CHARLOTTE — We may have learned an important lesson about this Panthers football team through the spring workouts, which just concluded with this week's minicamp.
Sure, they're better and deeper at a lot of important spots, and the leaders on both sides of the ball are talking a little trash back and forth, and some of the guys who were injured are coming back nicely. We've covered a lot of that.
But one of the other undercurrents that emerged might be just as important in the long haul, and that's that this collection of people seem to enjoy working together and are having a little fun while doing it.
That's not to say practices haven't been as intense as OTAs and minicamps can be; they have. But there was a perfect illustration the other day when Chuba Hubbard and Bobby Brown III bowed up on each other after a collision inside the tackles, and some tempers began to flare.
Before anything could get too heated, guard Robert Hunt jumped into the middle of it all. Not to break up or participate in a fight — but to dance.
No matter how hot or angry you might have been, the sight of 350 pounds or so of Robert Hunt gyrating his hips in a rather suggestive manner is going to break your concentration and lighten the mood.
"I appreciate that," Hunt replied with a huge grin when both his dancing and diplomacy were complimented. "That's what I do.
"That was just for me to let them know; for me, it's not that serious. That's where I'm at with it. It's too hot out here, we're working too hard, so who's got time for all that bull----. So I was just getting after it a little, made some people laugh, and we keep going."
Robert Hunt is very large. Robert Hunt's also an excellent dancer and a little bit of a goofball, in a good way. But more importantly, Robert Hunt is very good at football and he gets it — it can't all be a grind.
"In his words, this game is so hard. It's so hard to have success. We've got to celebrate. We've got to have fun," head coach Dave Canales said when asked about Hunt's moves. "That's in his nature. He loves playing with the guys. He's such a great teammate, and I asked him about it in the team meeting. He said, 'Guys, being in the league as long as I've had now, it's so hard to find these successes; we have to celebrate together.'
"'We've got to enjoy it.'"
Again, none of the vibes matter if the football isn't good. But the football is obviously getting better.
And no one who saw Robert Hunt do his thing this week will ever forget it. That's a lot of hips, and like Shakira's, they do not lie.
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Darin, just a few observations. First of all, I enjoy reading the articles you and Kassidy write. Always informative and insightful. Like the difference between reading the book and seeing the movie. The book is always better.
Secondly, now that the team has been assembled, it is up to the position coaches and their assistants to get the most out of each player. Finally, some of those UDFAs have to make the team. They can be good players who just played for smaller schools, represent cheap labor to save cap space, and make good special team players. Who knows? Maybe a couple of them can become starters, make a Pro Bowl, or even the Hall of Fame. — Matt, Waxhaw, NC
Matt knows the one true way to capture my attention — by appealing to my need for constant external validation. But he also brings up an interesting point, beyond just pandering to my enormous ego (I can be a real load, #selfawareness).
Putting together a 53-man roster is a delicate balance. As Canales mentioned the other day, the wide receiver competition isn't going to be about just who's the best pass-catcher; it's about who brings value to special teams. And while it's great to have high-priced stars like Jaycee Horn and Derrick Brown and Hunt when they're your best players, you also have to balance the books with guys making less money.
So, the UDFA class will be interesting to watch moving forward.
The one with the most visible opportunity to make an impact is kicker Ryan Fitzgerald, who has looked good kicking field goals and now has to learn how the NFL kickoff is a very different animal than anything he's done before. He's competing with Matthew Wright at the moment, and both of them are simultaneously competing with the universe of unemployed kickers, which is vast.
But there are a number of others who have stood out in their own ways.
Corey Thornton got a mention from the head coach the other day when he was asked about cornerback depth, as did defensive tackle Jared Harrison-Hunte when Canales talked about the massive difference in talent at that position. Wide receivers Jacolby George and Kobe Hudson have earned praise for their work, linebacker Bam Martin-Scott has admirers here. The safety group, including Jack Henderson, has a chance at valuable reps, and the offensive line group includes some interesting developmental guys.
A lot of them will be part of the practice squad mix in the fall. The Panthers lured some of the top guys in that market with bigger guarantees when they signed (which effectively cover a practice squad salary for the year), so they're already part of the plan for 2025.
But inevitably, a few of them will make the 53-man roster. That's a benefit, because having cheap labor helps create room to reward your own guys, which is also part of the plan here.
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My question is: What protocols are used by the training staff to introduce young players (especially rookies) to pro-level practices and help them be as injury-free as possible? Hamstrings seem to be a pretty common injury that, at first glance, seems more preventable than it is. I would guess that rookies and other less experienced players who must show well to avoid the final cut might push themselves harder than they should. When practice started I asked: How long before the first hamstring injury? As reports from rookie camp filtered out, I predicted Jimmy Horn Jr. would be the first. So I am wondering, how the staff approached this early on? As I recall, Jalen Coker had the same issue last year and could have been lost if he had been grabbed off the practice squad. — Howard, Chapel Hill, NC
The care and feeding of rookies is absolutely something they're deliberate about.
When new guys come in, they get a pretty comprehensive orthopedic screening, so this staff knows the baseline they're working with. And the performance staff monitors the whole roster carefully, through GPS, heart rate, and other data points, to keep an eye on their workloads each day.
There's a lot of math involved in tracking these guys, and work time in practice is doled out in a very deliberate manner. Fatigue leads to injuries, and it's common practice for the athletic training staff led by vice president of player health and performance Denny Kellington to spell it out to coaches in advance — e.g. Player X is good for about 20 reps today, while Player Y is good for 40, etc.
As Canales pointed out the other day, rookies have generally been training for the combine when they arrive, which is very different than training for football. So soft tissue injuries for the young ones is fairly common, especially for the guys who run fast like Horn (There's no shame in it, guys such as Muhsin Muhammad struggled with hamstrings early too, and he turned out OK). It happens. Football is a sport of explosive movements, so some of this is to be expected.
But Canales also noted that this rookie class has been extremely diligent about their preparation and recovery in ways you generally only see from guys who are deeper in their careers.
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While I am upset that Luke Kuechly didn't get selected in the first round for the Hall of Fame, I am also sure it will happen at some point (same for Agent 89). I was wondering if, when that happened, you think they will retire No. 59 and put Luke in the Hall of Honor? — Glenn, Swansboro, NC
We all are, Glenn. In fact, I was talking to Bills head coach (and former Panthers defensive coordinator) Sean McDermott this offseason, and it came up organically in a conversation about Luke.
He said it's disappointing that Luke didn't get in on the first ballot because he was so great at football but also at being a human being. The football part is all we really discuss in Hall deliberations, but that's enough. Luke Kuechly was one of the greatest middle linebackers to ever play the game, period. So anyone who watched him play was disappointed.
As we spelled out in the winter, the only reason he's not in the Hall of Fame already is they changed the rules to tighten this year's class after a few years of too many people getting in. (Which is a complicated and historical conversation, that would take hours to fully unpack, but includes the Centennial Class of 2020). The rules aren't changing this year, so expect another compact class in 2026. That's fine, one of anything can't be a trend, so let's see how this year's voting goes before we start yelling about changing the rules again. And even though the first-year eligibles include a couple of should-be-automatics in Drew Brees and Larry Fitzgerald, Kuechly's wait shouldn't be a long one. It better not be, anyway.
The conversations about the Hall of Honor here and retired numbers are separate and above my pay grade, but the first one seems inevitable.
I'm the wrong person to ask about retiring numbers because I think it's way too easy to go overboard. The Bears and Giants each have 14 retired numbers, which is way too many. Granted, those franchises have a lot of Hall of Famers, but when you only have 100 options including 0, limiting the inventory of available numbers when you have 90 dudes on offseason rosters is a bad idea, and recent discussions of unretiring numbers are messy and unnecessary distractions. (Now, if they let guys start wearing X, or 00, or the symbol for pi, or three-digit numbers, that's fine with me, too.)
The Panthers have only officially retired one number — Sam Mills' 51 — and that's an appropriate amount for a 31-year-old franchise.
Sam is a Hall of Famer, and was the bedrock of the organization — the foundation upon which the first teams were built, the spirit behind the team's first Super Bowl run, and its ongoing philosophy. Keep Pounding has gained a context beyond football for fans in the Carolinas, and the fact that it's literally sewn into the fabric of their jerseys is something I hope never changes.
So 51 means something much more than "this person was very good at football."
The Panthers have had other Hall of Famers, and will again, and many guys who are very good at football. The fact that Frank Alexander, DaQuan Jones, and Amaré Barno wore 90 doesn't detract from the legacy of Julius Peppers, and if anyone else starts wearing 59, or 89, or 1, it doesn't change what Kuechly, Steve Smith Sr., and Cam Newton mean to this place or its fans.
I write words for a living, and two of the ones I hate the most are always and never. And the crystal ball remains in Ben McAdoo's other pants, so I don't know what the future holds. But for me, it's fine if certain numbers remain in the closet without retiring them or if people start wearing them someday. It's just a number on a shirt. The legends remain.
But retiring jersey numbers is a slippery slope, and not getting into that business is, to me, the appropriate decision.
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Here's a totally random question from a former advertising agency creative: does Nike scale the size of the numbers on the jerseys to the size of the jersey itself? — Ron, on Bluesky social
I don't normally take social media questions because it doesn't seem appropriately intentional (fill out the form on Panthers.com, people), but this one intrigued me because it forced me to commit a journalism and find out.
As you might be aware, rookies Cam Jackson and Jimmy Horn Jr. are not the same size of human being. In fact, Jackson (6-6, 328) is almost two of Horn (5-8, 174).
But, I have come to learn, the size of the numbers on their jerseys are identical.
According to veteran equipment manager Don Toner, the numbers on NFL jerseys are standard. The ones on the front of the jersey are 10 inches high, and the ones on the back are 12 inches high. But they don't have smaller ones for smaller jerseys or bigger ones for bigger people.
There are some ways to make it look like they do. Some guys will roll and fold to create a cropped effect, which can change the way they appear, but that's more of an optical illusion. Jimmy's 15 is the same size as Cam's 55, even though there's a lot more material surrounding one of them than the other.
And for sparking my curiosity (and giving me an excuse to run this picture again since it sparks joy), I'm making Ron this week's Friend Of The Mailbag and will get the appropriate honorarium on the way soon. At least, as soon as he fills out the form and sends me his email address.
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Hello! Long-time reader but first-time mailer. I don't really have a question. I wanted to respond to John from Chapel Hill last week asking about the blue rubber band bracelets.
I'm originally from NJ, and the few times I've gotten to go to BOA (from both NJ and my new home in CO), I'd always make sure to grab a few of these since the proceeds went to Levine Cancer Institute. For $1, how can you ever have enough?! I've proudly worn one since I knew of their existence. I honestly can't remember how long the one I'm wearing now has lasted. The logo and lettering are wearing really thin, but they're still legible, so it carries on! They are remarkably strong (unlike a certain yellow rubber band bracelet that snapped on me back in the day)!
I checked my inventory. I do still have five unopened ones, and I would be happy to part with one for John! I'm not sure how to make that happen, but I figured Mr. Gantt probably has some good ideas. — Mitch, Aurora, CO
This is amazing and one of my favorite parts of this job. We have just brought two Panthers fans from far away together in the quest for sentimental material objects from long ago.
I will connect you two via email, and you can work out the exchange between yourselves. But I know how to find both of you, just in case.
I love everything about this. This is a community, coming together in the spirit of Keep Pounding.
Or maybe just hoarding, I don't know. Either way, I dig it.
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What were the other names considered alongside the Panthers when the NFL announced that they were expanding into the Carolinas? Was there a fan submission thing? — Zach, Charlotte
Nah, the original owner of the team made up his mind that he wanted it to be the Panthers and wasn't going to put it up to a poll or anything. (Jerry Richardson was excellent at making firm decisions and sticking with them despite input from others; there are many examples.)
Not everyone was crazy about the idea at first in the 1990s, and he encountered some opposition from time to time.
In fact, the league approached him at one point with an option — the Rhinos. While Carolina Rhinos is pleasing to the ear because of the assonance of those long I sounds, it's jarring to the senses for many reasons.
Particularly because the initial mockups for the early uniforms (back when Reebok was the supplier) had the Rhinos decked out in a combination of burgundy, forest green, and bronze. It was really something.
Thankfully, that one never took hold.
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How does Derrick Brown look in practice? Is he going to be OK? — Will, Rock Hill, SC
Derrick talked about this yesterday, and while he might be limited at times in training camp, the expectation is that he'll recover in time to be a significant contributor this year.
That helps because he's at the heart of this defense. If you think about what they struggled with last year and what he's good at, they sync up nicely. Adding a massive individual who set a league record for tackles by a lineman in 2023 should help shore up the run defense, yes.
But he's also important to the ethos of the place because of the way he works. While other guys were discussing travel plans this week, Brown's hanging around home (also because they're expecting a daughter in late July) so he can continue his rehab.
He also remains as strong as ever.
The Panthers' new strength staff has guys doing a lot of medicine ball work, and even in the early workouts this spring, seeing Brown fling heavy things around was a sight to behold. One of the movements they work on includes tossing it up into the air. Brown was outside behind the weight room one day and launched one high enough that it got stuck on a ledge on the 100-level concourse of Bank of America Stadium (it has since been retrieved). I didn't have my tape measure on me that day, but one of those new electronic devices or apps or something indicated it was at a height of 23 feet off the ground.
"Just an insanely strong human being," one of his co-workers remarked.
Derrick just shrugged and said: "It was one of the little ones."
When you're Derrick Brown, they're practically all little ones.
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Hi Darin! After listening to Brandt Tilis talking with Field Yates (the interview is on YouTube at Field Talk Podcast), in which he discussed the process behind Mahomes' extension when Brandt was still with the Chiefs, I wondered if there's something similar happening already on the front office regarding a future Bryce Young extension. Sure, for now, he needs to keep playing the way he finished the season — although I find it hard to believe that someone with his skills and demeanor won't keep improving even more after he found his game translating to the NFL. But in KC, they already started planning after they drafted Mahomes, before he played a down.
If I can add another one, although Jonathon Brooks won't play this season; he'll still be only 22 next season and is under contract for two more years with the team. Saw a lot of opinions after the draft that the Trevor Etienne selection is a sign of 'whatever' on JB. Rico Dowdle is under contract for this season only, and if the season and the run game go well, as everyone is hoping, he will certainly get a better contract elsewhere next season. And RB is a tough position physically, so we'll never know who's intact for next season. Anyway, I still think JB will play a big role in '26 and '27 if he fully recovers (which is the more probable scenario). Am I crazy in thinking that? — Fernando, São Paulo, Brazil
Yep, that was a good listen. And as has been made clear, if you're paying attention to our Inside the Draft Room stories or Blueprint, it's that they have a plan for all of this and are meticulous in their commitment to making sure they're making decisions the right way. That doesn't mean they all work out, but it gives you a better chance of making the correct call when you're thorough.
Fernando nailed it. The first step is for Bryce to continue to play the way he did in the second half of last year. But if he does, eventually, the contract stuff will come into play and take care of itself.
In short, the Panthers have been intentional about the way they give out contracts so they have future flexibility. Hence, all those one-year contracts last year and the shorter deals they've handed out since. The point is not being locked into too many guys forever and using the draft to increase the supply of price-controlled rookies.
I'll let other people freak out about the size of the contract when the time comes. I'm old enough to remember the outrage over Sean Gilbert's seven-year, $46.5 million deal ($7 million doesn't buy you what it used to), and I understand that the salary cap continues to rise. At a certain point, the numbers are less important than what they represent.
And to bring that to the Brooks example, Dowdle is here on a one-year deal. Come March, they'll have Chuba, Brooks, and Etienne under contract, two of them on affordable rookie deals with different end points. Layering in those contracts so guys don't come up all at once adds to the flexibility.
It almost feels like it was on purpose.
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And on that note, let's go lightning round, brought to you by the patron saint of the lightning round Jeff from Fuquay-Varina, to close it out this week.
Why won't the Panthers hire Steve Smith? He is a better receiver coach than what they have on their staff. At least hire him as an assistant coach. He is a better teacher and he played the game. He has heart. It's not the size of the dog; it's the fight in the dog. — John, Portsmouth, VA
The short answer is, "Steve doesn't want to." Being a coach is hard, and takes a lot of time, and he's enjoying a lot of golf. He'd be good at teaching technique (and he recently spent time with Tetairoa McMillan and Xavier Legette after practice, but he'd also be a real load if he was your coach every day because he has high standards and doesn't suffer any perceived lack of effort gladly. And Steve perceived that everyone put in less effort than he did.
Personally, I think it would be hilarious penance for him, though, after watching what he put Richard Williamson through back in the day. Richard was the definition of old school (played for Bear Bryant), and he made Smith the receiver he became by leaning on him and demanding more.
(Also, receivers coach Rob Moore is quite good at his job, has been for a while, and also played in the league.)
How is fifth-round pick Mitchell Evans doing? — David, Stow, OH
Good. Fine. He's a big target, and he's getting a lot of reps with Tremble missing time after back surgery. That's the same dynamic that helped Sanders progress last year. But Evans is a bigger body and has a chance to get on the field this year regardless.
Can we win the NFC South? — Shane, Dallas, TX
Maybe. Sure. Why not? It's the NFC South, the messiest division in the NFL. But the immediate gratification of going to the playoffs this year is less important than building a stable foundation for the years to come.
And man, if they do, can you imagine the dance Robert Hunt will do then? Tell the kids to look away; the big man's about to do his thing.
