The Panthers walked out of the bye week with more breathing room on the roster sheet, not less. Cam Jackson’s move to injured reserve on Tuesday with a shoulder injury dropped Carolina to 50 players on the active roster and opened up three spots Dan Morgan now has to sort through.
On paper, the cleanest answer is sitting right in front of him. Trevor Etienne, Taylor Moton and Tershawn Wharton were all designated to return to practice Tuesday, which makes it easy to picture those three reclaiming the openings. But Morgan doesn’t have to rush into that setup, and the different timelines for those players matter.
Etienne appears to be the closest to getting back in the fold. Dave Canales said Monday that the rookie running back was ready to be activated, so it would hardly be a surprise if one of those spots goes to him.
Moton and Wharton are a different deal. Neither one took part in training camp, with Moton dealing with blood clots discovered during the offseason and Wharton recovering from neck surgery.
Getting onto the practice field is one thing. Being ready to actually suit up in an NFL game is another.
That’s where Carolina has some flexibility. Once players have their practice windows opened, the team gets three weeks to decide whether to activate them. That gives the Panthers time to evaluate Moton and Wharton without having to plug every opening immediately.
And while three open spots do not automatically point to a trade, Morgan has shown enough to suggest he’ll keep churning the roster if he thinks there’s a better way to set it up. The Panthers made multiple moves during the bye week, and with injuries continuing to stack up, there are still places where extra depth would help.
Xavier Legette, Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson have all been dealing with injuries, and now Cam Jackson is on IR. Depending on how those situations develop, Morgan could decide one of those roster spots is better used somewhere else for the time being.
Maybe it really is as straightforward as it looks: Etienne, Moton and Wharton return, and the three vacancies disappear. But given how Morgan has handled this roster, it feels wise not to lock that in just yet.
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Taylor Moton Returns After Frightening Scare In Huge Panthers Boost
Taylor Moton was back on the practice field for Carolina this week after a frightening health scare that briefly pulled the veteran right tackle away from football altogether. He had been diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism, a diagnosis serious enough to bring coughing up blood and a three-month stretch on blood thinners, but even while he was sidelined from playing, Moton stayed around the team and helped coach the offensive line.
For the Panthers, his return is about more than just getting a starting tackle back in the mix. Motons presence steadies a unit that leaned on his experience even when he could not suit up, and coach Dave Canales has made clear he expects that influence to continue. The next question is how quickly Moton can ramp back up after missing game action, but simply getting him back on the field is a major step for a team that has already had to adjust without him. [Read more 🡒]
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Panthers Passing Game Awaits One Key Answer Before Eagles Matchup
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Dave Canales has already hinted that Coker is trending toward a return, but the final word still has to come from the teams official injury report. For a Panthers offense trying to settle in, his status is one of the more relevant questions hanging over the buildup to Sunday, because it could shape how Carolina approaches a Philadelphia defense that tends to demand every available weapon. [Read more 🡒]