Light fog lingered along the treeline as a gentle breeze whistled through the football field. The clouds eclipsed the sun, creating a comfortable early Monday morning start to the last day of training camp for the Carolina Panthers. Fans lined the fence chanting at the players asking for autographs and many of them obliged. Perhaps more headed over before practice because they knew as soon as the horn sounded, they’d be making a beeline to their cars to head home to Charlotte.
It was the last day of training camp, and it really felt like the last day of school.
As Ron Rivera passed some media members, he told us that would be doing something fun today: He’d be ending practice early – every player’s dream on the last day of camp – if a lineman could catch a punt. Later, Dontari Poe and Taylor Moton would each catch their punts, but as the team cheered in celebration, the coaches herded them back for installations and drills – the last day of school can end early, but there’s still some learning left to do.
Here are some storylines we noticed on the final day of training camp:
- Saying it was a rough day for Cam Newton would be putting it nicely. The former MVP chucked a total of four interceptions and was outplayed by the backup quarterbacks. Newton stood alone with his head down holding his helmet in both hands behind his back — as he watched Taylor Heinicke have one of his best days at camp. The best drive for Newton during two-minute drills ended in a Graham Gano field goal, while Heinicke led the team down the field multiple times, including connecting on a deep bomb to Curtis Samuel along the sidelines that had fans checking to make sure the throw didn’t come from #1. Rivera could not definitively say why Newton seemed to be in a rough patch but says he is not concerned. “I couldn’t tell ya. I just know we are working on a lot of different things. We are putting a lot of different stuff in,” Rivera said after practice. “Sometimes you have days like that. Sometimes they run back to back. Sometimes it’s time to get a break.”
- As mentioned, many players were focused on camp ending and did not have their heads in the game. John Matsko, running game coordinator, screamed at offensive linemen that was not putting in enough effort. “If you’re not starting and if you’re not on the second team, you’re holding a bag,” Matsko exclaimed to some of the roster hopefuls. “Now hold the bag!” Matsko was not the only person who reprimanded guys for not focusing – Tight Ends Coach Pete Hoehner was his usual ball of fire today as well, but what he said isn’t suitable for this recap.
- For practice to conclude early, the fate of the team was in the hands of Taylor Moton and Dontari Poe, literally. The assignment was easy, if they catch one punt each from Michael Palardy, Rivera will take out the final period of practice and end practice 30 minutes early. As Rivera headed to the offensive line to ask who would be participating, Ryan Kalil pointed quickly at Moton – that decision was easy. Both Moton and Poe practiced catching a ball on the side of the field and then it was time. Moton was up first, standing on the sunny side of the field — he slowly stood back and paced himself and caught the ball – the entire team cheered and sprayed water into the air from bottles. Now it was time for Poe to do the same – the 346-pound defensive tackle scrambled and backtracked, looking for the ball in the sky as the team stood in silence. He caught it. Don’t forget, Dontari Poe has some experience with the ball in his hands, although Rivera was sure to note that neither Moton nor Poe would be back there catching punts anytime soon.
As camp concluded, Rivera met with the media for the final time in Spartanburg to give his overall thoughts on camp and what lies ahead. At first, the Panthers were plagued with injuries and there are questions in the secondary and at left guard – nevertheless, Rivera said camp served it’s purpose, which is getting everybody on the same page.
“I think more so than anything else, we had to integrate three new coordinators and try to get those things going,” Rivera said, noting that the Panthers have more work to do over the next weeks with three preseason games ahead of them and the regular season starting soon after. “I thought those things went very well. I was very pleased on what we did on special team, offense and defense. I really was.”
“I just kind of like how things are headed in a good direction — I think that the important thing is that we are trending in the right direction.”
Feel free to follow me on Twitter and Instagram @TheJoshAVinson