Carolina Panthers training camp has ostensibly ended – the horn has blown on the final day of practice, the players have gathered for the last time in the middle of the practice fields for a final pep talk from the coaching staff as they prepare to rush to their cars and back home to Charlotte to continue training as the regular season grows closer. The last autographs at Wofford College are signed as the equipment crew begins to load the hulking camera structures that tape every practice onto semi trucks to tote back to the practice fields next to Bank of America Stadium 75 miles to the northeast.
And just as he has over the last few practices, tight end Chris Manhertz stands on alone on an empty field, catching balls from the JUGS machine by himself – doing whatever the doctors will allow him to do to get back on the field in time for Week 1 against the Dallas Cowboys. Some of his teammates are already posting Instagram stories of their steering wheels as they make hay out of Spartanburg, but Manhertz continues to practice by himself – slowly but surely adding more and more into his workouts, until ultimately he can run and cut and block and make full contact, the same way he was preparing to do until surgery to repair a Jones Fracture in his left foot had him beginning training camp on the Physically Unable to Perform list.
The same way he learned how to play football in the first place.
While Manhertz says that he hasn’t been cleared to run and cut quite yet, he’s staying the course that the doctors outlined for him with the aim being to be ready for the regular season Week 1 matchup with Dallas Cowboys; multiple studies have shown that players can return to action within 10 weeks of surgery – Manhertz’ injury was suffered June 14, just over 12 weeks from Week 1.
“It’s hard to say right now, but I’m just trusting the doctors on this one and doing everything they say to do to get back,” Manhertz told us after practice Monday. “It feels good – I’m starting to get back in the groove of things and it’s going as good as it can go right now.”
The injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for Manhertz, as he was expected to be the second tight end behind Greg Olsen after taking 27% of the snaps for the Panthers in 2017 – he had only taken 12 snaps in his career before last season – with Ed Dickson leaving for Seattle in the offseason, it left Manhertz as the most experienced tight end in the room behind Olsen.
But while Manhertz can’t get on the field quite yet, the 26-year old former college basketball star has continued to take mental reps, honing his craft in the film room – something that Cam Newton had to do for almost all of training camp last season – and the 6-6, 255 pound Manhertz has been spending his days in the classroom, when he’s not on the sidelines soaking up information from his coaches and teammates.
“I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason,” Manhertz said. “Being on the sidelines and especially in the film room throughout this whole training camp has made me get a new perspective on how to do things as far as my football IQ and just seeing things from a coach’s view, I think, once I’m ready to get out there, it’ll translate that much better for me.”
Improving his football IQ has been a constant refrain for a player that never played a down of organized football until he was signed by the Buffalo Bills to their 90-man roster at the end of 2014 – he had tried out for the Bills in April of that year, just a couple of weeks after his final basketball game at Canisius College in New York. After bouncing from Buffalo to New Orleans, he landed in Carolina where the team took a chance on the raw prospect.
Apparently, the team enjoyed bringing in a tight end prospect with lots of raw talent but not much experience after it worked with Manhertz so much, they decided to double down when the team drafted Indiana tight end Ian Thomas to provide depth behind Olsen and hopefully grow alongside Manhertz; Thomas only had 28 catches over two seasons at Indiana, but what the team showed on tape revealed what he might be able to grow into – perhaps the same way they looked at Manhertz.
“Ian has been great – he’s been pretty consistent since he’s been here in camp; he’s a young guy that’s just coming in, but I think he’s handled himself pretty well as far as the amount of information he’s getting at once,” Manhertz about the rookie that has been taking the TE2 snaps once thought to be earmarked for him. “[Thomas] being a quick learner helps as well, so I’m very excited to see what he has to bring to the table in the future.”
The offseason was an eventful one for Manhertz, as he may have developed a newfound hobby after traveling with the NFL in February to South Korea to visit the troops – including a trip to the Korean demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, a place the normally even-keeled Manhertz described with wide eyes as “one of the most dangerous places on Earth.” But he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to watch the Super Bowl with the troops, even if the Super Bowl Parties started at 7 AM.
“Amazing – it gives you a newfound appreciation for what they do,” Manhertz said about his time in South Korea. “It’s easy to say you appreciate them from afar, but once you’re in there and you see exactly what they go through, it hits home every time.”
Head Coach Ron Rivera says that he’s not concerned with the depth at the tight end position, even though he knows the team probably won’t get Manhertz back on the field until the second weekend in September – he went out of his way to indicate that he considers the only tight end on the roster besides Olsen with an NFL catch on his resumé a part of the Panthers’ plans moving forward.
“I like what we’ve seen so far from the guys that we have right now – I’m not concerned with the depth, because eventually we’ll get Chris Manhertz back out here,” Rivera said during training camp. “Probably not until the season starts, but for the most part, I like what those guys have done.”
Until then, Manhertz will just keep on working. Just like he always has.
