Lions CB Emmanuel Moseley experiences painful case of déjà vu vs. Panthers
Cornerback Emmanuel Moseley's last two games on an NFL field have come against the Carolina Panthers. They've come as a member of the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions, respectively. In a cruel twist for Moseley, both contests have come in Week 5 and ended in torn ACLs.
The Lions sixth-year pro played just two snaps against the Panthers on Sunday before going down with what would presumably be another season-ending injury. Moseley finished his 2022 campaign with the Niners with five passes defended and one interception (which was returned 41 yards for a touchdown) across five contests.
The 27-year-old signed with San Francisco as an undrafted free agent in April 2018 and spent his first five seasons with the organization. After playing just three special teams snaps before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury as a rookie, Moseley had one of his best years in 2019, suiting up for all 16 games (making nine starts) and making a career high 50 combined tackles with eight passes defended and one interception as well.
He was limited to 12 contests in 2020 and 11 in 2021, before his 2022 campaign ended prematurely during the 49ers' 37-15 road victory over Carolina at Bank of America Stadium. Sunday's game happened at Ford Field in Detroit, which like Bank of America Stadium, uses artificial turf.
According to Jared Ramsey of the Detroit Free Press, Ford Field "made the switch from slit-film turf to monofilament field turf, the most grass-like field turf used in NFL stadiums" in January.
Following Moseley's torn ACL last year, star tight end George Kittle (then his teammate) vented about the league's "crappy turf" fields.
"NBA guys don't play on different wood, what are we doing?" Kittle said. "Hockey guys don't play on different ices all the time. It's ice. So I just wish we played on a surface that was similar every single week in, week out so your body won't be dealing with different, crappy turf."
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