The final weekend of training camp in Spartanburg began with a Friday afternoon practice that was moved to Gibbs Stadium due to soggy field conditions on the normal practice fields. The rainy forecast was proved incorrect as a muggy, hot practice took place in front of a sparse crowd, who were treated to the most throwing done by quarterback Cam Newton in almost two weeks. The franchise quarterback began the day with a handoff and the routine of light tossing with trainer Ryan Vermillion appeared to be the case again today, but Newton threw during individual QB footwork drills and receiver drills, the first time he’s thrown “live” since July 30. He appears to be on track for Week 1, which has been the trainers and head coach Ron Rivera’s plan all along. “As long as he continues to progress, we’ll keep doing what we’re doing,” Rivera said, adding that he would be OK with the veteran Newton not getting in at all in the preseason. But Newton seems to be progressing on the correct timeline barring any setbacks, with today being a promising step on that journey.
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— The Riot Report (@RRiotReport) August 11, 2017
On a day where Joe Webb and Garrett Gilbert took most of the snaps during team drills, there weren’t going to be many offensive highlights, which was illustrated immediately when safety Mike Adams intercepted Webb’s first throw of practice. Webb tried multiple times to go deep down the field for Kelvin Benjamin, but couldn’t hook up with him until a red zone drill where the multi-tool quarterback put the ball in Benjamin’s gut for a score. Wide receiver Mose Frazier had a spectacular touchdown grab as well, but for the most part, this practice session belonged to the defense. As always, here are the storylines we noticed:
Byrd Flies Again
Damiere Byrd continued his storybook week, following up his two touchdown performance on Wednesday night with another score today, this time making a sliding catch in the back of the endzone. Byrd received reps with not only the second string offense as he has been the past few weeks, but spent some time on the field next to Devin Funchess with the first string. Don’t read too much into that, as Joe Webb was throwing to pretty much everyone today, so the difference between the first, second, and third string was negligible. Ron Rivera had some extremely kind words, however, about the fleet-of-foot wideout.
“Working underneath with that quickness makes him valuable. That’s one of those things you learn from watching a guy like Steve Smith; Steve had the vertical threat and the explosion to go get the ball. Damiere’s got the vertical speed, but he didn’t necessarily have that explosion like Steve to go up and get it, but he does have quickness like Steve, so underneath he can be an asset for us as well.”
-Ron Rivera
Tough Outing For Manhertz
Tight end Chris Manhertz appears to have locked down the third tight end spot, especially with Scott Simonson reaggravating his hamstring on Wednesday night against the Texans. However, if the 6-6, 255 pound tight end has more days like he did today, that stranglehold may be loosening, as Manhertz had two drops, one of which bounced off his hands and into the hands of a waiting Jeremy Cash for an interception. If Manhertz can step up his play, he may have a chance to be leaned on in an expanded role, but days like today will not help his case.
Injury Update
With defensive tackle Vernon Butler expected to miss most if not all of the preseason, he was not available to practice today, not even taking the field in street clothes. Rivera said that for Butler, “the target date is the opener,” and that he sent tape of the block Texans tackle Breno Giacomini laid on Butler which put the 2016 first-rounder on the shelf to the NFL and he will let the league decide whether the hit was legal or not. Corn Elder and Curtis Samuel remain out, but both are beginning to show progress, with Elder having removed the brace from his leg and Samuel jogging routes before practice began. Brenton Bersin, who exited the game on Wednesday night, missed practice but commented that his quad was fine before the session. Derek Anderson was given the day off, but defensive ends Julius Peppers and Charles Johnson both practiced.
Be sure to follow us on twitter at @RRiotReport for constant updates as they happen. Have questions or want us to focus on a specific player or matchup? Let us know in the comments!
Previous Training Camp Reports:
- July 26, 2017
- July 27, 2017
- July 28, 2017
- July 29, 2017
- July 30, 2017
- August 1, 2017
- August 2, 2017
- August 3, 2017
- August 4, 2017
- August 6, 2017
- August 7, 2017
- August 8, 2017
