The Panthers are dealing with an injury to one of their key offensive players, but it doesn’t sound like it should keep him out for an extended period of time.
Carolina head coach Dave Canales said in his Wednesday press conference that receiver Diontae Johnson is dealing with a “mild groin strain” and is considered day-to-day.
“I think, just kind of talking to him, he feels like there’s something there,” Canales said. “But I think he knows his body really well, he’s a veteran guy. So we’ll just continue ramping him up and increasing his work.”
The Panthers acquired Johnson from the Steelers in March for cornerback Donte Jackson and a draft pick.
Johnson caught 51 passes for 717 yards with five touchdowns last year for Pittsburgh.
As college football season approached seven years ago, Sam Darnold was widely regarded as the sure-fire first overall pick in the 2018 draft. By April, he slipped two spots.
By 2020, he slipped off the roster of the team that drafted him.
With Vikings first-round rookie J.J. McCarthy possibly missing all of 2024, Darnold could be getting his best chance to thrive in the NFL. For a variety of reasons.
When quarterbacks bust, not enough attention is placed on the players around the quarterback. Or the coaches. Or the front office. Or the owners. The Jets have a long and distinguished history of wrecking young quarterbacks. If Darnold hadn’t been picked by them, who knows what he might have been?
His second stop doesn’t reveal much about the player, either. He landed with a Panthers franchise that was on the Slip-'N'-Slide of dysfunction, with Matt Rhule literally out of his coaching league.
Last year, Darnold wasn’t needed in San Francisco; he eventually started a late-season game, after the 49ers secured the No. 1 seed in the NFC. This year, he goes from being a placeholder to the actual wire-to-wire starter, if McCarthy’s knee injury knocks him out for all of 2024.
That’s the other benefit to Darnold. If McCarthy ends up on the shelf for 2024, there won’t be any question of when McCarthy will start. It will be Darnold, all year long.
With receiver Justin Jefferson, a very good offensive line, a coach who knows how to scheme receivers open, and a running back in Aaron Jones who has gas in the tank, Darnold could finally put it together. And he’s not raw. While only 27, he has started 57 regular-season games.
Fifty-eight seems like a given. By January, he could be up to 73. With 17 of them in the best circumstances he’s ever seen in his entire career.
The Panthers got their backup quarterback back on the practice field Wednesday.
Dalton hurt his quad early in training camp and he’s missed the last two weeks of work while recovering from the injury. That process has gone well enough that Dalton was dressed in a helmet and going through drills at training camp.
Undrafted rookie Jack Plummer had been bumped up to the No. 2 spot behind Bryce Young in Dalton’s absence. He started the first preseason game and Jake Luton also saw time in that game.
Luton signed with the team after Dalton was injured, so he may not be on the roster in Carolina too much longer.
There is some positive news on the injury front for the Panthers on Monday.
Via Joe Person of TheAthletic.com, first-round rookie receiver Xavier Legette is back on the field after missing a few practices with a foot injury.
The Panthers traded up to No. 32 overall to select Legette out of South Carolina in the spring.
Person also notes that tight end Tommy Tremble is practicing on Monday for the first time in camp. Heading into his fourth season, Tremble has 62 career catches for 548 yards with seven touchdowns. In 2023, he caught 23 passes for 194 yards with three TDs in 16 games.
The Panthers will host the Jets on Saturday for the second week of preseason play.
The Panthers are down to one kicker on their 90-man roster.
The team announced on Sunday that they have waived kicker Harrison Mevis. That leaves Eddy Pineiro as the only kicker in Carolina.
Mevis signed with the Panthers after going undrafted in April. He kicked a 41-yard field goal and kicked off twice in their preseason opener against the Patriots.
Pineiro is in his third season with the team. He made 90 percent of his field goals over the last two seasons.
The Panthers filled the open roster spot by signing tackle Tyler Smith. He’s the second addition to the offensive line this weekend.
