CHARLOTTE — Injury reports don't kick in until the regular season, but Monday would have been a good day for one.

And the news isn't all bad.

The Panthers got a number of players back on the field who had missed some time recently, balancing out a few new absences.

Cornerback Jaycee Horn led the list of returnees. Head coach Dave Canales said that Horn got the stitches removed from his left thumb from his car wreck a week and a half ago.

Horn was still catching things one-handed with his right since those stitches came out hours earlier and there's no reason risking anything, but he was back out among team drills.

Linebacker Claudin Cherelus, guard Chandler Zavala, and defensive tackle Cam Jackson also participated after missing various amounts of time in recent weeks, and all three could play Thursday night in the preseason finale against the Steelers.

"We'll push them tomorrow and then we'll have more information tomorrow evening after we kind of get through all that to see where they're at, but if they come out and they check the boxes and those are guys that'll play," Canales said.

There were a few players held out on Monday, including rookie wideout Tetairoa McMillan (hamstring), defensive tackle Bobby Brown III (knee), and outside linebacker DJ Johnson (hip).

Canales said the McMillan situation didn't appear serious, and part of it was workload management, since the tests came back the way they were hoping.

"Yeah, TMac had a really sore hamstring; the imaging looked fine, but he's just kind of all stoved up," Canales said. "He's been taking a lot of reps, a few series more than the rest of the starters, just to get him the game reps. And just between that and the practices, he's been working like crazy. I thought we'd shut him down for a couple of days and then turn him back around."

McMillan may not play Thursday, but Canales was more hopeful about Brown and Johnson, saying they could practice Tuesday.

Defensive end LaBryan Ray (ankle) and tight end Tommy Tremble (back) continued to work on the side, and Tremble's looking particularly close as he did increasingly intense work with the team's performance staff, including wrestling a medicine ball away from one pretty forcefully.

Andy Dalton does some throwing after elbow scare

Veteran backup quarterback Andy Dalton made a few throws during the individual period, easily tossing 25-yard passes back and forth, which is a good sign after he left Saturday's game at Houston with what was described as an elbow injury.

Canales said that it was actually more of a muscle strain after Texans pass-rusher Danielle Hunter hit him in the arm as he was throwing to a wide-open McMillan.

While Canales didn't rule Dalton out for Thursday, he didn't seem inclined to push it either, since they just signed Bryce Perkins to help finish things out along with Jack Plummer.

And the best news is that Canales said if this were a regular-season week, Dalton would be fine.

"It was a mild deal," Canales said. "The imaging looked pretty solid, and we just kind of are taking him day to day for the soreness to kind of resolve itself. So he started the practice, threw a little bit, then we shut him down for the rest of it."

Kicking competition to continue through Thursday

The Panthers will use both Matthew Wright and Ryan Fitzgerald on Thursday night against the Steelers, carrying the kicker competition through the final preseason game.

Canales didn't offer a ton of insight into the decision on Monday, just saying they would both get a chance, but it keeps in line with how the Panthers have handled the battle throughout training camp.

During the week at practice, the veteran Wright and the rookie Fitzgerald trade off days kicking. During the first two preseason games, both guys have split the duties, trading off kickoffs and each kick attempt, albeit there has only been one point after try.

Through two games, Fitzgerald has hit both field goal attempts, from 32 yards and 52 yards respectively. Wright has kicked only one field goal, from 55-yards, but it was no good.

On kickoffs, Fitzgerald has averaged 56 yards on his two kicks, while Wright has averaged 60.67 yards on his three kickoffs.

The Panthers must cut down the roster to 53 players by next Tuesday .

Rico Dowdle looking for more from himself heading into the season

Rico Dowdle is a hard critic. The veteran running back was brought in this spring to complement Chuba Hubbard, and has spent the offseason proving it was a good signing. The former Cowboys back splits reps with Hubbard, and has consistently proven himself able to read a lane, make the right cut, and work through traffic.

But it's not enough for Dowdle, who classified his training camp so far as, "Um, all right."

Just "all right" would usually indicate someone who hasn't been able to find a groove at all, someone who is struggling to adapt to the offense, neither of which describe Dowdle's impact so far. But he expects the best of himself, and his five carries for 9 yards in limited preseason showing is far from enough (he's also added three receptions for 35 yards).

By his measurement, there's still more to come.

"Getting some explosives, so I mean I had a couple good catches that was it," Dowdle said Monday following the most recent training camp practice. "But I'm talking about as far as running game wise, I haven't really got much going, so good would look like having some explosives, moving the chains getting some first downs and things like that."

Dowdle comes to the Panthers off a 1,000-yard season, giving the Panthers a pair of those. It's a formidable duo but a recent poll ranked them as the 28th-best running back room in the league. Dowdle said he saw the poll, now it's just about proving it wrong.

"They definitely sleeping," said Dowdle, "But you know, that's an opinion. Honestly I don't really get caught up too much in it, only time will tell and we'll see when the season starts."