CHARLOTTE — There's an elliptical machine near the weight room door in Bank of America Stadium, one of the last things you see on your way to the practice field, and for the last eight weeks, it's been very lonely.

On the other hand, there's a spot in the far end zone of the practice field that has been occupied as usual for the first week of Panthers training camp, with a familiar fixture of the skyline back in its place, and that's the important part.

For senior defensive assistant Dom Capers, skipping the first part meant being back for the second, and that's the priority for the football lifer.

"I was not going to miss the start of training camp," Capers said. "That was always the goal."

That goal was complicated in mid-May, when the 74-year-old Capers went down with a torn right hamstring during OTAs.

"Off the bone," Capers said with a laugh. "It's my own fault, out there running around with 20-year-olds trying to do sprints when you're in your 70s."

He joked, but the injury was serious and required surgery on May 30, which knocked him out of his routine. He couldn't do anything for two weeks until the stitches came out, and then around six weeks until he was back to what resembled normal activity.

"If it was going to happen," he said. "It happened at the best time."

Of course, that meant he missed a lot of practice time, the part of the day Capers might love the best. He's been coaching football since 1972, when he was a graduate assistant at Kent State, so not being on the field was killing him.

"He was probably calling me twice a day during OTAs, wanting to know everything that happened in practice that day," defensive line coach Todd Wash said.

(He was still watching film of that practice from his home here, lest you think he was detached in any way. This is Dom Capers we're talking about.)

But it was jarring for everyone else to look out there on the field during the rest of OTAs and not see him for the six weeks when he was mostly off his feet.

It was maddening for him, but required Capers to adjust his routine of the last 50-plus years if he wanted to be back by training camp.

"He's so regimented," Panthers head coach Dave Canales said, in perhaps one of the understatements of franchise history.

The original Panthers head coach is known for a few things, beginning with his meticulous preparation. That's his game plans, and his body, as he is a regular in the weight room. Around the 30 or 35-year mark of his coaching career, he traded in the pre-dawn runs (he used to hurdle exhausted and fallen partiers on Bourbon Street when he coached with the Saints, wondering why they did that to themselves) for the steady metronome of the elliptical machine in the controlled environment of the weight room.

Dom Capers has kept himself going in football by keeping himself in football shape. This injury was his first since 1982, when he tore his Achilles while coaching defensive backs at Ohio State. You don't keep that kind of streak by accident, and his daily work is a small part of what he's known for around here.

Of course, what he's really known for is his omnipresence.

He was the head coach of the Panthers when they opened Bank of America Stadium in 1996, so he's literally been on the property since Day 1. He knows every inch of the place. Now, that means the athletic training room too, where he's as diligent in his rehab as he is in every other facet of his life.

"He's doing great," said physical therapist Kylan Smith, who works with him every day. "But he's already talking about when he can get back on the elliptical."

That'll happen soon enough, even if not soon enough for him, but at least he's back on the field for training camp.

He may not be actively participating in drills the way he used to — he's not holding bags for linebackers to hit, he's not serving as the scout team quarterback during walk-throughs — but he's there. When the coaches had their pre-camp golf outing last weekend, he was limited to fellowship from his personal golf cart, but he was there, and they wouldn't have it any other way.

He'll walk out early for practice, take his spot, offer counsel to defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, or help out with rookie outside linebackers coach AC Carter. Carter was a quality control coach in Denver in 2022, when Capers was there with Evero, and is now in his first year as a position coach with the Panthers.

And when he talks about Capers, when any coach or player does, the tone goes beyond respect. It's more of a reverence for one of the legends of the 3-4 zone blitz scheme.

Carter was born in New Orleans in 1993, so he missed Capers' work with the Saints (where he served as defensive coordinator from 1986 to 1991), but grew up hearing the stories about Sam Mills and Rickey Jackson and the Dome Patrol, which had Capers' fingerprints all over it.

"I think having coach Dom is a blessing," Carter said. Obviously, he gets the credit for being a generator, a starter of this style of defense, this style of play, coming up with a lot of the scheme things back in the day. And having him in your corner to always give a stamp of approval, or something that you probably need to do better in some instances, that you need to work on. Whether it's for any meetings, any drill work, anything because he has all the experience in the world of doing it. I'm so lucky to have him here."

But even with all that experience, Capers isn't one to stand around and talk about the good old days. He might have coached Kevin Greene and Lamar Lathon, but now he's got rookie Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen to instruct, and Scourton was eight years from being born when Capers coached the Panthers to the 1996 NFC Championship Game.

Outside linebacker D.J. Wonnum said the veteran coach still knows how to talk to young players, still knows how to keep a fresh perspective on the wisdom of the years.

"He's been around the game for a long, long time," Wonnum said, in another great understatement. "His expertise and knowing and seeing different things kind of helps us get like a different aspect of the game; like we're able to see how it was back in the day and how the game has changed now. The different things that he's seen give us tools to go out on the field and just execute.

"It's crazy because he's a great coach, so he knows how to, I guess, put it into terms we'll understand. Everything that he tells us is always different pieces in the keys to help us be ahead of the game once we get out on the field."

And now that Capers is back on the field, Wonnum said there's a familiar vibe on the field and in defensive meetings, even if Capers isn't quite as mobile as they're used to seeing.

"It was very unfortunate that he was gone, but just having him back, it's a different energy in the room," Wonnum said. "Just having him there, I don't know what it is, I guess it's just because he's been around the game forever. I don't know how he does it, but it's good to have him back."

Of course, back on the field was always the goal, and the reason he was willing to interrupt the routine that's helped him build a lifetime in football.

Since this was the priority, Capers did what it took to make it happen.

"You're not going to keep Dom down," Canales said. "You can't keep a good man down for very long, so he's back out here where he belongs."