CHARLOTTE — The Panthers will be without a key member of their foundational offensive line, but the hope is that they'll be intact again by the regular season.

Left guard Damien Lewis left midway through Wednesday's joint practice with the Browns and was inactive for Friday's preseason loss to the Browns.

Panthers head coach Dave Canales said Lewis suffered a shoulder strain and described him as "week to week."

"He'll be week to week; just kind of as we evaluate his shoulder, but you know it's something that he's going to have to prove that he gets the strength back and all that stuff, so he's in the return to play (protocol) for us."

When asked if that could jeopardize his availability for the regular season opener in a month, Canales took an optimistic stance.

"I hope not, but again, they gave us kind of a week-to-week deal on it," he said. "I've known D-Lew for a long time, and he finds his way back on the field. So I'm confident that he'll be able to do that."

Lewis came here last season in free agency from the Seahawks (giving him that background with Canales) and helped stabilize the offensive line along with fellow free agent Robert Hunt. They helped the Panthers go from 65 sacks allowed in 2023 to 36 last year, while establishing a power run game with Chuba Hubbard.

"I talked to him, his spirits are high," left tackle Ikem Ekwonu said. "He's disappointed, he definitely wants to be out there, battling with his brothers, but obviously, now that he's in the recovery and you have to wait."

"I love D-Lew; I think he's a tremendous player and we'll be excited to have him back out there with us," veteran right tackle Taylor Moton added.

The Panthers went into this offseason intent on maintaining continuity on the line and brought back all five starters, in addition to four key backups. Having their top nine guys in snaps played last year is a rarity, but that depth is already being tested.

Reserve guard Chandler Zavala suffered a knee injury early in camp during a one-on-one drill with Derrick Brown, and also got the week-to-week status.

Friday, they started Ja'Tyre Carter in Lewis' spot. He spent all of last season on the practice squad here, adding a layer of familiarity to their impressive amount of depth.

He said he found out he'd go into the starting lineup on Wednesday after the joint practice, and walking into the lineup of established players on the first offense was "easy."

"D-Lew made it better, you know what I'm saying, " Carter said. "He talked to me, he was like, you know, just go out there and do what you do, bro. And he just made it easier for me, but he gave me the confidence to go out there and hold it down for him.

"He was just like, man, just go out there and just put it on film. Bro, you've been doing it all camp. Just go out there and show him that you can do it on game day."

Carter was in the vicinity of the first sack on quarterback Bryce Young, but said his main goal was fitting in with a group of more established starters on either side of him.

"It's just being the new guy, just fitting in with them, playing physically just like them, and just playing off each other, five guys on the same page at the end of the day.

"It's amazing, man. Those guys, they gave me the confidence. They said, look man, we got you. I had their back, they had my back."

Ekwonu gave Carter the most Panther endorsement, calling the former Bears guard (two starts and 13 appearances in two seasons) "a dawg."

"There's just this next man up thing," Ekwonu said. "I feel like JT, obviously, you appreciate that he's really excited to step into that role and he's going to grind each and every day to make sure that he's the best player you can be, right?

"I mean, he's a dawg. Fun guy to be around, great locker room fit, obviously, but at the end of the day when it comes to playing ball, he knows what he's doing. He knows how to get the job done. He's going to dominate."