Here’s something that happens everyday at Carolina Panthers training camp – during stretching, Cam Newton is going to do something fun and silly. Yesterday, he put his arm around Jamaal Jones and rapped an entire Two Chainz verse, he’s been known to take stretching bands and throw them up in the air or at a trainer in jest – today was no different, as the quarterback, who spoke yesterday about how music is being played during practice this year to try and break up the monotony of practice as we get deeper into camp and into the season, found some sunglasses and strutted in between the players wearing the shades before stopping in front of wide receiver Rasheed Bailey and placing them on his face as Bailey was deep into a stretch.
Cam also likes to talk, specifically to fellow brash talker Captain Munnerlyn, today singing “Fee Fi Fo Fum, Which DB Is The Oldest One?” as he passed by the corner entering his tenth year and second stint with the Panthers – Munnerlyn usually chatters back at Newton, but today his talk seemed to be focused on safety Mike Adams, who he had a heated debate with during stretching that myself and other reporters thought might have turned ugly – if not for the fact that Munnerlyn is almost always talking to someone and had a big smile on his face as he ran over to Adams – “Put your best two up and I’ll beat ’em!”
The conversation continued for about ten minutes until it became clear what they had been arguing about as the 5’9 corner lined up at gunner during punting drills against Ross Cockrell and Damian Parms – Munnerlyn only took seven special teams snaps last year, so this is not his specialty – the corner took off and fought his way downfield before returning and pointing in Adams’ face.
Anything to keep it fun. Here are some other storylines we noticed today:
- Cam Newton continues to have a strong camp, as one passing drill had the fully healthy QB completing every pass in a row, much to the chagrin of Thomas Davis, who was the butt of Newton’s jokes, saying that they hadn’t had an incompletion all day – that streak (sort of) continued on the next play as Garrett Gilbert threw an interception to rookie linebacker Chris Frey, who ran it back for a touchdown – Newton’s take: “Ball still hasn’t hit the ground yet!” Cam also had multiple nice throws to Greg Olsen and Devin Funchess during team drills, and a beautiful deep ball to Torrey Smith during one-on-ones where the new addition got inside of Captain Munnerlyn for what would have been a huge gain.
- Defensive tackle Kyle Love got a vet day today, but Ron Rivera said he’s fine and should be back tomorrow. Curtis Samuel, Fred Ross and Bryan Cox continue to work on the side – Chris Manhertz was walking around the sidelines today, as was Julius Peppers.
- Taylor Moton took the reps at right tackle with the ones, and looked as if he belonged on the starting lineup a day after Daryl Williams dislocated his patella and tore his MCL – no updates from Ron Rivera on Williams’ rehab, but it is thought that he will not require surgery.
- James Bradberry continues his nice camp with pads on, breaking up a pass during one-on-one drills against DJ Moore as he stayed draped all over the rookie – Moore then had a rep in which he blew by Ladarius Gunter for a score; it’s clear the Panthers have plans to get Moore involved in the offense, as he has been catching a fair amount of short passes that allow him to utilize his run after the catch – perhaps his best ability. But don’t sleep on that deep speed.
- Shaq Thompson had a great showing during one-on-one blocking drills, twice blowing by his blocker and once actually knocking the ball out of the quarterback’s hands, an impressive feat since the QB is literally doing nothing but trying not to fumble. Speaking after practice, Luke Kuechly said that Thompson is “a valuable piece that anyone in the NFL would love to have.” If he continues to have days like he had today at practice, that is certainly true.
- Tough day for the backup quarterbacks today as neither Garrett Gilbert, who threw two interceptions – Damian Parms and Chris Frey got their hands on the ball – nor Taylor Heinicke looked particularly sharp in their decision-making or their accuracy – it remains to be seen whether either of them will step up and be ready to take over should Cam Newton suffer an injury; don’t be surprised if the Panthers are in the market for another quarterback as teams start to make their cuts. Head Coach Ron Rivera said after practice that the backup quarterback slot was wide open and they’re rotating who plays with the twos and who plays with the threes; today was Heinicke’s day with the twos and neither player did anything to separate themselves.
- Rookie linebacker Andre Smith continues to be praised on special teams drills by Chase Blackburn, who might be the most energetic coach on the field, yelling and running downfield at any opportunity; also garnering praise today was defensive end Karter Schult, who had two good reps in a row during pass blocking drills.
LB Andre Smith
- Jason Vander Laan, who had a nice catch later in practice, caught an earful from Norv Turner as he lined up in the wrong spot during team installs – mistakes like that can really hurt a player fighting for his roster spot, but he has been impressing coaches thus far. Remember, though, it’s still very early in camp, but there might be an opportunity for him to make the roster with Manhertz on the shelf. Fellow tight end Ian Thomas had a nice catch along the sidelines and he is growing into this larger role slowly, it will be interesting to see how far along he can get before the regular season starts.
- Fellow rookie Donte Jackson has been getting more and more reps with the first team defense, and today he began getting some reps on the punt team as well; he also had some nice coverage on Devin Funchess on an out route later in practice.
- The final play of practice was a fourth-and-three – as the players came to the line, Ron Rivera implored them, “Fourth and three! Gotta have it!” Newton dropped back, looked over, and hit an open Christian McCaffrey in the flats for a five-yard gain. First down.
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