Coming off of their first preseason game, a 28-23 win over the Buffalo Bills in which both first-team offenses were able to sustain long drives, the Panthers came back to Spartanburg for their final weekend of training camp practice sessions and after a week debating the accuracy of Cam Newton, it was a depleted Panthers secondary that had a big day, with Captain Munnerlyn, who usually plays at the nickel cornerback position inside, being pushed outside on multiple drills as Kevon Seymour, James Bradberry and almost all of the other cornerbacks on the roster missed practice today – in fact, there were only three healthy cornerbacks participating in drills, prompting safeties Dezmen Southward and Demetrious Cox to take some reps at cornerback – sometimes the next man up means playing out of position.
“Oh, God,” said Ron Rivera after practice when a reporter told him that the cornerback depth was tested today. “It was tested very well, too. Really, my hats off to the way Captain and Donte and Lorenzo Doss practiced; those three guys pulled yeoman’s work today and really did some good things out there – most certainly tested, but hopefully we’ll get some guys back tomorrow.”
Rivera added that he thinks Munnerlyn is playing nickel as good as he’s seen the vet entering his tenth year play, and that includes Munnerlyn’s first stint with the team when Rivera moved him inside in the first place – he also said that Captain was “firmly entrenched” as the nickel. A practice like today, in which Captain backed up his constant stream of trash talk with multiple instances of excellent coverages and terrific defensive play was truly a joy to watch, especially for a guy who was vocally unhappy with his role last season and worked hard during the summer to ensure he would earn the playing time he felt he deserved.
“It bugged him [and] it bugged me and he knows it,” Rivera said about Munnerlyn’s role in the defense last season, which had him playing less than 40% of the snaps, the lowest percentage of his career. “He and I had a great conversation at the end of the year about this coming season, about getting ready to play and compete and everything, and he took it to heart. He did some stuff this offseason that showed he was committed to it and it’s showing right now on the practice field.”
It certainly did today.
Here are some other storylines we noticed at practice today:
- Bear with me, there were a lot of players that missed practice today; it’s safe to assume that some were held out for general rest. James Bradberry (groin), Kevon Seymour (personal – just had baby late last night), LaDarius Gunter (concussion), Damian Parms (shoulder), Andre Smith (hamstring), Ben Jacobs (groin), Cole Luke, Corn Elder, Tyler Larsen, Jared Norris and Jeremiah Sirles all were held out of practice today. Guard Dorian Johnson left practice early on a cart and Julius Peppers wore pads, but worked on the side with a trainer during the session.
- With Larsen not practicing, Greg Van Roten took some snaps at center in addition to the reps at left guard he took with the first team, just as he did Thursday night in Buffalo – the veteran who the team made sure to lock up with an extension before the season can play all five positions across the offensive line and might be the “next man up” at left guard after Amini Silatolu had surgery to repair a torn meniscus this week. With the team limiting Ryan Kalil’s snaps, Van Roten played a bit of center and the left guard spot was occupied by undrafted free agent rookie Brendan Mahon.
- There were a lot of highlight plays made by the defense today, including an interception by Luke Kuechly in which he jumped an out route and sped towards the oppostie end zone that sparked the crowd, but the first cheer of the afternoon came on a leaping sideline grab by Torrey Smith as he was matched up with Donte Jackson on the outside.
WR Torrey Smith fights off Colin Jones
- Speaking of highlight plays by the defense, Munnerlyn and Jackson were all over the field, with impressive coverage that forced “sacks” on multiple plays, but two stood out – an end zone pass break up from Munnerlyn in which he jumped high to knock the ball away from a taller receiver and into the hands of Rashaan Gaulden for an interception which followed an interception of his own off of backup Garrett Gilbert. Jackson flashed when he knocked a pass away from Devin Funchess as they were matched up one-on-one on the outside; as the brash rookie celebrated, he turned around to Julius Peppers, who happened to be standing near him on the sidelines for a voracious low five. It was quite a sequence.
- Shaq Thompson continued his week of excellent play – he’d had an interception the past three times he was on the field, including one on Thursday night in Buffalo – with a forced fumble in which he punched the ball out of the hands of Christian McCaffrey and directly into the arms of Da’Norris Searcy. If I can editorialize for a second – if it’s possible to have a better week of the preseason than Thompson, I’m not sure what that would look like.
- After a routine drop by tight end Ian Thomas as he came out of the backfield, the rookie followed that up with a catch over the middle – he’ll have his ups and downs throughout the season, but it was good to see him recover from the mistake and move forward.
- Earlier in training camp, Ron Rivera commented that he felt as if Taylor Heinicke was more of a “gunslinger” than Garrett Gilbert, but between Thursday night and today’s practice, Heinicke seems to be showing more patience as he goes through his route progressions – the amount of checkdowns and underneath routes Heinicke completed today was impressive. The backup quarterback competition is extremely close.
