Dave Canales offers updates on 6 injured Carolina Panthers as team heads into bye
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
The Carolina Panthers enter their bye week with a lot of confidence after defeating the Detroit Lions at home on the Sunday Night Football stage.
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Now, the next question:
Can they emerge from the bye week healthy?
On Monday, head coach Dave Canales offered injury status updates on nine players who the Panthers will be relying on in two weeks from now — when the Panthers face the Philadelphia Eagles on the road in Week 6 — and beyond.
Here’s a quick look at those nine, with commentary from Canales.
The Panthers need “medical clearance” to ensure that Moton — the team’s veteran starting right tackle — is good to return to the field, Canales said. The former 2017 draft pick had a blood clot in his lung this summer and missed all of training camp and the preseason due to the ailment. He is officially eligible to return to the field Week 6.
As Canales said of Moton and defensive lineman Turk Wharton, who appear to be on the same return-to-play timeline: “We’ve pushed them as hard as we can within the confines of their mode to know that they’re physically ready to do it. But then there’s structural stuff, medical stuff with T-Mo that we’re at the mercy of.”
Wharton, like Moton, is eligible to return to the field Week 6 in Philadelphia. His neck injury has sidelined him up until this point, but he is regularly at practice, putting in work on the sideline while the rest of the team goes through team drills.
The Panthers’ starting left tackle suffered a ruptured patellar tendon in the team’s playoff game last year. Such kickstarted a months-long recovery process. The 2022 first-round draft pick still has “a ways” to go to return to the field.
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The coach added: “Ickey is progressing well. They’re pushing him. He’s moving, he’s jumping, he’s doing some different things. But we have to be able to get it to a point where he’s getting pushed on and all those things. And that’s still in front of us. But he’s in great spirits. He’s attacking it. They’re doing a great job in RTP (return-to-play).”
Canales was most optimistic about the return of the Panthers’ draft pick running back. Etienne started the season on the injured reserve after rolling his ankle pretty violently in the final preseason game against the Texans. Week 6, in fact, is the first week he’s eligible to be back — and Canales said that Etienne will “for sure” be up for the Eagles game.
In addition to furnishing some running back depth behind Chuba Hubbard, he’s also the team’s starting punt returner and kick returner.
The team’s rookie starting right tackle, who was on the injury report last week under concussion protocol, suffered another injury Sunday. It was specifically a knee injury. Canales didn’t get into many specifics beyond the fact that he got “rolled up on.” He said that Freeling is “well within the window that we think they could make it back” for the Eagles game.
The Panthers’ premier outside linebacker suffered an injury late on Sunday evening against the Lions on a pass rush. He exited the game with a hamstring injury and didn’t return. Canales told reporters Monday that he’ll be in “return to play” processing, adding: “We’re hopeful for Philly. We’ll see.”
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