CHARLOTTE — It's easy to be fooled by the outward calm and the pleasant manner of Brady Christensen. He's a genuinely good and kind person.

He's also a professional football player, and a pretty good one, so there's a latent aggression in there, too. There's also some lingering frustration at times, since his role as the Panthers' super-sub may have obscured the fact that he's good at several of the positions he's asked to fill in at, and capable of starting at them.

Austin Corbett has seen it, as the veteran offensive lineman who has lived a parallel life with his teammate the last four years. They've rehabbed together, sat next to each other in meetings, and they've played in each other's positions. Their sons are best buddies, too. So Corbett knows what's underneath all that, and why you should not always be fooled by his pal's placid exterior.

"He has an understanding of his role, and I don't want to say acceptance of the role," Corbett said. "There's a fire underneath him, just like, hey, I was a starter a few years ago. I played really good football. That's who I want to be, that's what I want to do.

"And wherever you throw me, I mean, it sucks to have to know six positions. It's not fun. It's hard for the everyday person. You've got to fight it, like, hey, go write with your right hand, now go write with your left hand. Now go write with your right foot and your left foot. Like, it's hard to do what he's doing, and for him to do it at the level that he does it is incredible."

And if anyone would have seen any frustration from Christensen, Corbett would have seen it. But no, he shrugs and accepts the next assignment.

"Nah, he's really good about it; that's his personality," Corbett said. "He's going to put a smile on, not complain about it, and he's going to do it."

And the Panthers are grateful for both that spirit ,and the ability to pull it off.

"He's really tough," Panthers head coach Dave Canales began when discussing Christensen's latest assignment at right guard, where's he's replacing the injured Chandler Zavala who replaced the injured Robert Hunt. "He's very intelligent, he's willing, he wants to win. He wants to help the team in any way possible. We use him as a big tight end. We've played him at center, at guard, the tackle spots, all those things.

"And we can count on him because he studies, he does the work, and he's ready to go, and I love his willingness to just help the team in whatever way possible."

Christensen is believed to be the only player in franchise history to start games at all five offensive line positions, and he'll settle back in for his second career game at right guard this weekend. While some records show him never having appeared at his current position, he got a single start there in his rookie season, on Dec. 12, 2021, against the Falcons.

"One game!" Christensen said of his experience at his current spot, lest you undersell his versatility. "And then I played there last year in the preseason against the Patriots."

Because very few players have the ability to do that or have ever done it, the simple act of being ambidextrous (or maybe multidextrous, when you throw in the feet like Corbett pointed out) is amazing.

Hall of Famer Bruce Matthews did it — with 87 starts at center, 99 at left guard, 67 at right guard, 22 at right tackle, and 17 at left tackle. There's a reason he has a gold jacket. Simply knowing all the assignments is a nightmare, and more than most can handle.

"And then you have to go play NFL football," Corbett added.

Christensen was trained as a left tackle, and that's where he played all his college football at BYU. He had never played a snap of guard until a previous regime put him there, just as he had never played center until last offseason, when he and Corbett made the switch together. And he's played for and next to Ikem Ekwonu, and for a next to Taylor Moton, so all of this is old hat to him.

"The right side technically is a little bit harder because I played most of my career on the left side, right?" Christensen said with a shrug. "So, like getting your hands right and your feet right is a tad harder. And then center obviously is hardest mentally, to get everyone on the same page, communication-wise, that was the biggest adjustment."

He says all this matter-of-factly, as if anyone can just pop in there. And after spending a year learning center, switching sides and playing guard again is the kind of thing Christensen's able to accept.

After playing the second half at right guard last week, he's got a few reps under his belt. The Panthers initially went with Brandon Walton there, since he's a true guard, and since Christensen was their only backup center to Cade Mays (who popped up on the injury report this week with a knee, though he practiced fully Wednesday in a brace). And recent acquisition Nick Samac is a center, and has had two weeks to learn after being signed off the Ravens practice squad, so he should be ready now, so Christensen can redeploy.

As he often does, he sat next to Corbett in their meetings Monday, reviewing the Patriots film and how he did in his first game there since 2021 (as shown below, when he had long hair but the same spirit), when he was playing on a line that included Moton next to him, and Pat Elflein, Dennis Daley, and Cam Erving on the other side.

"From what I remember, it was like my first time really playing right guard, so I was nervous," he admitted. "But I had T-Mo to kind of lean on, and then I think it was Pat up in the middle, and he was a good communicator, so I really relied on those guys. But this time, I feel like I've played it more now, even in practice and during the preseason last year. And I played right tackle more, so that has helped a lot."

And having Corbett (a college left tackle who played mostly right guard before switching to center last year) to advise him obviously helps.

"Even like the Patriots film last week, he was in there Monday watching film with us and he was giving me his tidbits," Christensen said. "He was helping me a lot on Monday. Just specific angles in the run, and then as far as like my hands and my hand placement, what's he looking at and then kind of just little mental cues of where the defensive tackles lined up and stuff."

"Just little things," Christensen said with a shrug, as if those were things anyone could do.

He says that easily, and being around Corbett brings out his easygoing nature. Even if none of this is easy.

"I think that's his ability just to get in there and thrive wherever he is is incredible," Corbett said. "I mean, it's not as much now because he's done it so much, but the ability to realign your body, shift different weight percentages in your body, which hand's high, which hand's low. Where your feet have to stay in that right side of the stance, you can't let them switch over and pass protection. And just understanding the differences between Ickey and Taylor.

"They're all different, and now everything you're used to as a left guard, your combinations with the center, now you've got to flip all those over with the center, so just your different biomechanical advantages or disadvantages you have, it changes."

Gosh, when Corbett describes it, it sounds more complex.

"And again, then you're playing professional football," Corbett laughed. "So it's very hard."

Not that you'd know it by looking at Christensen, who by that time was back in his chair, staring at his tablet full of tape, and helping Samac learn his way around the offense, the locker room, and Charlotte.

Totally normal, another day in the life of a guy who's doing what few other people have ever done.