Donte Jackson walked onto the practice fields carrying a bag of Skittles. The rookie cornerback that is competing with Kevon Seymour for the starting position opposite James Bradberry has been showing out the first week of practice, complete with a day where he borderline dominated the wide receivers – but the brash rookie corner who may talk a lot off the field, but according to Bradberry, doesn’t actually talk a lot of junk on the field, has been cool as a cucumber, including walking onto the field still enjoying a snack, which is a move you’d expect to see from a wily veteran. Pay no attention to the fact that candy probably shouldn’t be eaten at 9a, but the demeanor of Jackson – or swagger if you want to use a term that is likely only used by us old people – is one of the reasons Rivera and the rest of the coaching staff brought him here in the first place and have such high hopes for him.
He sauntered right by a fan from Macon, Georgia who spent most of the autograph periods before and after practice singing made up songs to try and entice the players to come and sign autographs – there were two courses of action by the players, either looking straight ahead and ignoring her (this was impossible, you could hear her from 100 yards away) or nodding your head and dancing to the incredibly catchy melodies. Personally, I couldn’t stop singing “I’ve got your number, I’ve got your number” song the entire practice – but it definitely worked, I saw Devin Funchess and Shaq Thompson run over and sign for her as well as others. The squeaky wheel gets the autographs, I guess.
Here’s what else we noticed at Panthers training camp today:
- Injury list is fairly short with Curtis Samuel and Bryan Cox, Jr both fully participating – only wide receiver Fred Ross and tight end Jason Vander Laan worked on the side, with Chris Manhertz and Julius Peppers limited to watching the action from the sidelines. Interestingly enough – and not surprising, at all – Peppers stands next to defensive coordinator Eric Washington for much of practice; he likely has a lot of insight and always wants to learn more.
- The most energetic drill of the day was a run blocking drill that featured a lot of contact and a lot of fiery yelling from multiple coaches. Ron Rivera yelled at both Jared Norris and Vernon Butler after mistakes, and tight ends coach Pete Hoehner had a lot to say to Evan Baylis after an error – the drill was extremely feisty, with a lot of contact between the offensive and defensive linemen – the first rep ended with a Christian McCaffrey spin move in the backfield to avoid a looming Thomas Davis. Hard to tell whether Davis would have made the tackle if there was contact, but McCaffrey was off to the races to the right side after the spin; Alex Armah and Elijah Hood both ran hard during the drill, drawing praise from the coaches. Direct quote from defensive line coach Brady Hoke – “This is a football game! You win it up front!”
- The Panthers also ran the two-minute drill, with the bulk of the yards coming from Christian McCaffrey, who was a constant security blanket for Newton in 2017 as a checkdown – expect more of that during the season, as Norv Turner said it was realistic for McCaffrey to hit that 25-30 touches per game number that Ron Rivera threw out earlier in camp. “The players understand that they’re all going to get an opportunity to contribute,” said the 66-year old Turner. “Some days, it’s going to be more than others. But Christian will get his share.” He certainly got his share today.
- Curtis Samuel had a leaping grab downfield on a deep ball from Cam Newton as he lept between two defenders and pulled down a catch before trotting into the end zone and celebrating – Ron Rivera said after practice that “you get excited about some the things that he’s done – the way he’s moving already. The quickness, the speed out there – that was a big asset for us last season so to see him returning back to form, that’s huge. He’s got to be able to make plays like that consistently.”
- During team drills, the linebackers had a nice set of plays where Luke Kuechly almost had a one-handed interception (although the referees on site threw a flag on the play) as he tracked Greg Olsen down the seam – this was followed by nice pass breakups by David Mayo and rookie Jermaine Carter. Kuechly said last week that he felt like this linebacker room was the best he’s ever played with and that sequence certainly backed that sentiment up.
- Ian Thomas continues to grow into his role, it seems as if he is trending towards that second tight end spot – his route running is deceptively smooth and he continues to make plays almost every practice. Unfortunately, sometimes his rookie stature will shine through as well, such as in the second-team two-minute drill in which he couldn’t haul in two consecutive catchable passes from Garrett Gilbert, one along the sidelines and the final one, on fourth down, in the middle of the field in which it looked like he caught it only to have it roll away incomplete. He’ll need to work on his consistency, but the fourth-rounder is certainly showing flashes of why the Panthers drafted him.
- Cam Newton had an entire week of training camp without an interception before breaking that streak today as an underthrown deep ball to Torrey Smith down the right side of the field was intercepted by safety Damian Parms – Parms has been getting some snaps with the first team as Eric Washington and Ron Rivera take their time to ensure they see what all the options have to offer – today saw six different safeties playing with the first team throughout practice. Parms has also been getting special teams snaps, which is a sneaky way to see who might be competing for a roster spot at this early stage in camp.
- Damiere Byrd continues to have a solid camp – it truly feels as if he’s open almost every time he’s on the field, especially with go routes down the right sideline. He’s been open multiple times flying down the sidelines; during yesterday’s practice, Gilbert hit him in stride for a touchdown; today, Gilbert overthrew him. I still believe we are heading towards six wide receivers making the roster – Byrd has played too well in camp to justify cutting him.
- Panthers will head to Charlotte tomorrow for Fan Fest, which begins at 7PM and will feature a fireworks and laser show afterwards.
