Second-year wide receiver Curtis Samuel was absent from practice again Tuesday after missing Sunday’s session with an illness; the Panthers are not required to release an injury report until Wednesday on game weeks, so Samuel’s status won’t be cleared up until tomorrow; the wide receiver, who led the Panthers in preseason receiving yards, wasn’t present at either practice session as the team prepares for their Week 1 matchup with the Dallas Cowboys.
“He’s dealing with a medical issue,” Ron Rivera answered after practice when asked about Samuel’s absence. “He saw the doctor today so we’ll wait to see what the doctor has to say. We’ll wait until we hear from the doctors.”
Samuel, the Panthers’ second-round choice in 2017, missed all of training camp his rookie year with hamstring issues and his season was cut short by an ankle injury against the Miami Dolphins in Week 10 – Samuel rehabbed and participated in most spring workouts before experiencing soreness to open training camp in 2018 and starting camp on the PUP list before being activated after five practices.
The man who ran the third-fastest 40-yard dash at the 2017 NFL Combine had more receiving yards (180) in the four preseason games than he did in the entirety of the nine games he participated in during his rookie season – Samuel actually drew the start in his final two games of the year and is expected to have a larger impact on the Panthers’ offense in 2018, even with the additions of DJ Moore, Torrey Smith and Jarius Wright and a returning Greg Olsen to full health.
UPDATE: NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport is reporting that Samuel had a “small procedure to fix an irregular heartbeat” and is likely out for Week 1 against the Cowboys.
While Samuel wasn’t at either practice, the team was once again joined by offensive linemen Amini Silatolu and Daryl Williams, who practiced in full pads during the media portion of the practice session for the second consecutive day and are “working towards Sunday.”
“We put them through the paces, they got a lot of individual work, they got a lot of positional work and they were involved in some of the team work,” Rivera said. “We’ve got a lot of combinations of guys we’re trying to work through and see what’s going to happen.”
“As we continue each day, [the trainers] evaluate them each day and we’re told just how much we’re allowed to use them.”
The Panthers will release their first injury report of the 2018 season on Wednesday.
