Former Football: Ex-Cajun White signs NFL reserve/future contract

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, January 15, 2016

 

Ex-Cajun Melvin White (23, right) drives for the New Orleans Saints’ Travaris Cadet (39) while playing for Carolina in a 2014 NFL game in Charlotte, N.C.(Photo: Mike McCarn, AP)

 

Former UL and Carolina Panthers cornerback Melvin White signed a reserve/future contract Friday with the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings.

Tweeted White on Friday: “Excited and thankful to have another opportunity!!!”

A reserve/future contract is virtually the same as a regular-season active roster contract, but it doesn’t take effect until March 11 and counts against a team’s 90-man camp roster (and next season’s salary cap) as opposed to its 53-man active roster (and this season’s cap).

White was released by Carolina Panthers with an injury settlement early last September, then spent the 2015 NFL season on the St. Louis Rams’ practice squad.

White – from Freeport, Texas – was undrafted coming out of UL following the 2012 season.

He played in 30 games over two years for Carolina, making 17 starts and 80 tackles (66 of them solo stops) with three interceptions including a pick-six against Atlanta in 2013.

White appeared in three playoff games and started one for the Panthers.