeman admitted that sitting on the sideline and not being able to contribute is a bit frustrating but he's made the most of it by really observing the offense.
"I love the hands on experience better than the sit back and watch but there's definitely some diamonds in the rough there of sitting back and watching. Being able to really grasp all the concepts and I have the playbook down since OTAs. But to see it executed and see where we're going with things it gives a little bit of an advantage, but like I said I'd much rather have the hands on experience."
This Sunday, he'll get that experience but he'll have his hands full with arguably one of the best nose tackles in the NFL - Vita Vea. For a lot of teams, this would be a concerning matchup having your backup make his first start of the season against Vea and the rest of Tampa Bay's vaunted front. Not for Carolina.
"[I] have a lot of confidence in Bozeman," said Panthers interim head coach Steve Wilks. "Campy and I talked about this yesterday, so I have no reservations whatsoever. When you go back to training camp, those two guys were neck and neck in the battle at that position. So with Bozeman stepping in, I don't feel like we're going to miss a beat."
After Bozeman takes care of business on Sunday afternoon, he'll rest up for what will be a big Monday night for he and his wife, Nikki, as they host a Halloween party at Fahrenheit in Uptown Charlotte from 7-10 p.m. to help raise money for their foundation.
"We started our SYNC Snacks program - SYNC stands for Supporting Your Neighbors in Communities. The boxes that have QR codes on them for resources for kids in these communities. They have things like ravioli, Oreos, Pop Tarts, all kinds of snacks for these kids. These [inaudible] food boxes go in the back of a police car and CMPD actually goes around to these communities and passes them out to the kids. We started this in Baltimore and we've been able to bring it here. I want to say we've done 3,500 boxes we've packed so far. CMPD has already started delivering them, they've been a great resource. On Monday we have a Halloween event, a Halloween costume party. It'll be from 7-10. It's a fundraiser for our foundation and all that money goes back to the SYNC Snack program. So we've been able to do some really good things and that's just a testament to the people in this city. How willing and how open they've been to us and helping us along the way. It took us I want to say a year and a half, two years to get this program off the ground in Baltimore. And here, it's taken us two, three months."
Individual tickets for the Halloween party are still available for purchase for $150. Admission includes beer, wine, signature cocktails, and dinner. 100% of the proceeds will go to benefit The Bradley and Nikki Bozeman Foundation's SYNC Snack program in Charlotte. A few of Bozeman's teammates will be attending the event including QB Baker Mayfield, WR DJ Moore, among several others.
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