The Panthers’ roster went down to three quarterbacks when Will Grier retired earlier this month.
The plan is now to hold that number at the position through training camp.
In his Wednesday press conference, General Manager Dan Morgan told reporters that Carolina has “no plans” right now to bring in a fourth QB.
“Obviously, wish Will and his family the best,” Morgan said. “In terms of his career, just playing as long as he did — just wish him the best moving forward.”
So, Carolina will go through training camp with Kenny Pickett and Haynes King behind starter Bryce Young at quarterback.
Grier, 31, had rejoined Carolina as a free agent in April. The Panthers had brought him into the league as a third-round pick back in 2019. But after participating in the club’s offseason program, Grier decided to hang up his cleats.
Grier started just two games in his career, both of which came as a rookie for the Panthers.
He also spent time with the Cowboys, Bengals, Patriots, Chargers, and Eagles.
Panthers Clips
The Panthers are ready to start practicing at training camp, but left tackle Ikem Ekwonu isn’t ready to join them on the field.
Panthers GM Dan Morgan announced on Wednesday that Ekwonu will go on the physically unable to perform list to open camp. Ekwonu tore his patellar tendon during January’s playoff loss to the Rams and the nature of the injury means there’s still more rehab ahead for the 2022 first-round pick.
Morgan told reporters that Ekwonu is in a good place with that rehab and that he’s optimistic about having the tackle back during the regular season, but did not set any timeline for return.
The Panthers also put right tackle Taylor Moton on the non-football injury list this week because of a blood clot in his lung. Moton is expected to be out into the regular season, which could leave Rasheed Walker and 2026 first-rounder Monroe Freeling as the team’s top options at tackle.
Morgan also announced that defensive lineman Tershawn Wharton will go on PUP due to a neck injury and that defensive lineman Bobby Brown is headed to NFI with a hamstring issue. Cornerback Jaylon Guilbeau was waived off the non-football injury list.
Training camp season is just about here.
Veteran players from the Cardinals and Panthers are due to report to camp on Wednesday, which will make them the first two teams to have their full squads in place this summer. They have the earliest start date in the league because they will be taking part in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio on August 6.
The Panthers will open up camp with right tackle Taylor Moton and cornerback Jaycee Horn on the non-football injury list. Moton is sidelined by a blood clot in his lung and the team expects him to play this season, but he is set to be out into the regular season. Horn is recovering from a cut on his foot and is due back much sooner.
Quarterback Jacoby Brissett’s status will be the big question once the Cardinals begin practicing. He did not practice during the spring while looking for a revised contract and has still not agreed to one, so his participation will be something to watch this week.
The Seahawks and Patriots are next up on the reporting list. They will have their veterans in camp on Friday and all 32 teams will be ready to go on July 28.
The Browns made a change to their cornerback group before training camp gets underway next week.
They announced the signing of Damarri Mathis to their active roster. They waived cornerback Dom Jones with a failed physical designation in a corresponding move.
Mathis was a Broncos fourth-round pick in 2021 and spent three years with the team before being claimed off of waivers by the Panthers last August. Mathis tore his ACL a short time later, however, and missed the entire season.
Mathis had 18 starts in his 43 appearances for the Broncos. He had 103 tackles, three tackles for loss and nine passes defensed in those games.
The Panthers have added another player to their non-football injury list.
The team announced that cornerback Jaylon Guilbeau has been placed on the list. Guilbeau signed with the Panthers after going undrafted out of Texas in April.
Guilbeau had 40 tackles, a tackle for loss and an interception in 12 games last season.
Right tackle Taylor Moton and cornerback Jaycee Horn were placed on the NFI list earlier in the day. All three players can be activated at any point during training camp, but the Panthers said on Tuesday that Moton is expected to be out into the regular season. That will leave the Panthers even thinner at a key position as left tackle Ikem Ekwonu is still recovering from a torn patellar tendon.
Carolina will not have two key veterans when they begin training camp.
The Panthers announced on Tuesday that cornerback Jaycee Horn and right tackle Taylor Moton will be placed on the non-football injury list.
Horn is going on the list after suffering a cut on his foot that required stitches. Carolina is expecting Horn to return during the early portion of camp.
Moton, however, is dealing with a blood clot in his lung. He was diagnosed with the condition in late June and was immediately placed on blood thinners. While the team notes he’s responding well to treatment, he is set to miss time during the regular season.
Moton is expected to return at some point in 2026.
The Panthers are also dealing with an injury to starting left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, who suffered a ruptured patellar tendon in Carolina’s postseason loss in January. The club signed veteran Rasheed Walker in free agency and selected Monroe Freeling in the first round of this year’s draft to improve depth at offensive tackle.
Panthers rookies report to training camp on Tuesday, with veterans reporting on Wednesday this week.
The latest round of ESPN layoffs is impacting plenty of recognizable names — including a former NFL MVP.
Via Bobby Burack of Outkick, ESPN has cut ties with former Panthers quarterback Cam Newton.
Newton, who launched his own platform and showed that he has the chops to do the job, landed at First Take over the past two years as one of the folks appearing with Stephen A. Smith.
Cam may have tiptoed on the third rail earlier this year, when interviewing Smith’s sworn enemy, Jason Whitlock, on Newton’s podcast. During the segment, Whitlock pushed the notion that Smith’s memoir contains fabrications. Newton didn’t push back.
In every company, there’s a political minefield that needs to be navigated in order to ensure long-term survival. Ryan Clark, for example, threw a low blow last September while on the air with a new employee who has close ties to ESPN executive vice president of programming and original content Burke Magnus. And that’s the moment that reportedly caused ESPN to sour on Clark.
The Whitlock interview may have caused Smith to sour on Newton. And with Newton’s only role at ESPN being a member of the show Smith runs, that may have been enough to get Newton’s name on the list.
The NFL Players Association released its annual Rising Stars list on Tuesday and the first overall pick of this year’s draft is one of the players at the top.
Raiders quarterback Fernando Mendoza is No. 1 on the list of the 10 rookies that the NFLPA projects to be future members of the Top 50 list of licensed player product sales. There is also a list of 10 players with NFL experience who have not been on the Top 50 and it is topped by Saints quarterback Tyler Shough.
Mendoza is followed on the list by Cowboys safety Caleb Downs, Cardinals running back Jeremiyah Love, Titans wide receiver Carnell Tate, Eagles wide receiver Makai Lemon, Commanders linebacker Sonny Styles, Saints wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, Giants linebacker Arvell Reese, Ravens wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane, and Buccaneers edge rusher Rueben Bain.
The list of veteran players also includes Bears tight end Colston Loveland, Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker, Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, Buccaneers wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, Cardinals tight end Trey McBride, Dolphins running back De’Von Achane, Bills running back James Cook, and Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez.
Every large company gets sued, at some point. The company that owns and operates the Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC of the MLS is facing an unusual one.
Via Matt Moret of The Athletic, former pro soccer player Dustin Swinehart has sued Tepper Sports & Entertainment for gender discrimination. Swinehart, the former director of community engagement at Charlotte FC, claims that his firing was the result of different internal standards for men and women.
Swinehart’s termination came, he claims, after a colleague sent an email to a local family after a “supervisory lapse” at a youth camp conducted by Charlotte FC. Swinehart contends that TSE Chief Human Resource Officer Kisha Smith then fired Swinehart for insubordination because she had instructed Swinehart not to contact the family by email.
“I got fired for being kind, and I got fired for an email that I didn’t send,” Swinehart told Moret on Friday. “And that’s really tough. That’s really sad.”
A spokesperson for TSE told Moret that the company is aware of the lawsuit but declined to comment on active litigation.
Swinehart contends in the lawsuit that female employees at TSE engaged in misconduct that went unpunished, including intoxication on the job and the use of racist language. He also claims he was replaced by a female who was not qualified to assume the job given a lack of experience in soccer.
“The evidence shows that had Plaintiff been female, he would not have been terminated,” the lawsuit alleges, per Moret. “After all, he was the longest-tenured [Charlotte FC] employee and had amassed an exemplary employment record without a blemish. The incident for which he was terminated caused no harm to Defendant. Rather, his sole offense was to irk Defendant’s powerful CHRO because his direct report confirmed the family’s receipt of the refund and their interest in attending a match in a suite via email instead of a phone call.”
Swinehart’s ultimate point is that, with TSE striving to be a leader when it comes to creating opportunities for women, the men who work for the company are left to wonder about their status.
“I think specifically, to kind of the celebration of the advancement of women, it felt more presented as, ‘This is great. Look at all the things that are happening,’” Swinehart said. “But you could just start to notice, like, OK, so where does this leave me or where does this leave other employees with opportunities?”
Federal law, along with the laws of most states, prohibit gender discrimination generally, regardless of the specific gender of the person who allegedly experienced it. Those laws emerged at a time when the vast majority of the victims of workplace gender discrimination were women. Swinehart obviously believes that, at Tepper Sports & Entertainment, the pendulum has swung the other way.
Like all civil litigation, this one will play out over the coming months (and possibly years). And if Charlotte FC and/or the MLS have been as aggressive as the NFL when it comes to the use of arbitration clauses, the first battle (which alone could take multiple years to resolve) will focus on whether the case should proceed in open court or in a closed proceeding with something other than a jury resolving the case.
The Panthers have brought back an offensive lineman.
Carolina announced on Friday that the club has re-signed Brady Christensen to a one-year deal.
Christensen, 29, has spent his entire career with the Panthers.
A third-round pick in 2021, Christensen has appeared in 59 career games with 34 starts.
He was on the field for eight contests with four starts last season, playing 53 percent of offensive snaps and 14 percent of special teams snaps in games played.
Panthers rookies report to training camp on July 21, with veterans reporting on July 22.
