The Panthers are looking at adding some veteran help at edge rusher.
Per Mike Kaye of the Charlotte Observer, Carolina will work out Yannick Ngakoue and Carl Lawson this week.
Ngakoue, 29, spent last season with the Bears. In 13 games, he recorded 4.0 sacks, with six tackles for loss and seven quarterback hits. After spending his first four seasons with Jacksonville, Ngakoue has bounced around over the last four seasons, playing for Minnesota, Baltimore, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, and Chicago.
He has 69.0 sacks in 123 career games. Ngakoue recently worked out for the Dolphins, who ended up signing Emmanuel Ogbah.
Lawson, 29, played for the Jets over the last two years. He appeared in just six games last season, recording five total tackles. In 2022, he posted 7.0 sacks, nine tackles for loss, and 24 QB hits while playing all 17 games. He spent his first four years with Cincinnati and has 27.0 career sacks.
The Panthers reported to training camp on Tuesday to kick off a crucial year for quarterback Bryce Young.
Young was the first overall pick last season, but he did not take the league by storm as a rookie. Young struggled as the Panthers went 2-15 and his rough entry to the league looked worse because of how well second overall pick C.J. Stroud played for the Texans.
The Panthers hit the reset button this offseason by hiring head coach Dave Canales and General Manager Dan Morgan to take the team into a new direction. On Tuesday, Morgan said he has no doubt about how hard Young will work to become the player they expect him to be.
“I think Bryce is one of the hardest working men in that locker room,” Morgan said, via the team’s website. “I know he’s on a mission. I know he’s committed to be great. I know he’s committed to this franchise and making this franchise great. We’re going to do everything in our power to surround him with the best players, the best protection . . . so we’ve got to do our part as well. But I know Bryce is hungry, he’s focused and we’re super excited about him.”
As much as the Panthers needed to upgrade the pieces around Young, the nature of the NFL is that an outsize amount of credit and blame goes to quarterbacks. That will be the case for Young, so the Panthers need his mission to be a successful one.
The Panthers are getting healthier by the day.
The team removed a pair of rookies from the active/physically unable to perform list Tuesday
Wide receiver Jalen Coker and cornerback Chau Smith-Wade were activated after passing a physical, the Panthers announced.
That leaves only D.J. Wonnum, Amare Barno, Cam Sims and Yosh Nijman on active/PUP and rookie running back Jonathon Brooks on the active/non-football injury list.
Players can be activated from either list at any time.
The Panthers begin practice Wednesday at Bank of America Stadium.
The Panthers added two more players to the active/physically unable to perform list Saturday.
Rookie cornerback Chau Smith-Wade and veteran wide receiver Cam Sims can practice as soon as they pass a physical.
The Panthers placed four players on the list Friday, with outside linebackers D.J. Wonnum and Amare Barno, offensive tackle Yosh Nijman and rookie receiver Jalen Corker all beginning camp on the sideline. The team also moved rookie running back Jonathon Brooks to the active/non-football injury list.
Veterans report to camp Tuesday, and practice begins Wednesday.
Panthers running back Jonathon Brooks tore his ACL while playing for the University of Texas last November, so it’s not a great surprise that he has not been fully cleared for football work yet.
Brooks was placed on the non-football injury list by the Panthers on Friday. Brooks obviously suffered a football injury, but landed on that list because it happened before he was in the NFL.
The second-round pick can be activated at any point. That’s also true of the four players who landed on the physically unable to perform list. Linebacker D.J. Wonnum, tackle Yosh Nijman, linebacker Amare Barno, and wide receiver Jalen Coker won’t be able to practice when camp opens next week unless they come off the list.
