CHARLOTTE — The Panthers know it's going to be hot where they're going, but they got a full dose of it Monday at home.

Panthers head coach Dave Canales said the heat index topped out at 117 during their out-of-the-ordinary afternoon practice, the hottest work of training camp so far.

They generally practice in the mid-mornings, but after playing Saturday in Buffalo and having a day off Sunday, they wanted to push things back a few hours. Getting them ready for Wednesday's joint practice with the Jaguars didn't hurt.

"We need it," Canales said. "We're going to Jacksonville this week, so that's a phenomenal opportunity for us.

"And who knows, Chicago in game one (here in September) could be like this, just depending on what it is that week."

The Panthers were still in full pads and getting after it, with a live team run period in the middle of practice. And with a big one coming up in two days, they needed to get ready.

That made the cooling trailer a popular destination during a mid-practice break, as the medical staff was quick to push hydration on players throughout.

Plan for Jacksonville

Canales said the starters would get "a pretty good load" of work on Wednesday against the Jaguars, and would play in Friday's preseason game there, though workloads along the way could inform those decisions.

"The plan is to play them all in the game too," he said. "And then of course it just depends on how we come out of today, how we come out of tomorrow, to see where guys are at."

After a sluggish start Saturday in Buffalo, Canales is hoping for something different this week.

"Just what I've been seeing every day in practice here, the physicality to show up, our style of football, that's been the standard, that's what it's looked like," he said of the expectations. "I just want to see that consistency to happen in the practice. The competition will elevate some, getting new fresh faces to go against, different schemes, different style of fronts, different style of offenses, those types of things, but just seeing our guys execute and play with our type of physicality."

PAL makes big impression at practice

It's one of the most special days of training camp every year, when the kids from the Police Activities League join the Panthers on the field for a "joint practice." The kids, ranging in age from 7-13, come out in full pads and kick off practice with the guys before holding their own scrimmage at the end of practice.

And they started with a bang on Monday. The PAL Panthers (yes, that's really their team name) trotted out to run coverage on kickoff. Dave Canales helped get the right special teams pennies on guys to show which side they were on, and then they were off. Xavier Legette took the kickoff and guys "blocked" the PAL team (some with enough force to leave a young player with a memory) as Legette returned.

XL had already made a decent return when one missile-seeking pre-teen saw his shot to make an impression on an NFL squad. He threw himself at Legette (who didn't fight the tackle very hard) and came up to raucous cheers from his teammates and new friend.

At the end of the hot practice, the PAL team came back to the field and held a mini-scrimmage of their own. The heat had most of the elder Panthers catching their breath after a long padded practice. But when the small No. 28 running back leaked out of the defense and got to the sideline, everyone came alive.

Guys poured off the sideline, ready to follow him down the field, anticipating what was going to happen. Receiver Tetairoa McMillan kick-stepped his way down the sideline with the kid (his 6-5 frame made it easy to keep up) and was ready to celebrate with everyone in the end zone. His height worked against him there, as none of the players saw the offense rookie of the year, who was left hanging.

The scrimmage was also a chance for Canales to work on a few calls he didn't get to during the normal practice time.

"A big shout out to the PAL Panthers, just finished off our practice," praised Canales afterward.

"There's a couple of situations I missed throughout the day, so I was able to get a 4th and 1 on the 1-yard line," he joked."I was able to get a little bit more second-and-long situations right there, but there was some really good tackling, and I had my flag just in case. The guys get a little unruly, sometimes.

"But it was great to be a part of the community, for the guys to show up where it all started."

Darren Waller to ease into it

Newly minted tight end Darren Waller was on hand for his first practice with the Carolina Panthers. He didn't participate in drills, and he wasn't even in a jersey (he'll wear No. 35, for however short a time), but just hours after signing his contract and officially joining the team, it was important to Waller and coaches for him to be on the field.

"The success teams want to have in this league starts getting built in April," explained Waller in his first media availability with local Panthers media. "April to June, that's a very valuable time that for me — I kind of take it as like, this is where I'm at in my journey, to do the best I can each and every day.

"I may not be where anybody else is with as far as how they know the offense, and they're adapting with everything that they're asking us to do. In time, I believe in my abilities to learn that fast."

Waller started practice with the return-to-play group, getting his heart rate up in the Carolina heat.

"He's in phenomenal shape," noted Canales. "I mean, he was leaking out here. This is a different kind of 117 index than Vegas, where he lives, and so he mentioned that. He's soaking wet, but it was a good opportunity to just kind of see where he's at."

Then, during team drills, he was always on hand in the offensive group, talking to each tight end as they came off the field, working through the play they just ran, either picking their brain about the terminology related to what they had just run, or offering advice from his decade-plus experience.

"I always like to be one of the first people to go congratulate somebody when they make a good play. So that's one thing," explained Waller of his conversations.

"Also reading the play sheet to them so they can stay locked in on the play and what they need to hear; asking them what certain words mean because the script sheet looks like Mandarin Chinese right now, but soon it'll be something that I understand a lot more.

"But yeah, just asking them questions, asking communication because there's a lot of communication with the O-line. There's things you got to see as far as stunts on the fronts and coverages rotating, so it's like it's a constant dialogue amongst the group. I feel like at any given time anybody can be a student and a teacher, so just trying to stay in that mindset."

Canales said Waller will likely just do individual work on Wednesday, not wanting to expose him to the combative nature of a joint camp for his first action back on the field. They will then evaluate his status from there. But simply being on the field today was a crucial first step for Waller, who can now begin to make his impact on and off the field.

"I think those roles are earned once you start practicing, you just get out on the field and really just bringing value to the offense in a multitude of ways," said Waller. "There'll be opportunities to make plays in the passing game, but there'll be things asked of me in the run game, things asked of me just leadership-wise, passing-game wisdom and experience on.

"But as of right now, it's just getting myself ready to be out there and practice and just learn the offense, learn my assignments, and just keep it simple for now."

Injury updates, some good news

The Panthers had a few of the regulars back on the practice field Monday, as defensive tackle Derrick Brown and starting guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis were back after missing Saturday's game.

But they were also missing a few players with some dings picked up during the game.

Rookie cornerback Will Lee III was held out after leaving Saturday's game with groin tightness. Canales said tests came back reasonably positive, but they wanted to give him time to recover.

"We were hoping for the best; It turned out to be the best," he said of Lee's tests. "The imaging came out pretty clean. Still really sore today. He had a really big week, was feeling it, was able to push through, show up in the game and take a bunch of reps, but we're going to get a little bit more back into the tank for him before we put him back out there."

Outside linebacker Cam Gill finished the game after suffering a shoulder injury (he had a sack against the Bills) , but Canales said he was "really sore today." He's expected to practice Wednesday and play this week.

Wide receiver Ja'seem Reed was held out with a "sore calf."

"We're going to image that today, see what that is," Canales said. "Came out of the game OK, but then things kind of start to present themselves a little bit in the days after. So we're going to check that out."

Quarterback Haynes King (hamstring) won't practice this week in Jacksonville, but they haven't ruled him out for the finale against Houston.

Ikem Ekwonu update

Canales was asked about left tackle Ikem Ekwonu who continues to work on the side after suffering a torn patellar tendon in the playoff loss to the Rams.

It was a topic because the Bears activated tackle Ozzy Trapilo from their PUP list Monday. Trapilo suffered the same injury the same weekend, but the reality is every injury and every individual is different.

"Ickey's doing great," Canales said. "He had another great day on the field. He's going in right now to get his lift in. He's progressing really well again.

"Every case is different. We just got to take it with the information that we have, consult our experts, consult the surgeons, all those things, get reimaging and make sure we feel confident before."

Canales said he couldn't rule out anything as far as timelines for Ekwonu, but didn't declare one way or the other.