Myles Hartsfield Used Disney+ & Video Games to Ease Anxiety During Cut Day
Roster cuts is always an extremely tough day on a lot of folks. Players could see their dreams be crushed, coaches having to conduct tough conversations with players, and fans seeing some of their favorite players being left off the team, i.e. Efe Obada. The NFL, like any other professional sport is a tough business and tough decisions have to be made every August. It's unfortunate, but the roster has to be trimmed somehow.
One of the pleasant surprises during Panthers training camp was defensive back Myles Hartsfield who signed with the team as an undrafted free agent this offseason out of Ole Miss. Hartsfield was one of just three UDFA's to make the Panthers' initial 53-man roster. Even though he made the cut, this past weekend was not relaxing by any means.
"Saturday was a stressful day. Couldn't really sleep, woke up on an off day at like 7 o'clock in the morning. Just sat around next to my phone and every call my heart was jumping out of my chest. Really what I did was just watch a lot of Disney+ (Mulan, Hercules, & Aladdin). I went back to my childhood days to try to ease my anxiety and played video games all day."
What made Hartsfield become an instant standout was his ability to play both sides of the ball. Although it is extremely rare to see someone play both offense and defense in the NFL, Matt Rhule sees the potential for him at both defensive back and running back.
Monday afternoon, Hartsfield talked about how the thought of playing both sides of the ball was brought up.
"I got picked up as a DB, played DB in college, but in high school I was a running back and Coach Rhule, when he was at Temple actually recruited me at running back. One day at practice, you know with this whole COVID situation you never know what might come up during the season and he was like 'let's see if you can still do some drills.' I'm an athlete so getting use to it again was pretty simple. He gave me a few days at running back and I'm just here to do what I can to best suit the team and get us on the winning track."
Photo courtesy of Panthers.com
With the season just under a week away from getting kicked off, Hartsfield will continue to get looks at both defensive back and running back. Even he admitted that he doesn't know where he will be playing the majority of his snaps this season.
"I have no idea. I'm just going and taking it one day at a time. Wherever coach puts me at, I know he has my best interest and he's not going to put me in harms way or make me look crazy out there. I know wherever he puts me, I'll just do it to the best of my ability - I'm open to playing anything."
Carolina's decision to keep Hartsfield on the roster may have played a small role into the team carrying just three running backs - Christian McCaffrey, Mike Davis, and Trenton Cannon. Barring any injuries to the backfield, I would expect the Panthers to concentrate on using Hartsfield in the secondary and on special teams more than anything.
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