The Carolina Panthers are set to hit the football field for the second time this preseason as they head to Buffalo to face off against the Bills on Saturday. It's the second chance for Dave Canales and his staff to evaluate some players.
So far, one of the big stories in training camp has been injuries. The Panthers lost Chris Brazzell early in camp and then saw rookie Haynes King hurt himself on the final play of the Hall of Fame Game against Arizona.
But one unit on the offense has been hit hard.
The Panthers entered camp with starting offensive tackles Ikem Ekwonu, who is recovering from a torn patellar tendon, and Taylor Moton who has a blood clot in his lung. But they suffered another hit as starting left guard Damien Lewis is dealing with a calf injury.
Lewis has missed several practices, throwing a bit of a wrench into the offensive line plans for Canales team. On Wednesday, the Panthers got good news as Lewis was back out there and returned to practice.
It was the first time Lewis earned extended practice time since injuring his calf early in training camp. However, Lewis won't play in Saturday's preseason game against Buffalo as they want to ease him in.
"D-Lew looked great and was able to move around some," Canales said. "We kept him out of team, got him some extra work on the side, and then that'll be his next progression."
"I don't think he'll play, just right now because we haven't gotten him into the team setting. That level of conditioning, I'm not ready to put him out there right now."
Getting Lewis back now is great news as there is a month left until the Week 1 opener against the Chicago Bears. Ideally, they want to get him some live reps at some point before the opener.
Either way, the Panthers are hoping that he can be ready to go for Week 1 as he's going to be a key piece of Carolina's offensive line this season. As Carolina continues to figure things out on the line, this was certainly great news for them.
Leave a Comment