No surprises on the list this week, with all of the Panthers that missed practice this week ruled out for the game – while there is no timetable for Greg Olsen or Curtis Samuel to return, there are clear roles that will need to be filled in the absence of starting right guard Trai Turner and special teams returner Damiere Byrd. How they’ll be filled is a different story – Rivera was more than happy to tell us on Friday that DJ Moore would get the first shot to return punts with Christian McCaffrey and Donte Jackson in the mix as well; he also grinned and said that if they get really desperate, they’ll send Captain Munnerlyn back there.
The 30-year old Munnerlyn hasn’t returned a punt since 2012.
As far as the solutions at offensive line, Rivera was a little bit cagier:
“We’ve been going through a lot of things and going through different combinations,” said Rivera today on Friday. “We’re continuing to work that – we had a walkthrough this morning and we had a chance to see a different combination of guys; we’ve got a number of guys that we like and we’ll see how we feel when I get a chance to talk to the coaches.”
Rivera didn’t rule out the chance of Chris Clark, who the team signed on Wednesday, starting on the left side – he said that although Clark has played in similar schemes, it’s extremely helpful for a new tackle to be able to play next to a guard that has been in the system; but the experience of both Clark and Corey Robinson was one of the key reasons they signed players that have started 53 and 23 games during their respective careers.
“That’s why you want to have guys who have experience in this league,” said Rivera on Friday. “Because they adapt very quickly. Guys that have four, five, six, seven years will adapt a lot quicker than a guy that’s a first or second year player. That’s the beauty of the guys we brought in – both those guys have been in systems [and] both those guys know what it takes. You feel good about guys like that – you don’t expect them to make as many mistakes.”
Check out the full injury report below:
| Player | Injury | Game Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greg Olsen | Foot | Out | |
| Donte Jackson | Groin | Questionable | Practiced Friday |
| Curtis Samuel | Medical Illness | Out | |
| Trai Turner | Concussion | Out | |
| Da'Norris Searcy | Concussion | Out |
