Panthers Clips
The NFL has announced the full list of joint practices that will take place during training camps this summer.
The first set of them will take place on August 11 in four different locations. The Cowboys and Rams will practice in Los Angeles, the Colts will visit the Patriots, the Bucs will work out at the Jets’ facility and the Titans will go to Santa Clara to practice with the 49ers.
All in all, there will be 28 teams working in joint sessions in August. The Lions, Steelers, Chiefs and Broncos are the teams that will not hold joint practices.
The full list of joint practices is below with the host team listed second. If there are multiple practices scheduled, the date of the first practice is listed.
August 11 — Cowboys-Rams; Colts-Patriots; Buccaneers-Jets; Titans-49ers.
August 12 — Dolphins-Commanders.
August 13 — Jaguars-Saints.
August 18 — 49ers-Chargers; Raiders-Texans; Saints-Cowboys.
August 19 — Falcons-Colts; Ravens-Vikings; Panthers-Jaguars; Eagles-Patriots.
August 20 — Bills-Browns; Bears-Bengals; Saints-Rams; Giants-Dolphins.
August 21 — Seahawks-Titans.
August 25 — Buccaneers-Jaguars.
August 26 — Cardinals-Packers; Texans-Panthers; Commanders-Ravens.
August 27 — Bears-Titans.
Prior to what became the last year of Terry Bradshaw’s career, the Steelers had a chance to select Pitt product Dan Marino with the 21st overall selection in the draft. They passed.
In the months after the last game of Ben Roethlisberger’s career, the Steelers had a chance to select Pitt product Kenny Pickett with the 20th overall selection in the draft. They pounced.
After only two seasons, they punted on Pickett.
Earlier this week, former Steelers G.M. Kevin Colbert defended the decision to draft Pickett during an appearance on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh.
“We projected Kenny to be a start-and-win NFL quarterback, and quite honestly, he lived up to that in his first two seasons with us,” Colbert said, via Jack Markowski of SI.com. “For us, he was 14-10 and trending in the right direction. So that’s what we thought we had in Kenny.”
Colbert retired before the decision was made to trade Pickett to the Eagles. He spent the 2024 season in Philadelphia (where he won a Super Bowl ring, unlike Marino) and 2025 in Las Vegas (after being traded to the Browns and then to the Raiders).
Now, Pickett sits on the Panthers’ depth chart behind starter Bryce Young. Does that mean Pickett will be a career backup? Colbert still believes Pickett has a promising future.
“Kenny’s a great young man,” Colbert said. “He’s a great competitor. . . . And I still think at a young age, I still think Kenny can continue to build on what he did with us in those first two seasons.”
Pickett, now 28, will need to get a chance to play — and play well — as an understudy in order to earn an opportunity to compete to be a starter again. For now, he has been relegated to journeyman.
Meanwhile, the Steelers don’t have a long-term answer at quarterback. They went 20 years between Bradshaw and Roethlisberger because they rarely pick high enough to get a potential franchise quarterback. And, as owner Art Rooney II has made it clear, they have no desire to chalk up a season to “rebuilding” and hope it positions them to secure a great incoming prospect through a top-10 position in the draft.
In the 53 years since winning their first playoff game on December 23, 1972, the Steelers have picked in the top 10 only five times — and never higher than No. 7. They may need to have one of their uncharacteristic bottom-third seasons before they’ll be in position to get the next quarterback who can join Bradshaw and Roethlisberger as the only true year-to-year franchise quarterbacks the franchise has ever had.
Jalen Coker entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie in 2024 and put together two seasons worthy of a contract extension. The Panthers recently rewarded the wideout with a three-year extension that will keep him under contract through 2029.
Coker, 24, hopes to stay in Charlotte much longer.
“It was a huge opportunity for me,” Coker said Tuesday, via Kassidy Hill of the team website. “Your dream is to always go get to the NFL, of course, but to stay around and to continue to contribute and to make an impact every Sunday, that’s always been my goal.
“This wasn’t the end of my story. This isn’t where I want to be finished at. I just want to continue to build, continue to do good things for this organization down the line. Hopefully, I can stay for eight more years. I didn’t want it to be like I finally made it. I can relax. I can take the foot off the gas a little bit. No, now I’ve got to prove it even more.”
In 22 games, Coker has made 65 receptions for 872 yards and five touchdowns.
Coach Dave Canales identified Tetairoa McMillan and Coker as the top two wide receivers, but the Panthers believe they are deep at the position. Xavier Legette and John Metchie are among others on the depth chart.
“I think we’ve got so many guys that can play on this team, and it’s just going to continue to push us to be better every single day,” Coker said.
The Panthers made a commitment to wide receiver Jalen Coker with a three-year contract extension last week and 2025 offensive rookie of the year Tetairoa McMillan is clearly part of their future plans, but it’s less clear if the wideout they picked in the first round in 2024 is in that picture.
Xavier Legette has 84 catches for 860 yards and seven touchdowns over his first two seasons. His production dropped from 2024 to 2025 despite Coker missing six games, so the 2026 season is shaping up as a big one for his bid to carve out a place in Carolina for an extended period of time. While speaking to reporters last week, Legette acknowledged the position that he’s in as he heads into his third season.
“My main thing is just to have a better year than my first two years. I can’t have another year like I did last year. I can’t do that,” Legette said, via the team’s website.
Legette said he’s approached this offseason with a “do or die” mindset, which he says has “helped me do the things that I needed to do and keep that pressure on myself to never take my foot off the gas.” If that results in a jump in production, the Panthers may be extending another wideout at this time next year.
Jack Plummer’s first season in the UFL ended with the league’s top individual honor.
The Orlando Storm quarterback has been named the UFL MVP.
The 26-year-old, who signed as an undrafted free agent with the Panthers in 2024, joined the Storm in 2026. He finished first in the league with 2,188 passing yards for the 8-2 Storm. His 17 touchdown passes were second in the league.
Plummer threw only one interception in 300 attempts.
No relation to former NFL quarterback Jake Plummer, Jack Plummer played college football at Purdue, California, and Louisville.
In 2024 with the Panthers, he spent most of the season on the practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster in late December. The Panthers waived him in August 2025.
The Panthers and wide receiver Jalen Coker agreed to terms on a three-year, $35 million extension, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports.
The deal includes $6 million in incentives.
Coker was an exclusive rights free agent this year and scheduled to be a restricted free agent next year.
Coker, 24, signed with the team as an undrafted free agent in 2024. He has played 22 games with seven starts in his two seasons.
He has made 65 receptions for 872 yards and five touchdowns.
Panthers coach Dave Canales, who wore a Band-Aid on his nose Tuesday, revealed he recently underwent a procedure to remove skin cancer.
Canales said he went for a routine skin cancer screening performed by the team, and a small spot on his nose tested positive for basal cell carcinoma.
“It’s a good reminder not to take these things for granted,” Canales said, via the Associated Press. “It was a basal cell type of skin cancer in a small spot, and they were able to get it off. So I’m really appreciative.”
Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer and is “highly curable, slow-growing, and rarely spreads to other parts of the body,” according to The Skin Cancer Foundation.
Canales, 45, said his mother also dealt with skin cancer when she was in her 40s. Because of that, Canales said he is diligent at applying sunscreen.
“You can imagine a Southern California kid playing outdoor sports and then getting into coaching, right?” Canales said.
The Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it has expanded the list of allowed sunscreen ingredients to include bemotrizinol. Bemotrizinol is a chemical compound that has long been popular in Europe, Australia and some Asian countries.
The Panthers announced the addition of a wide receiver to their 90-man roster on Monday.
They have signed Malick Meiga ahead of their mandatory minicamp. Tight end Heinrich Haarberg was waived off of the roster in a corresponding move.
Meiga went undrafted after catching 19 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown at Coastal Carolina last season. The Panthers drafted Chris Brazzell in the third round and signed John Metchie to go with Tetairoa McMillan, Jalen Coker, Xavier Legette, and Jimmy Horn at receiver.
Haarberg signed with the Panthers as an undrafted free agent in May. He played quarterback at Nebraska before moving to tight end in 2024.
Newly arrived Panthers linebacker Devin Lloyd says he and his teammates have been talking about how excited they are about their potential for the 2026 season. And Lloyd also says talk at this time of year doesn’t mean much.
At Organized Team Activities on Tuesday, Lloyd said there’s palpable enthusiasm as the defense hits the practice field.
“Just the conversations with them, it’s just a lot of optimism and excitement,” Lloyd said, via Panthers.com. “I mean, we have so much talent on this defense and really the team, but specifically, for the defense, we’ve got so much talent. So yeah, it’s all been positive talk, but at the end of the day, talk is cheap; it’s about what we do at practice and how we continue to get better every day, and then ultimately what we do on game day. So today was a great start. I think we had a great practice, and it was a step in the right direction. We’ve got to just continue to build off today.”
Lloyd, who spent his entire four-year career with the Jaguars before signing with the Panthers this offseason, said he thinks he can do everything the Panthers’ defense asks of him.
“Anything you could ask a linebacker to do, I take pride in being able to do it at a high level,” Lloyd said. “In this game, they ask the linebackers — obviously we have a really, really stout D line — to make plays in the run game and then obviously in the pass game, that’s a big emphasis, for this defense. At the end of the day, football’s football. I wouldn’t even say scheme to scheme is anything different, but for me, it’s showing coach that, hey, I can do anything. I can blitz. I can cover whatever position you ask me to do. Put me in it, and I’ll make the play.”
Heading into his fourth NFL season, Panthers quarterback Bryce Young is leading the team like never before.
Panthers coach Dave Canales said Young is in charge of the offense not only from an Xs and Os perspective, but also in telling his teammates what they need to do, including getting on their case when some balls were hitting the ground during a rainy practice on Tuesday.
“Just total command of the system and knowing what he’s looking for, the timing of things, and the more that he owns it, the more he’s looking for specific things out of the tight ends, wideouts, and backs as the concepts come alive,” Canales said. “I just love it. I love the fact that he’s taking ownership, and the guys see that and rally around that, and something that they all appreciate.”
Young has steadily improved through his first three NFL seasons, and in Year 4, part of his continued growth will be firmly establishing himself as the player who makes the offense go.
