200 days exactly since the Panthers lost to New Orleans Saints in the Wild Card round of the playoffs last season, they kicked off their first practice of what is literally a new era in Carolina Panthers’ football, and while some things change, some things stay the same – it wasn’t a surprise to see previous owner Jerry Richardson out on a golf cart taking in a practice every now and again, but when new owner David Tepper walked onto the field sporting a Panthers hat, t-shirt and shorts and circled the field while chatting with players and coaches, it seemed like it was a visceral move into the new era of Carolina Panthers football.
Different: The team flipped on music during team installs after much cajoling from Cam Newton – Devin Funchess asked Ron Rivera, who gave the go ahead. The same: the players stayed long after practice to sign autographs for the thousands of fans that came out for the open practice, including Torrey Smith, who was still on the field as stragglers still had requests over 30 minutes after practice ended.
Again, things change – Tepper talked to both Marty Hurney and Ron Rivera during the practice, with Rivera saying that Tepper was asking the head coach multiple questions about what was happening on the field. And things stay the same, as practice began with Cam Newton trotting on to the field and dancing before interacting with the fans as he always does in front of a crowd – even being gifted a box of Bojangles’ from a fan and plopping it onto the field as he and his fellow quarterbacks had a mid-practice snack.
I guess that’s a little different. Here are some other things we noticed and storylines that are developing:
- Injury Updates: Curtis Samuel, Fred Ross and Bryan Cox, Jr all rode the bike tonight, although all three looked at least fairly healthy, jogging around, joking and doing some work on the sidelines. Julius Peppers was there in a bucket hat and street clothes, walking the sidelines during the beginning of practice and interacting with the defensive line during the first drills of the evening before heading back to the locker room. Chris Manhertz was not on the field.
- Devin Funchess had a couple of drops tonight, the final one as he was blanketed by cornerback Kevon Seymour; Funchess limped off the field and was stretched out by trainers before taking the cart back to the locker room – Rivera confirmed after the session that Funchess had cramps in both legs, something that the 24-year old has dealt with his entire career.
- DJ Moore looked sharp in his first practice, drawing oohs and ahhs from the crowd as he plucked a Thomas Davis-tipped pass out of the air about ten yards from the line of scrimmage and making a move before accelerating upfield. He did the same thing as he stopped short on another play, sending a would-be tackler flying towards the sidelines. Moore said after practice that making plays after the catch is a big part of his play – “That’s always been a part of my game, I just don’t let the first person tackle me – when you get open space, you’ve got the whole field to work with and make the whole team miss.”
- Moore also got some work at punt returner, along with Christian McCaffrey – Torrey Smith was back there with them, but wasn’t spotted actually fielding any punts.
- Cam Newton, after being limited in practice all of 2017’s training camp, got the chance to let loose a little bit tonight, and he looked sharp, spreading the ball around to multiple receivers, including Moore, Torrey Smith, Jarius Wright and Devin Funchess. He also had an absolute dime that he placed in the perfect spot down the seam to Greg Olsen, just over the outstretched fingers of Shaq Thompson.
- Alex Armah started the day by working with the tight end group, although he didn’t see much action once the team drills actually begun. It will be interesting to see what kind of usage he gets after getting a lot of work during the spring.
- As far as the position battles went tonight, Amini Silatolu got the first reps at left guard, Kevon Seymour got the first reps at outside corner, Da’Norris Searcy at safety and Captain Munnerlyn at the nickel spot – those secondary spots seemed very fluid, as the team was doing a lot of rotating in and out with rookies Rashaan Gaulden and Donte Jackson both getting playing time with the ones.
- The first player I noticed on the field was Torrey Smith, although Rivera said after practice he thought Christian McCaffrey was out first, so the First Player To Practice Award is up in the air tonight.
- Damiere Byrd looked excellent tonight, making multiple catches all over the field and looking as if he has been working on his route running in the offseason – if he can ramp up that skill to go along with his lightning speed, he’s going to make it a necessity to not only keep him on the roster, but get him on the field.
- Another standout tonight was tight end Jason Vander Laan, the former quarterback at Ferris State who was on the Colts roster in 2017; Vander Laan continued a strong spring with a good showing by making two catches in short succession – after both receptions, he went over to Greg Olsen to get feedback on what he could do better next time. Smart man. Cam Newton, obviously impressed, asked after the second catch, “Where’d they find this guy?”
- New defensive coordinator Eric Washington spent the first portion of practice working with the defensive tackles – one position battle to watch is going to be rookie Kendrick Norton vs. Kyle Love, who continues to get the snaps next to Vernon Butler in the second rotation.
- Cam Newton did a Ric Flair strut when he finally convinced Ron Rivera to turn on music during team installs. It was fun.
